Strange Times or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Pandemic [footnoteRef:1] [1: Reference to Dr Strangelove or: How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Strangelove]

2020 was the year that didn’t go to plan. “Plan” is a bit of an oxymoron for an independent artist as you tend to have limited control over your entire circumstance - but I do try and follow a vague trajectory. I’d just shown work at the V&A in London, MMCA Seoul and the Vienna Biennial. Things were going well and after months of back-breaking work - the pièce de resistance - I was finally installing my first commissioned public sculpture at UCL/Slade in London.

“Dissent Module”[footnoteRef:2] is a hand riveted space descent module constructed from materials that include wood and aluminum and incorporates aircraft parts that I’d “scavenged” from eBay. My best find was an emergency exit door from a Boeing 727 for under £100 from a guy in Luton. Being interested in the provenance of materials I innocently enquired where it was from (he appeared to have a whole stack in the kitchen). The response was “around” (I felt momentarily grateful that I lived nearer Gatwick). It's a beautiful object so I used this as the starting point for the design of the body. The physical fabrication took a lot of sweat and tears and only one visit to A&E (Making large structures on your own is notoriously hazardous). It was sentient. Access to its anechoic interior was via the Boeing hatch that I’d rigged to a linear actuator (courtesy of You Tube tutorials) and controlled by V.A.L.E.R.I.E, a speculative fictional but functional AI character trained on an archive of women's knowledge. Her interior was specifically designed to filter out damaging lower vocal frequencies and provide refuge and meaningful conversation for those who she allowed in. [2: Dissent Module (Escape from Semiramis), winner of the CoLAB commission, https://www.2ra.co/dissentmodule.html]

IMAGES CLOCKWISE:

Dissent Module Interior: Anechoic Foam + Gullwing door made from Boeing 727, 2020Dissent Module Exterior: Riveted Aluminium, 2020Dissent Module Interior: Anechoic Foam, Wires and Computer Equipment, 2020ARA in studio fabricating Dissent Module (photo credit: Anne Purkiss), 2020

On the last day of install, as the university was becoming eerily empty due to the uncertainty of the potential pandemic, I was instructed to abandon ship. As the work was situated outdoors, I had to salvage what I could. I spent another 2 days stripping out all the electronics, computers, cameras. sound system and other equipment I had painfully installed over the previous months and then sealed up the door.

The interpretation panel (that never made it up) described it as an abandoned space decent module, a Marie Celeste. Unintentionally it had fulfilled its prophecy.

IMAGE: Artist clearing down site during first Covid-19 Lockdown (Courtesy of Anne Purkiss)

10 months later I’m in lockdown at my parents’ house in Jersey, unable to get back to my studio in London with my van, computer, partial sanity and just enough underwear. I’m adapting …

This blog is really about adaptability.

Humans historically have had to adapt to survive and they’ve proved themselves to be pretty good at it. As creatives we’re having to adapt our practice to fit into this strange new world - whatever that will be. I realise it’s something I’ve been doing all my life. Women are especially adept at it - we’ve had a lot of practice - prioritising childcare responsibilities, elderly parents, compromising our time and behavior to avoid conflict, etc… As creatives our work is generally valued at less than half of our male counterparts[footnoteRef:3] (We only command 2% of the Art Market in terms of sales[footnoteRef:4]). The knock-on effect being we are forced to adapt more - we have considerably less financial freedom, access to resources, assistants and noticeably smaller studios. In my studio complex none of the larger ground floor studios are occupied by female practitioners. [3: Sutton, Benjamin. “Art by Women Sells for 47.6% Less Than Works by Men, Study Finds.” Hyperallergic, 14 Dec. 2017, hyperallergic.com/417356/art-by-women-gender-study-sexism/. ] [4: Halperin, Julia. “Female Artists Represent Just 2 Percent of the Market. Here's Why-and How That Can Change.” Artnet News, 28 Oct. 2019, news.artnet.com/womens-place-in-the-art-world/female-artists-represent-just-2-percent-market-heres-can-change-1654954. ]

My work is often more ambitious than the size of my studio. Maybe I should have adapted to making smaller pieces, but I’m at a stage where I want to make larger works and be more experimental. This has resulted in me fabricating the works in a modular way so they can break down into smaller pieces to get out of a domestic sized door and be reassembled without damage in museums. In retrospect I realise that my works tend to mimic the shape of my studio. The “This Much I’m Worth” series[footnoteRef:5] are long thin works (9m x 1m) and were made in my last studio that was also similar dimensions. Sections of the work were sized specifically to fit into the back of my van. It’s not a limitation I enjoy having to build into the work, and often can stifle the creative flow, complicate and lengthen the build. But something has to give. [5: This Much I’m Worth (the self-evaluating artwork) (Korean Version), https://www.2ra.co/tmiwkorean.html, 2019]

IMAGES CLOCKWISE:

ARA fabricating “This Much I’m Worth” in Studio, 2017ARA testing “This Much I’m Worth (Korean Version)”, 2019“This Much I’m Worth (Korean Version)”, 2019 @ MMCA in Seoul

A few years ago, I came back home to look after my mother after she’d had an operation - at the time I was in the initial stages of formulating a competitive proposal for an installation at the Barbican Centre in London. The idea for the proposal morphed into something different partially due to my changed circumstances and from the different conversations I was suddenly having… My mother inadvertently became my collaborator. The brief was to produce a piece of work that responded to the current political climate. Inspired by the famous paper bag scene in Sam Mendes’ film American Beauty, we proposed creating a Trompe (Trump) L’Oeii[footnoteRef:6] mimicking the brutalist architecture in the Barbican with an orange hairpiece perpetually being subtly blown around like tumbleweed. The symbolism was spot on. Without access to my studio I made the maquette out of old moisturizer packaging (scene), a straw (wind simulation) and cat’s hair (Trump's Hairpiece) - courtesy of Pancho the ginger cat. It’s ironic that after years of training as a maker and with work in the V&A collection, the maquette was constructed in Blue Peter style. It won the commission. [6: American Beauty (a Trump L’Oeil), https://www.2ra.co/amerianbeauty.html, 2018]

IMAGE: Maquette for visualising “American Beauty (A Trump L’Oeil)” Commission.

