After a lot of serious thought and discussion between the Meadow Arts curatorial team and project partners Vivid Projects, four artists have been selected to make new digital work for RURALitities, a project supported by the Art Fund. The standard of application was high and the following were selected for their commitment to investigating the rural within their practices, the quality of their ideas and their critical engagement with RURALities.
£4000 commission: Lucy Wright’s practice explores and re-imagines historical ‘folk’ practices to better represent contemporary societal makeup. It also aims to challenge limiting stereotypes about rural communities.
£2500 commission: in Craig David Parr’s own words, he is “a working-class DIY art warlock, with an interest in memory/the occult/goblins /class/stone circles/rpg’s*/self-organisation/ghost trains/deep-time/hyperstition/fantasy”. He is the co-founder of Midlands based collective Kühle Wampe.
£1000 commission 1: Dan Turner (work below left) is a Romani artist and educator who works across media, including sculpture, video, and painting. Dan’s practice explores the interaction between Romani and mainstream culture through themes of commercial interchange in Romani life.
£1000 commission 2: Martha Kelsey (work above right) is a 25-year-old artist interested in developing work inspired by churches in Herefordshire’s remote locations. For this commission, she will explore the mysterious ancient stone carvings in rural churches, especially those situated in the ‘Archenfield' (the ancient name for the shifting border between Herefordshire and Wales).
Huge thanks to all of the artists who applied for this opportunity: it was a pleasure to see your work.
*rpg’s are Role Playing Games
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