MARCIA TEUSINK
MARCIA TEUSINK
Herbaria and Botanical map
Painting and drawing
VENUE
4. OSR Projects, West Coker
Fri 26 – Sun 28 May, 10am – 5:30pm
A series of paintings based on historic herbaria, which are dried plant specimens pinned to sheets of paper, used by botanists to study plants. Marcia is fascinated by the idea of separating and flattening nature to understand and organise it, but also the care and close observation given by the scientists.
Drawn with bleach on linen this large wall hanging has its origins in the idea of cartography as domination, but here the botanical map is old and battered and failing apart, a reference to colonialism and the current climate situation.
More work by Marcia is on show at Dawe’s Twineworks, where two painting workshops and a plant exchange organised by Marcia will also take place. See our events listings for more details and booking.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Marcia Teusink’s work explores climate change, collapsing environments and regrowth through painting, sculpture, video, printmaking and mixed media.
NASTASSJA SIMENSKY
NASTASSJA SIMENSKY
Concrete
Film
Film duration: 7 mins
VENUE
4. OSR Projects, West Coker
Fri 26 – Sun 28 May, 10am – 5:30pm
This short film brings together images of naturally occurring calcified architectural forms including heart urchin shells and aquatic worm husks, alongside decommissioned modernist architecture and archival footage of seismic research, all in an endless loop of construction and disintegration.
Co-selected by Primary.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Nastassja Simensky is an artist who often works collaboratively to make writing, place-specific performances, events, sound work and films as a form of ongoing fieldwork. Nastassja coordinates the Archaeology Heritage Art Research Network.
TOM SEWELL
TOM SEWELL
Anti (23) Idol for Eris
Sculpture
VENUE
4. OSR Projects, West Coker
Fri 26 – Sun 28 May, 10am – 5:30pm
A temporary assemblage of found, natural and human-made materials, which will be dismantled after the festival – the objects discarded, lost or re-used in other works, or returned to their point of finding, to resume their place in cycles of decay.
Tom will lead a circle-building workshop on Saturday 26, opening up the processes of his practice for anyone to try. See our events listings for more details – Booking required.
Co-selected by Hogchester Arts.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Tom Sewell works across sculpture, drawing, installation, print, performance, photography and writing. His practice investigates human relationships with nature, using research into (pre)history, mythology, language, landscape and life to open up the porous border between nature and culture, questioning that dualism and exploring how it shifts through time and space.
TRACY HILL
TRACY HILL
State of Being Porous and Veins of Transmission
VENUE
4. OSR Projects, West Coker
Fri 26 – Sun 28 May, 10am – 5:30pm
Tracy Hill’s drawings reflect on experiences of walking through landscape – exploring the human body’s capacity to sense almost imperceptible material forces, vibrations and energies in the world.
Two parts of Tracy’s research project ‘Porosity’ are being shown together at OSR Projects: a series of lithographic prints, along with temporary drawings created by dropping water and tusche (ink) onto a ground lithographic stone. As the tusche dries on the stones, at a speed dictated by the warmth of the day, subtle air movements and changes in the atmosphere are captured on the stone surface.
Co-selected by AirSpace Gallery.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Tracy Hill’s work explores how trans-disciplinary engagement can offer new ideas and ways of seeing landscapes. Her practice connects the act of walking, beliefs and
processes of performative drawing and hand-printing.
NICOLA TURNER WITH CLARE WHISTLER
NICOLA TURNER WITH
CLARE WHISTLER
Echoed Ecstasy
Sculpture and performance
VENUE
3. The Pound, Chur Lane, West Coker
Fri 26 – Sun 28 May, 10am – 5:30pm
Two site-specific sculptural installations have been created for the festival, one in each village. Nicola’s works combine found objects that hold traces of memory, the shapes of living forms and materials from organic ‘dead’ matter such as horsehair – a material traditionally used for bedding and furniture and, in that regard, alive with history and memory. On Saturday, collaborative artist and performer, Clare Whistler, will make her own response to the sculpture at The Pound, West Coker in the form of movement.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Nicola Turner’s practice investigates the dissolution of boundaries, liminal states, and the continuous exchange of ecosystems.
Clare Whistler is an interdisciplinary artist who works with performance, site, poetry, music, visual art and communities. Movement and gesture infuse all her work.
