I am a socially-engaged visual artist. I work principally with moving image, making standalone artists' film and installations. My work often plays with mainstream and accessible forms – documentary, music video, magazine – so as to move beyond a traditional gallery audience.
I am interested in who makes work, how, why, for whom, and why that matters. I often produce work within a discrete community or interest group, making work with a personal connection to my collaborators and broader social relevance. I want to celebrate and make visible the joy of the making process itself and explore its value for individual and collective growth and change. I develop processes to enable diverse groups of people to make work together. This focus is mirrored in the subject matter of my work, which deals with themes around our social environment and relationships with one another.
Full list of shows, talks, teaching, awards etc: here.
Curatorial work: here.
Film work produced by satellite.
Editions via artists’ imprint bored.of.works.
Consultancy work: here.
WinterSessions Residency at V2, Rotterdam - exhibition Fri 26th Feb
2025 Awards for Artists - Paul Hamlyn Foundation (UK)
Artist Award recipient - Henry Moore Foundation (UK)
Never Sleep - Four Corners/Chisenhale Gallery (London, UK)
2024Rabbits Road Press/UCL Residency (London, UK)
2023 Never Sleep - Chisenhale Gallery Project Space (London, UK)
An Intermission acquired by Arts Council England for the National Art Collection (UK)
2022 Selected - Lodestars - Film London (London, UK)
Prophecy - Mead Gallery (Coventry, UK)
2021 Jury Member - International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) (Amsterdam, NL)
Aesthetica Art Prize - longlist (UK)
Baltic Open (Gateshead, UK)
2020 Bloomberg New Contemporaries (UK)
Trellis Commission - UCL Culture (London, UK)
International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA): Best Children’s Documentary Award - Jury Special Mention (Amsterdam, NL)
Gasworks Residency (London, UK)
2019 British Film Institute (BFI)/DocSociety Made Of Truth Award (UK)
Guardian/Joseph Rowntree Foundation Award - Doc/Fest (Sheffield, UK)
Constellations - UP Projects/Flat Time House (London, UK)
2013
A lifestyle magazine for asylum seekers. Made in collaboration with photographer Liz Hingley, and members of the UK's Zimbabwean community who experienced the asylum detention system.
Fed up with only seeing people in detention represented as helpless victims, we set out to create a work that deals with the injustices of the UK's border detention system whilst placing the humanity of our collaborators front and centre. It is one thing to know about the effects of a deliberate and xenophobic policy, but it is all the more powerful when you can see the humour, warmth and integrity of those who have experienced it.
A discussion about brand awareness revealed that the top UK names people were aware of were Serco, Capita and G4S. Like an entrepreneurial market stall trader, we named our magazine SERCO in an attempt at some reflected name recognition. We worked with Rukai, the womens' knitting group, to organise glossy fashion shoots and branding for designs they now sell at Smithfield Market in London. We photographed market stall wares, commissioned Tripadvisor-style reviews of the UK's detention centres, and a 'How To Spend It' guide to living on £35 per week, as UK asylum seekers (who are also not allowed to work) must do.
The finished work was exhibited at Oxford House (London, UK), and then distributed as an edition of 500 litho printed glossy magazines. We were honoured to learn that the work inspired the launch of Unlocking Detention, a campaign against the detention system, which has now been running for several years.
Supported by: the Economic and Social Research Council, University College London, the Zimbabwe Association, Oxford House
Exhibited:
Oxford House (London, UK), 15th - 30th April 2013
Sussex University (Brighton, UK) - 11th March 2013
National Maritime Museum (London, UK) - held in Permanent Collection