IMAGE: American Beauty (A Trump L’Oeil), CGI Installation, Barbican Centre Ground Floor May - December 2018

On the subject of my mum, (80 this year and going strong), she’s a great example of someone who's adapted her practice to her physical limitations. She now works on a smaller scale and the work hasn't lost its presence and energy. As she’s not out and about so much - well who is? - she’s utilising the power of Instagram to show her work and interact with other artists globally. She has two very lively accounts[footnoteRef:7]. [7: Kay Le Seelleur Ara Instagram Feeds: https://www.instagram.com/kay_leseelleur/, https://www.instagram.com/kays_telly_doodles/]

IMAGE LEFT; “They thought they were so funny wearing their sun visors upside down”, Kay Le Seelleur Ara, 2020IMAGE RIGHT: , @Kays_telly_doodles Instagram Feed, 2021.

Let's be honest here, I’m finding it frustratingly hard to focus at the moment. There have been major changes to my circumstances due to the pandemic, commissions and shows have been indefinitely cancelled so it wasn't looking like a productive year. In my opinion, this government has demonstrated willful negligence in their handling of the pandemic. There’s frequently a lack of clarity or conviction in the government advice. I was especially outraged with the arrogance of the “Cummings Incident” early on in this whole fiasco which led me to vent my frustration by writing over my van “Keep Back: Eye Test in Progress” - a sarcastic response to Cumming’s excuse of going for a long drive after the government’s “Stay at Home” message. Within a few days images of the van had gone viral over social media and I was contacted by news networks. It then dawned on me that more people were engaging with my “work” on the van, than some of the museums where my work had been displayed. I was also having great interactions with people as I was driving around. I like to see creativity used in a way to discuss and advance thought - and I’d rather be engaging with people more regularly and having philosophical debate created by the work, than showing it to a vacuum in a large gallery - and it was right for the times. From that experience MoVA[footnoteRef:8] was born. [8: MoVA - Westall, Mark. “Outrageous Algorithms: an Ingenious New Artwork for These Strange Times.” FAD Magazine, FAD Magazine, 1 Oct. 2020, fadmagazine.com/2020/10/01/outrageous-algorithms-an-ingenious-new-artwork-for-these-strange-times/. ]

IMAGE:

Initial writing on the back of my Van, 2020

MoVA Logo (a play on MoMA), 2020

Outrageous Algorithms, second show at MoVA, 2020

The original work was done with a whiteboard marker - production has since become slightly more sophisticated as I’ve invested in a (mobile) vinyl printer and create the designs on my computer using Adobe Illustrator and InDesign- so my studio and gallery are now mobile and get locked down wherever I am - my future proof strategy! It also suits my daily patterns as I spend quite a lot of time on the road (when permitted) - so it’s constantly on ”national tours”.

IMAGE: A0 Design for second show on MoVA “Outrageous Algorithms “

Being back in Jersey, I was drawn to the similarity of this work to that of a local chap called Bob Bission[footnoteRef:9] whom my grandmother used to play tennis with in the 1950s. He was seen as a bit of a local eccentric and I suspect looking back in hindsight, he was probably a bit on the spectrum. As a child I used to pass his house every Saturday on the way to classes. He had completely covered every inch of his house in text. When he ran out of space, he created more by planting placards in the garden. Some of the writing was religious, some political and some I couldn’t place. It used to infuriate the local politicians and they would make him paint over it, but soon enough more text would reappear! He was quite critical of the Jersey Government, but I believe a true creative thinker. [9: Tony’s Musings Blog http://tonymusings.blogspot.com/2015/01/some-jersey-eccentrics.html. Robert Chalmers Bisson, The Channel Archive Interview with Robert Chalmers Bisson - 1993, https://www.facebook.com/ChannelArchive/videos/1046150288812086]

Bob was also regularly seen outside the Royal Courts feeding the pigeons. He used to say that the states excreted on the public, and the pigeons paid them back in their own coin. “If I excreted on the states premises, I would be prosecuted, but if I feed the pigeons and they excrete there, I get off with it, they [the pigeons] do it by proxy”.

IMAGE: Bob Bisson’s House at Mount Cochen, Jersey. Image sourced from Tony’s Musings Blog

Having taken you through a circuitous journey from spaceships, feminist AI to hairpieces and pigeon excrement, what I’m really trying to say is that creativity is not always an easy thing, especially if you don’t feel in control of your circumstances. Adapt and make peace with your environment and resources, then the creativity will usually follow. It consumes too much unnecessary effort to continually resist what’s around and control the uncontrollable. I know it’s not an easy time - but carving a bit of space for creativity may help preserve some sanity - and for that you just need some time - the most precious and fundamental resource.

Just remember that some of the most thought-provoking work has originated from the most unexpected and strange places.

Stay Safe