If awarded the £10,000 bursary, I will use the funding to develop an ambitious, multidisciplinary project that builds on existing work started during my MA. Specifically, the funds will support me through mentorship and training in Letterpress enabling me to produce work independently. Additionally, I plan to invest in audio recording and projection technology with corresponding training in order to create immersive installations that combine sound, image, and text.
Using the audio and letterpress material I already have, I wish to create an installation using projection with audio and captions from existing audio recordings. A key aspect of this project will be incorporating anonymous audience participation from the people of Darlington, inviting individuals to share their own experiences of judgement through confidential audio submissions or written contributions. These anonymous quotes will become part of the installation, creating a dynamic and evolving dialogue. Additionally, I wish to research and incorporate ideas around code-switching. How we shift language, tone and behaviour in order to fit in. This concept deepens the project’s engagement with identity and the pressure to conform.
I am particularly interested in presenting this work in outdoor public spaces, where it can engage wider audiences beyond traditional gallery settings. Inspired by Jeroen Boomgaard’s essay book, Wild Park, which explores the varying quality of art in public spaces and the intention behind locations. I aim to consider site as a conceptual element. The guidance of mentors working in public and socially engaged art would be invaluable in helping me refine this direction.
Alongside this, I wish to incorporate analogue photography. Mentorship would be crucial for me in order to hone down my ideas to acutely synchronise them with this project.
As a recent graduate, this support would be instrumental in enabling me to develop as an emerging artist. Mentorship and training in technical skills provides me with the opportunity to build a distinctive body of work, inviting wider audiences into complex but deeply human conversations.
Darlington’s identity as a market town offers a rich context for my audio-based work which is rooted in public and communal spaces. My practice explores how judgement of race, class, education and appearance shape everyday interactions even in culturally diverse areas such as London. While not speaking on behalf of any community, my work invites reflection on how difference is perceived and navigated in every day environments.
I believe this work can contribute to Darlington’s cultural landscape by encouraging inclusive conversations and amplifying underrepresented perspectives.
If awarded the Dover Prize, I anticipate the work to be shown in outdoor spaces where it is accessible to all. This approach aligns with the fund’s aim to raise the profile of the arts in Darlington by embedding creative practice within everyday life.
Having worked for fourteen years in both the public and private sectors of education, specialising in working with children with specific learning difficulties, I have a strong interest in society and how we operate within it. It is this that shapes my interests, thought processes and my practice. The lure of anonymity that a large city offers is appealing to me – the desire to be able to be oneself within this urban environment is longed for. Using audio equipment, I approach strangers at markets around London, having conversations with them about their experiences of judgement. Whilst doing this, I observed a need for anonymity and the fear associated with not having it. I started to imagine ways that I could represent the subtleties of our differences without the need for a face or a name. I select quotes from the recorded audio then typeset the quotes in letterpress and create postcards. Frequently, people said that they were judged when performing every day acts like waiting on the bus. These postcards were then stamped and addressed to an anonymous PO Box that I hired. I then distributed them on public transport in London. These stamped postcards had a call to action, asking the finder to respond to the quote on the front. By doing this, I relinquish control and invite participation in the form of an anonymous exchange. Using text in the form of quotes alongside photography, I permeate thoughts, belongings and hidden spaces in an attempt for me to connect with others and to see things from a different point of view. I purposefully slow down my creative processes. My practice has a performative aspect combined with an element of chance which offers an unknown outcome. I am now beginning to place myself or my belongings in images with other people’s objects, capturing the scene before me with the environment and objects undisturbed. My graduate work was exhibited at The Woolff Gallery in Fitzrovia and The Vanner Gallery in Salisbury. I have an up and coming group exhibition arranged for July 2025 in London.
I have a MA Photography from the Royal College of Art, graduating September 2024. I returned to study as a mature student, leaving my career as a teacher to pursue conceptual photography. I secured a Cost of Living grant of £5000 from the RCA, £1000 from Glasgow Educational and Marshall Trust and took out the full amount of student loans available to me. It has been my best decision to date.
After years of listening to others make judgments and feeling unable to respond, I realised how important it was for me to find a way to express these suppressed thoughts. This overwhelming need for personal and creative expression motivated me to pursue a Master of Arts.
I received the Bronze award in the Fine Art/Conceptual category from Analog Sparks International Film Photography Awards.
I am very self motivated and, as part of my arts practice, I worked with specific venues across London and Scotland including Sands Film Theatre in Rotherhithe, Porchester Spa in Paddington, Western Baths in Glasgow and Mitchell Library in Glasgow. The criteria I use for selecting these spaces is that the facade greatly differs from the interior. I use this as a metaphor for how we code switch in order to ‘fit in’.
Another strand of my practice, also looking at the subtleties of our differences, involved me reaching out to libraries in London. Entering the libraries early in the morning, before the cleaning and maintenance staff arrived, I photographed the books left out and the untucked chairs. Untouched marks left by people that were strangers to me. Suggestions of their interests found on the spines of the books. Some libraries were generous enough to collect found objects that had been used as bookmarks. These items were collected over an extended period of time and this project is ongoing with the intention of putting on an exhibition and talk at Paddington Library.
My graduate work was selected for Source Magazine Graduate Edition by Katy Baron of Photo Oxford who said, “The range of approaches in Lindsey’s work is exceptional – from performance, where the camera becomes a tool to make a record, to the inclusion of postcards and quotes from strangers, this work pushes the boundaries of photography in a number of directions whilst remaining true to the medium. I found the individual images have a strong narrative appeal and wanted to understand more about the work and the photographer’s intentions. Each image is beautifully composed and presents the viewer with a suggestion of the presence of the photographer whilst allowing space for ambivalence.”
One of my images has also been featured online at ‘A Space for Art’ as part of a 6 month residency at The Hari in London entitled, Female Artists of Tomorrow.
Email: lindseymacadie@hotmail.co.uk
Address: 28 Kelsall Mews, London, Richmond, TW9 4BP, GB
Local Authority: Richmond upon Thames