UFUOMA ESSI
UFUOMA ESSI
Pastoral Malaise
Film
Film duration: 14 mins
VENUE
2. Village Hall, West Coker
Fri 26 – Sun 28 May, 10am – 5:30pm
A short film about the absences within rural pastoral environments, often framed by romanticism and picturesque conventions, constructed as tourist sites and refuges in rural landscapes across Britain.
Credit: Pastoral Malaise (2022), dir Ufuoma Essi
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Ufuoma Essi is a filmmaker and artist whose work spans film, moving image, photography and sound. Using the archive as an essential medium, her work revolves around Black feminist epistemology and the configuration of displaced histories, with the aim of interrogating and disrupting the silences and gaps of political and historical narratives.
The works on show at the Village Hall are presented as part of ‘Right of Way’ a programme of artists’ films, commissioned in 2022 by the Independent Cinema Office and LUX (the UK agency for the support and promotion of artists working with the moving image). They are part of a wider programme, including archive footage, that aims to provide a bigger picture of questions of access and inclusion in the UK countryside. The commissions were supported by the BFI Film Audience Network and Arts Council England. www.rightofwaytour.org.uk
ARJUNA NEUMAN
ARJUNA NEUMAN
Syncopated Green
Film
FIlm duration: 8 mins
VENUE
2. Village Hall, West Coker
Fri 26 – Sun 28 May, 10am – 5:30pm
Reflecting on the history of outdoor free parties in the English countryside, Arjuna Neuma uses rave music, past and present, to help forget the ‘official’ portrayal of England as picturesque, nostalgic, white, and rural. Somewhere between a music video, a memoir and an essay, Syncopated Green turns imperial history inside out and asks: how might our future be different if we had other histories to lean on – and dance with?
Credit: Syncopated Green (2022), dir. Arjuna Neuman
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Arjuna Neuman was born on an aeroplane: that’s why he has two passports. He is an artist, filmmaker and writer.
FIND OUT MORE
The works on show at the Village Hall are presented as part of ‘Right of Way’ a programme of artists’ films, commissioned in 2022 by the Independent Cinema Office and LUX (the UK agency for the support and promotion of artists working with the moving image). They are part of a wider programme, including archive footage, that aims to provide a bigger picture of questions of access and inclusion in the UK countryside. The commissions were supported by the BFI Film Audience Network and Arts Council England. www.rightofwaytour.org.uk
DAN GUTHRIE
DAN GUTHRIE
black strangers
Film
Film duration: 11 mins 20 secs
VENUE
2. Village Hall, West Coker
Fri 26 – Sun 28 May, 10am – 5:30pm
This film follows the artist through the woods in search of ‘Daniel’, who was buried in a Gloucestershire village in 1719 and described, in a transcript found in Gloucester Archives, as ‘a black stranger’. Whilst walking, Dan talks directly to Daniel, speculating about the parallels between him and his namesake, and about how he’s been made to feel like a ‘black stranger’ in his home town of Stroud.
Credit: black strangers (2022), dir. Dan Guthrie
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Dan Guthrie is an artist, researcher and writer whose practice often explores representations of Black Britishness, with an interest in examining how they manifest themselves in rural areas.
The works on show at the Village Hall are presented as part of ‘Right of Way’ a programme of artists’ films, commissioned in 2022 by the Independent Cinema Office and LUX (the UK agency for the support and promotion of artists working with the moving image). They are part of a wider programme, including archive footage, that aims to provide a bigger picture of questions of access and inclusion in the UK countryside. The commissions were supported by the BFI Film Audience Network and Arts Council England. www.rightofwaytour.org.uk
SEAWEED IN THE FRUIT LOCKER – RHYS MORGAN
SEAWEED IN THE FRUIT LOCKER – RHYS MORGAN
Performance
VENUE
1. Dawe’s Twineworks, West Coker
Sun 28 May, 12pm Lunchtime
Seaweed in the Fruit Locker is an LGBTQIA+ sea shanty choir formed by artist Rhys Morgan, exploring queer motifs within seafaring history and collective performance in marginalised communities through the tradition of shanty singing. The choir have used their lived experience to rework existing shanties and inspire new ones, continuing the tradition of these hybrid folk songs being adapted time and again through generations and across cultures.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Rhys Morgan is an artist and producer. His work often explores ideas around information and power structures and how these interact with queer life.