I am eager to advance my practice by examining a Northern English town through my ongoing research into heritage. I would immerse myself in Darlington, engaging with the local community, its political and geographical landscapes to research and unfurl what gives Darlington its identity. What do the selfhoods of its citizens look like? What makes Darlington, ‘Darlo?’
The bursary would enable me to physically be in Darlington as much as possible over the two years, setting up workshops with the community, talking to people about their identities and how Darlington forms their selfhood. Some finances would be set aside to fabricate my findings.
I am predominantly a textile artist, creating installations, garments and wall mounted pieces, born (1998) in Devon to Northern and Midland English working class parents. My recent research involves how heritage and familial mythmaking can contribute to identity and reflects on how ancestry and birthplace contributes to personal identity: why one desires to showcase, or hide, the culture and geography of one’s belonging. I am fascinated at how Capitalism’s omnipresence intercepts and often disrupts this.
I have explored this research on a personal level, examining rural landscapes and societies where I collaborated with the punk band ‘Thigh High’ and we explored rural communities who are considered out of the ‘mainstream,’ but often hold more culturally rich experiences than dominating cities which are advertised to be cultural nuclei. The work ‘Jan from Spar’ showcases the dialectical tensions found in Devon and London, and speaks of the experiences my collaborators and I found in moving from rural villages to London and realising village hall parties are sometimes better than the London rave scene.
I have also taken this research to a national level where I was invited to explore Welsh identity and pride in the face of entrenched English colonial rule, over the course of three years, producing a body of work: Tai a mynyddoedd.
I would create work in line with my methodology of research, image and text collation. The outcomes, however, would be inspired by a response to my findings and dictated by Darlington and its inhabitants.
As my proposed research is about engaging with the people of Darlington, running workshops would be a key part of my process. Within these workshops I hope to unfurl Darlington residents identities and how the town impacts their selfhoods. I would love to gather imagery and writings from the people I meet, and place this into the artwork, thus strengthening their connection to the work. I would like to host in social settings, societies and clubs which aren’t necessarily aligned with art: pubs; care homes; schools; ‘Burlesque Darlington;’ ‘Darlington’s Dogs of War’ etc., to meet a broad range of people whilst also raising the profile of creative arts in the town.
I am very familiar with setting up and running public facing workshops from school aged children through to adults where varying levels of art discussion happens. From novice chatter about holding a paintbrush to philosophical discussions about contemporary art. Alongside my art practice and employment I am an artist workshop lead for Colart where I facilitate workshops demonstrating different mediums and encourage people to be creative and experiment without pressure. I would be keen to bring this form of energy to Darlington and engender creative thinking within the area.
Alongside my main body of research of unfurling my own heritage and also being interested in how other people navigate their own selfhood’s, my broader research is concerned with: Capitalism and consequences of its powers; the unassuming indicators of our current climate crisis; the fashion industry and its psychological impact; clothing and its relationship with the body; the dialectical tensions found in tailoring and how one can treat fabric as an organism when adorning the body. I tend to manifest the findings of my research through the mediums of textiles, film and sound. My skill set is informed by traditional textile techniques, but used in a ‘punk’ manor. My unconventional making processes include: Tailoring with shower curtains, manipulating baler twine into wearable garments and interrupting knitting processes to create textures. This experimental energy is also found when I work with film and sound as shown in how I choose to collate footage and edit it together. Digital collaging also forms my process, using nonchalant photos from phones and sketches/writings from my journal. These digital forms tend to go on to make jacquard knittings and weavings or digital fabric prints. I enjoy collaboration and have often collaborated with musicians, recently the Welsh speaking, post punk band ‘Adwaith,’ and London punk band ‘Thigh High.’ I have future plans to collaborate with the choreographer Richard Court for a piece at Forma. I have consistently exhibited work in group shows across London, galleries include, Safehouse, Bermondsey Project Space and Islington Arts Factory. Recently I screened ‘Tai a mynyddoedd’ and gave a Q+A at Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival in Scotland. I have also lectured at Worcester University and Goldsmiths University where I also delivered workshops centered around unfurling ones selfhood. This summer I am about to embark on a residency at Phenzhopehaugh in the Scottish borders to initiate an art collective with 5 other artists who all make work in similar ways.
BA Fine Art with History of Art from Goldsmiths, University of London. (First) Graduated in 2021.
Yes, twice from the RSA awards at Goldsmiths, University of London.
One to continue my project into Welsh heritage (2023) and the other to initiate a collective at an artists residency at Phenzhopehaugh in the Scottish borders (Summer 2025)
I help to organise the newly launched ‘Work For What Collective.’ We are going to produce an independent publication launching late 2025 from artist submissions collected this Spring. We have set out to have a quarterly newsletter asking for an open call of submissions under a set theme or prompt that intends to push the boundaries of practice. Our recent theme was “Write about an art exhibition without directly talking about the art.”
I am about to embark on an artist residency this summer at Phenzhopehaugh in the Scottish Borders.
Email: crimsonldm@gmail.com
Address: 67 Montpelier Road, London, SE15 2HD, GB
Local Authority: Southwark Council, London
