On Paper, Lines & Puffs of Language

The film "On Paper, Lines & Puffs of Language" is a short film exploring connections between paper, language and space. It was created in collaboration with Jasper Fell-Clark, through funding from The Box Plymouth's Artists Development Bursary scheme. The Box awarded six development bursaries to artists from across the South West in 2021. The artists used the bursaries to support ongoing or existing projects and/or research.

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300-word supporting statement for ‘On Paper, Lines & Puffs of Language’ [video]; ‘Little Clouds: Speech Balloons & the Air of Language’ [book chapter]; ‘Remembering Air’ [works for an exhibition]:

This body of work further explored my interest in orality, breath and air, through a repositioning of the subject within an ecologically-conscious practice. Both studio-practice and writing examined the speech balloon and the cloud, unfolding our existing understanding of each, through a detailed breakdown from multiple viewpoints. The work was underpinned by the theories of ecologist/philosopher David Abram, concerning speech as shaped-air and the dichotomy of writing’s significance in ‘civilizing’ humans, whilst simultaneously contributing to our distancing from the natural world. Ludwig Wittgenstein’s concept of ‘Aspect Change’ – the ability to see one thing in multiple ways – was also a bedrock concept.

Funding through an Artist’s Development Bursary from The Box, Plymouth facilitated a 4-week artist’s residency at ‘Allotment Club’ (Penryn) which provided research time and space, fundamental in achieving a variety of explorative artistic/written/filmic outputs. It also supported the creation of the film ‘On Paper, Lines & Puffs of Language’ with film-maker Jasper Fell-Clark – for me a new way of documenting my practice – and the delivery of a paper at ‘Symposium on Aspect Change’, HBK Bern, Switzerland, 2021.

The book ‘Atlas of Aspect Change’ is sold in outlets worldwide and my article appeared alongside contributions from a diverse and respected array of designers/artists/writers/thinkers. Tine Melzer, its editor, asserts Aspect Seeing’s importance beyond arts and literary practices, because it allows us to transfer single truths into a conscious spectrum of meanings, suggesting its value not only as an essential cultural tool, but I propose, as a means for more empathetic modes of seeing and thinking.

Residencies at Allotment Club between 2019–2021 (of which I was one) demonstrated a lineage of reputable artists, and a need for residencies allowing connection and reflection upon nature, helping secure ACE funding (by Georgia Gendall) for a subsequent residency scheme in 2023, in which I was a mentor.

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