Mx.D.P

Well, by Mid-way through the interim exhibition/ low-res, I was laying in bed looking at videos my coursemate Madeline Kay had sent me…

It’s all about pacing…this always was as much about logistics as art, about friendship and connection… about coping with physical disability and my ability/inability to look after my body…

My minders have been many… that has been truly amazing, wonderful… special… what a tremendous set of people… Thank You…

The supporters that travelled for the show (you know who you are, and I couldn’t have done any of this without you), my course-mates, my tutor, and, as always, Dwain have made it possible to do things this week I had thought impossible a few years ago.

I know the old pilots mantra of the 6 P’s are true for me as ever.

Piss Poor Preparation leads to Piss Poor Performance

This week has given me more information as to what will work best for me.

For the exhibition…I like the look of the strip hang, and I already have ideas to continue this work, but I have no idea where our Grad Show will be. As a course, some of us have plans to meet up and see this year’s Grad show in June.

At this show, I saw solutions for setting up videos for censored work… if I need that next time…

What didn’t work…

I need an assistant, food, toilet, bending down… the disability doesn’t go away… everything that adds to the pain count takes away what I can do art-wise. It’s simple maths!

Art wise…

The on-the-ground pieces were too many and offered too much in such a busy setting.

The business cards, postcards and QR codes did they work? Maybe too early to say… we will always have Paris… thank you MM

I loved making the bound boob sculpture and skin bra, and it was an important work for trans visibility and me as a trans artist. However, the link wasn’t clear enough for the short attention span of the exhibition visitor and would have worked better displayed as two separate works, which was not feasible in this setting.

The very best part of the exhibition work was a young student who came up to me and thanked me for the trans visibility of my art… that made it all worthwhile.

I enjoyed the workshops that I managed to attend. I can’t manage full days, and I came a cropper on the book workshop on the stylish but unsupportive pale blue chairs… but what I learnt will undoubtedly be put into practice back home in the beach studio!

Alex’s collaborative making was amazing and I made the best D*Ck ever… so much better than Mr Floppy on opening night!

I now have the skills necessary to make my own art D*Ck and it’s given me ideas for my costumes for my IRL/Animation characters.

David Cross’s lecture could have been the most important lecture I’ve attended and made connections in ways I hadn’t thought of before. The need for critical creativity, opposed to just creativity…

The 3D image capture class was amazing, I have loads of image data now to play with, not sure my billy basic MacBook would cut it with processing.

I’ve always seen my investigation into emerging technologies as about me learning a language to converse with those about to join the Network. However, the boob sculpture may look good modelled in 3D; I wouldn’t need Andrew to carry it everywhere!

The assessments came out mid-way through the Low-Res, and the feedback was helpful and bang-on…

I WANT to create new knowledge, am I there yet… no… will I be? That’s the breakthrough that only comes by doing the work…

The feedback helped me reflect on the last 20 weeks through other’s eyes.

My ethos is Transmission, to communicate and connect.

I am in the Earth Saving business, but I can’t do that alone, so the The Network is the focus of my practice…

The intersectionality within my practice is me…

The making is my meditation to deal with the existential crisis induced during Earth Saving…

The making must be minimised to follow ‘the 3 laws’ cheeky nod to the 2004 film I, Robot.

1. Make without making, using up STUFF – reduce, reuse, recycle, and refuse…

I don’t know what laws 2. and 3. are… I haven’t written those yet… but it might include… Make small changes and forgive yourself the cheat days (that could be a law, or it might just be a diet strategy…)

I’ve had two really productive meetings, the Network of Eco-kindness is moving forward, and it was terrific to meet Clem Crosby IRL. I’m always amazed at how productive our chats are; we are a good mix.

It was lovely to meet up with Dr Giz and Dr Ellen (Titty Washer and Genital Irregularity Inspector). We did the usual goss, and I’m so grateful that Ellen will help me with a strategy to find funding for my PhD and think about a supervisor…

The chat with Dr Tiger Sue (supporter and general superstar) about the importance of getting along with your PhD supervisor was genuinely helpful!

I bet you are now thinking, who are all these people… well I am sure you will find them at some stage in my animations in some form or other… that’s how my animation works… will YOU appear?

The not-so-good bits have been the physical pain as always… the train journey home was ‘interesting’ to say the least… I know none of this would be easy, and missing my friend’s opening night in Walthamstow was shit!

Nonetheless, Andrew (Art collector supporter and bloody good laugh) took lots of photos.

Richard (performance arteeeeesst and chief mischief-maker) rang me and kept saying get in a taxi which was lovely!

I only wish I could, but I’m beginning to understand it is better to do a little every day so I can live to fight another day… yes, it’s all about pacing… and finding who you are…

I discovered through art action research making this work that I didn’t want a real dick after all. (you have no idea how much anxiety the possibility of that caused me and my family) and if I did ever want a dick, it would be a strap-on. Yet, I do love my moustache… and if you are a non-binary person flirting with your trans-masc identity, that’s pretty amazing, so maybe I am creating some personal new knowledge. I can see how these experiences will lead to future Queer Chaos Theory… and that’s satisfying and might in some way Save the Earth., not sure how yet… I will keep you posted!