I will be using the funding from this grant to support my practice in three distinct ways:
I will enrol on the Expanded Experimental Film course at City Lit College which costs £2,999. The course is designed to explore unconventional approaches to contemporary experimental filmmaking and will provide the theoretical and technical support to push my filmmaking forward. I am a self-taught filmmaker, currently limited by the skills and knowledge that I have. I want to develop new work focused on telling the intricate stories of individual people fitting into the wider context of communities of women. Taking part in this course would allow me to find my voice and style with a new way of using film and sound to explore these ideas.
I am also drawn to this course because it is taught entirely by women filmmakers – the opportunity to engage with and learn from these tutors, as well as being part of a film-based learning network and artistic community would significantly impact on my own craft and theoretical practices thus improving outcomes.
I will use the bursary to purchase two film cameras to improve the quality of the films that I am able to make and to be able to experiment further with more complex recording processes. I currently use my phone camera to capture film, which has shifted from being an interesting challenge to feeling like a restriction on what I can achieve. To fully benefit from the film course, I will purchase a second hand Super 8 film camera and DSLR camera. Together I am allowing £1,000 for this equipment.
I will use the remaining funds of approximately £6,000 to support my time out of freelance work to be able to attend the film course for one day per week across one academic year, undertake research and practical film projects as part of the course. And to travel to Darlington to research and make a film specifically focused on local communities of women artists.
I will use the knowledge, skills and techniques gained on the film course to feed directly back into creating a film and sound piece that raises the profile of the arts in County Durham. I am interested in connecting directly with the creative community in Darlington, focusing on women artists and telling the story of textiles traditions in the area through making a film documenting and highlighting their histories and processes. The film will also act as an archival record for future generations to benefit from.
This project will specifically highlight the work of older women artists who are often overlooked in creative opportunities and whose wise voices are fundamental to our understanding of domestic and commercial arts. The project will strengthen communities of women artists in the area and provide a platform for changing viewpoints about the importance of textiles as a fine art form.
I have a background in arts education so connecting with local museums, galleries and educational institutions to support the project through collective screenings and participatory workshops will form a big part of the project outcome.
I work across film, textiles, performance and installation, weaving these disciplines together to question, understand and record the histories, memories and complexities of the relationships that shape us. I enjoy working experimentally, pushing materials and processes to their limits and developing new ways of working with traditional techniques. I also enjoy playing with audience participation and engagement through creating installations that place viewers in active roles with the work. In my work I give a voice to the unnoticed things around me and create connections and tensions within this. Physically, but also the unspoken structures and rules that exist within our society, and the roles we are expected to play. I want to make them seen, even, and especially if that feels uncomfortable! There is often a performative aspect to my work, and recently I have found myself wanting to distance myself from the frame and bring other people in. I am very interested in textile processes and have recently been exploring patchwork histories. My grandmother was a seamstress so there is a connection to her but also to the generations of women who gathered to work together on quilts. There is something around bringing this mostly domestic art form into the foreground that I believe is fundamental to understanding the history of women in art around the world. I have been finding ways to subvert traditional patchwork forms and turn them into structures of protest. Previously I have exhibited with FOLD Art collective at Morley Gallery in March 2025 (guest-curated), at Safe House, Peckham in September 2024 and December 2023 (both co-curated by me and other members of FOLD). I have also had work selected for the Bow Arts Open exhibition, Bring Your Light, in 2023 (curated by Chila Burman and Bow Arts). I am currently working on a collaborative site-specific project responding to the Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park for a one-day exhibition event in July 2025.
Do you have a degree in visual or applied arts at undergraduate and/or post-graduate level? Please provide details. (200 words)
I hold a degree in history of art and architecture from the University of East Anglia. The degree was focused on developing an understanding of visual art forms from around the world, and how these are interpreted and displayed in Western contexts. Alongside this I took modules in photography and printmaking. My degree feeds directly into my practice as an artist now, which is deeply rooted in art historical research that goes beyond the Western canon to connect physically and emotionally with the work of women artists, groups and collectives from around the world. Photography and printmaking still form a core foundation for my preparatory practice – the use of photographic images forms the basis of my films and the use of still images is a core self-taught editing process. The experimental printing processes that I was taught at university have translated into film, enabling me to confidently try different filming and editing techniques and processes. In 2018 I returned to education as a mature student to do a Fine Art Foundation at Morley College for which I received a distinction. Here I focused mainly on developing my textiles and film work. My final piece was a filmed textile-based performance.
I hold a degree in history of art and architecture from the University of East Anglia. The degree was focused on developing an understanding of visual art forms from around the world, and how these are interpreted and displayed in Western contexts. Alongside this I took modules in photography and printmaking. My degree feeds directly into my practice as an artist now, which is deeply rooted in art historical research that goes beyond the Western canon to connect physically and emotionally with the work of women artists, groups and collectives from around the world. Photography and printmaking still form a core foundation for my preparatory practice – the use of photographic images forms the basis of my films and the use of still images is a core self-taught editing process. The experimental printing processes that I was taught at university have translated into film, enabling me to confidently try different filming and editing techniques and processes. In 2018 I returned to education as a mature student to do a Fine Art Foundation at Morley College for which I received a distinction. Here I focused mainly on developing my textiles and film work. My final piece was a filmed textile-based performance.
In 2021 I established FOLD Art Collective. This collective was created to bridge the gap between visual arts education and being an artist in the real world. After completing a Fine Art Foundation in 2019, followed by a mentoring course, I wanted to find a way to create that crucial network of support that motivated me to be able to thrive, and I wanted it to be free so that it was accessible to all. Currently the collective supports and nurtures 12 women artists. We meet regularly to share information and studio space, critique each other’s work, and organise professional opportunities. We have exhibited together 3 times, funded a guest curator to critique and select work for a group exhibition, and developed a professional community of women artists. The collective nurtures individual growth while creating a supportive environment which enables our artists to take creative risks and opens doors to creative opportunities. For example, our members have taken part in 3 separate artist residencies in the last year, been selected for a range of external exhibitions, taken part in creative projects, received individual art prizes, and made the transition from amateur to professional artist.
I was selected to take part in an artist residency at Brisons Veor in North Cornwall in February 2025. The residency aims to support artists facing challenging circumstances. I used the space and time alongside two other artists to disconnect from life and immerse myself entirely within my creative practice. I was drawn to the ceremonial stone monuments that are prevalent in the area and experimented with finding alternative ways to record the bleak and rugged landscape that surrounded me. The residency has pushed my work in a different direction already. Whilst there I developed the initial idea of creating textile shroud-like pieces as a structure for researching, exploring, recording, and disrupting the landscape, and my place within it. I am developing this idea further with film and sound pieces for an installation at Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park in July and for a collaborative residency exhibition later this year. We have also located a gallery space in the village of St Just, next to Brisons Veor with the aim of working with them to exhibit our continued work that is deeply rooted in the local Cornish landscapes.
Email: kchandler658@gmail.com
Address: 15 Whitmore Road, Beckenham, Beckenham, Please select, BR3 3NU, GB
