Last week, I was part of a joint venture, an online presentation, featuring three artists; Mandy Williams, Rowan Lear and myself. I had organised this event as part of my final degree offering – and as I say in the introduction to the talk, had it not been for Covid, it is unlikely I’d have asked Mandy and Rowan to become involved. I’m very pleased I did though. Not only did they help to make the event richer, their contribution reinforced several points I’m exploring in my work, not least of which is that we humans are collaborative, inter-related beings rather than the isolated, bounded, individuals we have come to worship in the West.
Additionally, when lockdowns were first put in place, people asked me if I was going to make any work about Covid. I said, no, ostensibly, because I was focused on completing my degree project. What was more critical, however, is that the inquiry is looking at systems change and the chaos that abounds when that occurs. (Incidentally, Nafeez Ahmed writes powerfully about the overlapping of crises taking place during ‘The Now’).
And finally, the work is focused on relationships between objects rather than objects themselves – and Covid, which we Westerners will tend to think about as an object-subject, would, therefore, inevitably come into it in any case, which it has done.
I was grateful to Rowan and Mandy for their contribution and am so pleased this event happened as it did. It took me to a place I may not have gone to with my project and for that I am grateful.
For further information, please contact us at info@sarahjanefield.co.uk, email@rowanlear.org or mandylwilliams@yahoo.co.uk.