Intensive Mentoring Residency Artist
Shirley Archibald

5th May -2nd June

Open Studio Dates to be announced shortly.

“My multi-disciplinary practice examines historical events from the positionality of a queer/neurodiverse/feminist perspective. I am invested in embodied truths linked to the examination of historical events and their generationally gifted traumas. Making connections between these historical events is the generative engine of my multi-disciplinary practice.

Currently, my practice examines historical definitions and persecution of witches, the creation of the hag myth, and its place in contemporary narratives of feminine life. I intend to use this residency to deepen this investigation through writing, play, experimentation, performance, and research.

I aim to create a world, almost like a diorama, that will enable me to play with the main themes of my work whilst following my impulse, allowing work to happen and breathe organically. Recently, topographical images have been emerging in my painting/assemblage work, and during the residency, I plan to experiment by extending my wall-based work to floor and tabletop levels so that the public can interact in a more immersive way. A lifelong investigation into acts of literal and personal obliteration and destruction runs through this work, which I will continue to explore on a larger scale in this residency.

I have been sculpting with sewing patterns and painting with mud on canvases and individual assemblages made from found objects that are stretched into uniquely shaped canvases. My plan would be to create a laboratory of material exploration, pushing my work to the limits and trying out different approaches, processes, and techniques to create various colors, finishes, shapes, and constructions. I intend to try out methods of building up 3D topographical areas on the canvas. I’d also like to make multiple mini assemblages and play with those in the gallery.

In my performance work, I have been experimenting with embodying 'the hag’ in both domestic and forest settings, where I am clothed in sewing patterns. I would like to explore this further, experimenting with public performances during the residency. I would permit myself to push all of my work to the limits and make mistakes. I look forward to responding to the space and seeing what effect it will have on the work I create there. I instinctively feel that I’d like to play by hanging dried, mud-soaked sewing patterns in some of the gallery windows and perhaps interact with the public passing by”.