Film & Installation

Queens Platinum Jubilee fete event at West Heath Community Centre, Longbridge Birmingham. 2022

This was the 2022 Jubilee Celebration and fete event at West Heath Community Centre. The Jubilee event was managed by Centre Manager, Anita Jane and centre staff. The associated art project (For the People) was funded by Heart of England and Arts Council England. Film made in collaboration with the people of West Heath Community Centre near Longbridge, Birmingham. Film edited by Nita Newman. Artistic project manager ‘For the People’; Nita Newman. Thank you to Rachel Jennings (Working with young people – print and sculpture) and John Hemming (Film maker/documentary) A big thank you to all who worked with me, and an even bigger thank you to Centre manager, Anita Jane, who trusted me to make the work in this community. It was an absolute joy to work with you all.

Life by Proxy (2009)

48 Television sound installation…(17 functional 8 pin din televisions- lots of leads and overheating!)

A representation of my street from my perspective as a newcomer to the area. There were over 300 houses on my street. Only 11 people would tell me about how they felt about their neighbourhood; I asked about what does neighbourhood mean to them? Someone complained about my presence to an individual deemed as ‘The correct channel’. Yet it was me, who was in a vulnerable position, it was me who freely shared my details. I felt that the observer had become the observed.

So, what does neighbourhood mean to you?

Where does neighbourhood end?

What constitutes as ‘home’ to you?

Audio interviews were played from different screens, as you walk around the installation, you would have heard different parts of each interview while other voices fade away.

The single screen CCTV style footage of the street (on the chair); separated from the ‘brickwork’ tower installation is a representation of me being separated from my neighbourhood. I am blocked out, not part of the community. It takes time to gain the trust of a community. Being an artist does not give you the keys to any door.

The stars will guide me (2016)

Everyone moving, going home or going to work, visiting freinds. Whatever your path, keep moving. Hopefully we all know our way home… and that home is a safe place.

Feature Void

A project spearheaded by Dan Auluk. http://feature-project.co.uk/feature-2016/4592779950 I see it as a ‘call and response’ where participating artists send in video footage which is reinterpreted and reinvented. This is my response to Dan’s edit of selected videos created by the artists on the Feature website. Other artist responses can be found on the Feature-Project website. Happy viewing!

Shifting Birmingham: 900 years Drawn & Erased. A Flip map. (Slow Version)

See the map of Birmingham SLOWLY shift and change from 1553 to the most recent map by OS in 2015. Looking at the south side of the map you will see an area gradually disappear and reappear (around the 2015 mark) as time goes backward and forward on the map; this is the site of the Wholesale Markets (Europe’s largest Wholesale market). The site is was to be demolished in February 2018. Trading on this site has been taking place since Saxon times; hence the 900 years reference. The intention was to see how the shape of Birmingham’s road map evolved over the years; however, I was struck by how the curation of the map was affected by the social and political landscape of the time and what was considered important enough to make prominent on the map. Note the changes in the way the map is curated. Only the main texts (the most prominent) texts have been chosen. Look out for the type of font, from sans serif to serif fonts, from numbers that denote ward areas, to church areas and areas of private ownership such as Gooch, Lench and Jennens. This animated map is a mixture of art and history and is intended to show an overview of the map rather than presenting the map in its isolated individual states . I hope you enjoy this map. But if it’s a bit too SLOW for you there is another much FASTER version posted on you tube.