Q. You recently conceived and led a compelling series of outdoor, hands-on workshops for young people aged 16-25 on the West Wight. Tell us a little more about that project?
A. Yes, my partner and I drafted an Arts Council Project Grant last Summer and completed the workshop series over a 4 month residency over Autumn and Winter. For me, particularly in photography which is often gate-keeped with expensive equipment and overly technical
processes, it’s hugely important that the sessions I run are affordable and accessible to anyone. The series we conceived consolidated these ideas with the incredible source of local natural materials available in the west wight to create workshops that worked alongside nature and eco focused processes. These sessions included things like developing 35mm film with seaweed, or making natural dyes with the gorse flower found on the downs.
Perhaps even more relevant, particularly to the 16 – 25 age bracket we focused on, was creating sessions that allowed participants to work with their hands and on something new, whilst creating comfortable spaces to network and communicate. Though I’m not from the island, it was evident quite quickly that there is a lack of creative and social opportunities for young people on the Island (particularly in the West Wight), and for me it’s important to have exclusive spaces for certain demographics and communities. The issues different demographics face are often exclusive to that community, and so to create an environment where we can talk openly and relate to each other on those issues is hugely important.
Q. You’re a visual artist, a photographer – who are your influences, who moves you?
A. Including possibly fiction writers who inform your creative practice.
Though I’m a photographer, it’s pretty rare that I’m hugely influenced by other photographers. There are photographers who I admire and respect, but they’re generally not the ones who influence my practice. If I look at the work that gets me excited to create it generally follows more performative pieces, written work (often analytical but sometimes
fiction), and music.
My themes change fairly regularly, at the moment I’m finding myself asking a lot of questions around masculinity within urban spaces, and the relationship between my own understanding of gender and sex with the physical infrastructure and buildings around me.
As I think through these ideas of emotional man made landscapes, particularly in London where I currently live, I’m drawing back to a range of creative influences. I find Burial’s music, particularly their album ‘untrue’, reflects a lot of my feelings and thoughts on the topic, as well as books like ‘Alone in Berlin’, ‘London Belongs to Me’, and ‘Last Exit to Brooklyn’, which all explore different personalities and stories in direct relation to the physical and political contexts they exist in. Their methods of written description are exactly what I look to
convey visually in my visual work; delicate and beautiful with heavier theoretical undertones.
Q. How do you imagine the Queer in Nature walk/talk might inspire the work of new and experienced Island writers?
A. Coming to a writing workshop from a photographic education, I hope my guided walk helps to give a new perspective on creative writing and our influences. Often I find myself stuck creatively, particularly when I’m trying to overthink or over engineer an idea, and generally the best solution to that is to give yourself an instruction or visual task completely separate from your natural way of working.
I hope the session helps to introduce a new way of thinking around descriptions and identities, and by the end of the session participants could have a new set of ‘building blocks’ of writing which can help us describe certain values and identities.
Q. You’ve talked about ‘finding infinite ways to describe and identify ourselves’ – give us a hint how examining and considering plant life makes that possible.
A. Particularly in queer identity, written language often fails us. There are literal examples of this in latin based languages, where everything is gendered and words for certain identities simply don’t exist yet; but also more complicated issues around strict labelling and language when trying to convey our very-much-fluid identities. By illustrating what we
relate to and identify as through abstract ideas and objects, like plants for example. I hope participants feel they can be as nonspecific and uncommitted to these ‘labels’ as they like, whilst still conveying the ideas of an identity.
Q. You’ve led a number of workshops and projects; do you have a top tip for fashioning creative spaces and projects that are safe, welcoming, inclusive and inspiring?
A. Primarily there are practical things I tend to do in all of the sessions I host and facilitate, as well as the queer party I work on. Making it clear that by attending the sessions you are agreeing to a respect and no-discrimination rule, by introducing my pronouns at the beginning and inviting others to do the same (again pushing that these are trans and NB
friendly spaces), and reiterating that if anyone needs to take a break or leave there is no pressure to stay; its generally important at a workshop to allocate a separate quite space away from the session as a break room, particularly when working with neurodivergent participants.
On a deeper level; I don’t run classes, I run workshops, I’m showing a process but certainly not telling anyone how to use that process. There is a natural power dynamic between the facilitator and the participants, and the workshops I see work the best tend to try to neutralise this power dynamic from the get go. Understanding that all the participants will be able to bring their own ideas and practises to the session, and holding those ideas as of equal importance to your own. By doing this we unlock beautiful sessions of skill sharing, experimentation and communication between the participants.
As part of the Hear Me Now project George Budden, a London-based photographer, will lead an inspirational walk entitled Queer Nature starting from The Red Lion pub in Freshwater on 25 May, 12.30 to 2.30pm. The walk is FREE of charge thanks to support from Arts Council England. To reserve your place on the walk, email caroline@stonecrabs.co.uk
Brevity 