I got a very generous share of the time at the opening event of this digital group exhibition at the Socially Engaged Art Salon, Brighton. Theres more from all the other artists here: https://www.seasbrighton.org/life-interrupted-gallery And more on my own submission here: https://www.seasbrighton.org/post/life-interrupted-caroline-mawer
This 5 minute film links some work I already did on lemons and the Persian oak – see below.And also adds more on the English Oak. English oaks are – probably – even more entrenched in English folklore and history than Persian oaks are in SW Iran. Quercus robur is England’s national tree and there …
This was an intimate performance with spoken word, choreography and a wrap-around projected forest. I’ve tidied up the videos here: Black Run and Deathbed Skiing: Last Breath / First Breath: Read some of the words here
Constable’s Haywain is a famously popular painting. It’s a chocolate-box idyll of rural English life Isn’t it? In some important ways, Constable was a true radical. His ‘ rough‘ painting techniques have been described as an important precursor to Impressionism. And he transformed landscape painting. Moving it away from classical Italy towards the English countryside But his …
These two female figures are both self portraits, showing my multiple morbidities. My nakedness illustrates how vulnerable I can be. I’m also showing that I am more than a set of diagnoses: I am a human being and a woman. Both of the images are a collage of photographs.In my side-view, I have a bony skull …
This is a five by five grid of images of eyes: mostly open, but some blinking shut. In the eye’s ‘pupils’ you can see some of the many eye diagnoses I have – as well as some of the splendid things I’ve seen. Before my eyes changed, that is I’m visually impaired – I can’t …
On occasion, I’ve been unable to stand up for long enough to brush my teeth. But I’m much more than my immobility.My spoof of Velazquez’ Toilet of Venus (1647-51) shows an immobile woman with a beautiful body. The artist and the audience are not focusing on her arms or legs.She’s got my cheeky face – …
This is my spoof of Breughel’s The Blind Leading the Blind (1584). My version has digitally erased the ditch that the sixth of Breughel’s subjects fell into. In the social model of disability, the environment is often the primary disabling factor. If only the local council followed my lead – in a real-life way – …
I wasn’t able to exercise in any of my usual ways during shielding. So this shows (a version of) me running. The ribbons from some of my Marathon medals are almost a floral spray up in the top right hand corner This collage gave me beauty and dynamism, when both of those things felt truly lacking. …
The two ‘women’ in my installation reflect different parts of myself. The naked woman shows how vulnerable I felt. She’s also a commentary on the government pronouncements on deaths ‘only’ being in the old and those with pre-existing conditions. That’s me, I thought! I’ve got pre-existing conditions – so apparently my death doesn’t really count. …