Mx.D.P
XD artist, writer, and digital curator.
Their work: Climate Chaos Cruise App, KindPinkNet, and The Abstracted Materialism Manifesto, reflects a commitment to building creative, resilient communities that can withstand geo-political climate chaos.
To envision: an inclusive society founded on creative kindness using the universal language of art.
Category: ableism
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Introduction – What is Digital Arts Digital arts encompass diverse disciplines that leverage digital technologies to create, manipulate, and present artistic works. Here’s an expanded overview of key digital arts practices, including emerging technologies and platforms: Digital PaintingUsing software and digital tools such as tablets and styluses, artists create paintings that mimic or extend traditional…
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I’m currently taking a six-month course at NODE in Berlin. It’s online and practice-based… I’m trying to hone the digital aspects of the global creative network… The PhD proposal is in. I’ve painted a collaboration piece, I’d like to do more of that… I’m planning an Art trip to Scotland and Northern Ireland. In August…
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Is that you Mx. D.P. ??? …well it is and it isn’t, its all of us…
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Using Autoethnographic Abstracted Materialism, 2050:2100 weaponises art and collaboration to resist the void and establish a network of Creative Kindness. My work is driven by the impending Geopolitical Climate chaos of biome degradation, resource scarcity, mass migration and societal collapse. Using up precious resources, I asked A.I. when the Earth would become uninhabitable: ‘Predicting an…
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Well I never did find my sundress, but I did find a roll of red felt and thousands of rhinestones so the costume is coming along a treat! Rhinestones, have become a staple in the worlds of fashion, costume design, and decorative arts. Yet, behind the sparkle lies a set of environmental concerns that no…
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This is a concept for a Queer exhibition… Concept: Fearless Futures for The Void is a celebration of Queer Life, where you open a portal to a otherworldly space known simply as The Void. This art happening merges immersive installation, rave culture, radical queer mentorship, and digital dreamscapes to create a place where absolutely anyone…
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My art practice is THE NETWORK… The following 3 points summarise the three learning outcomes of my MA. I’ve been enabled to take a long hard conceptual look at the last 2 years… …the rest is all storytelling… 1. Realisation Over the course of my MA journey, I have developed a body of work that…
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Using Autoethnographic Abstracted Materialism, 2050:2100 weaponises art and collaboration to resist the void of climate chaos and establish a network of Creative Kindness. This work is driven by the impending Geopolitical Climate chaos of biome degradation, resource scarcity, mass migration and societal collapse. Using up precious resources, I asked A.I. when the Earth would become…
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A Reflective Examination of Autoethnographic Practice and Networked Creativity: Abstracted Materiality as a Queered Conceptual Practice. While collating the Unit 3 Assessment, I wondered why I intuitively chose to abstract materiality within my process practice? Why did I conceptualise the prioritisation of ideas over traditional materiality? In this blog post, I want to focus on…
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9th May… I am three sessions in, and I can see progress. The bum prints went well; there is gooch and hair. The nipple one is not as good. I am printing on art wrap paper, which is waxy. Also, the gel plate was dirty. I normally like the roughage, but this didn’t pick up…
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Trigger warning: Flashing images, themes of Climate Chaos, War, Death, Global Anihilation, Sex… sadly no rock and roll… some funky music though… A Massive Amount of Community Art Activism and fish… An Agender Penguin, a Non-binary Polar Bear and a Nasty Oily Orca… and a lot of Art… nice… https://youtu.be/dHpbdGRtDKk?si=HUTOS8h3SXGptsHl
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This will be an ongoing blog post about the Queer Curation course with the NODE Center in Berlin – sponsored by the SU- UAL. Wednesday 7th May. I’ve just had the first session of my NODE curation course on Zoom. I am in tears, it was so lovely. 23 people from around the world all…
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It is sunny with a fresh breeze on the beach. It was a perfect opportunity to try out the new painting bench. I started with a couple of layers of Liquitex clear gesso. This has a crystal aggregate that gives tooth to the canvas, and I know from previous experiments that I can lay watercolours…
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This was very much a working Tutorial, and after our situational awareness catch-up, we got down to the business of the grad show. We discussed the current state of trans politics and how that affects my art practice, my future PhD, its associated art/network, and myself personally. First, you are what you are; none of…
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A social media art practice? Is there such a thing? Well, there is one if you are trying to make a global network! I ran a social media workshop looking at strategic approaches to social media for creatives on Saturday, the 12th of April; it was about democratising knowledge. I have begun to see my…
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My sketchbook exploration of 2050:2100 is going well. My physical pain is not going well; my sciatica has switched legs. How the f*ck does it do that!!! Thankfully, after years of being a long-haul airline pilot and high-altitude mountaineer, I can fall asleep anywhere… sadly I still wake up in pain; it’s not helping my…
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50:00 Is it Pink? It is partly inspired by the 1915 exhibition, ‘The Last Futurist Exhibition of Paintings 0,10’ (pronounced ‘zero-ten’). It was held at Marsovo Pole, Petrograd, from December 19, 1915, to January 17, 1916. Organised by the Dobychina Art Bureau, this exhibition marked the debut of Suprematism, an art movement characterised by geometric…
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This is the title for my new body of work that I hope to show at the Grad show. I’m collecting all my supplies of black and pink materials to make the work. The Sketch Book. I am testing my ideas before I go big… its going well so far… the music is a collaberation…
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Basically, the Earth is F*ck. I can categorically say that after 3 years of reading scientific data. I was talking to a climate change student last night, and their university offers them mental health counselling as part of their course; it’s that grim. Mass Migration, Resource scarcity, Unpredictable climate chaos, and climate breakdown. But before…
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I had a great conversation with JK at the low-res about my plan for the grad show. It was well thought out, used the durational artwork Identity Flags 2024-, incorporated the inspiration of the Leigh Bowery exhibition… I love a costume… especially a naughty one… It faced out to the world… Then I came home…
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…the world is full of ableism, and this trip was all about that… I had a fantastic time at the low-res; even the aerobatic flip on Prof X out of the black cab and landing on my head didn’t dampen my spirits, although it did cut short the trip by a couple of days… you…
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When a friend said how remarkable I am doing and how I manage to land on my feet when faced with challenging setbacks… I replied instantly… I don’t see them as setbacks but as an opportunity for a new adventure… For the first time since my temporal turn, I thought I was really excited about…
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At the moment, I am surviving, but I can’t say I am thriving. The bloody cats are killing me… up five times last night. I don’t think two chest-fed kids were this much work, but I’ve probably forgotten, and I was a quarter of a century younger and a lot, lot fitter… In other art…
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It’s been another tough week. When the going gets tough… the tough get going. It is Sunday, I am bloody exhausted… Monday – was hard. Registering Dwain’s death, I knew it would be painful; my son Eddie went with me and watching his face was difficult… he was shocked when I had to pay by…
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Well, I was chatting to my daughter about grief; it’s not easy, is it? Grief is like layers of an onion; you peel one off, and there is more underneath, raw and smelly, making your eyes water. I’m not sure I like onions… Gwyl Cariad is in its final week, and lots is going on.…
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What started as an idea to link creatives of the world to battle climate chaos, to give access to artists that would otherwise be marginalised and to make ‘Cool Shit Happen!’ Gwyl Cariad the ‘pilot’ festival is about to kick off! This week is installation week, and it’s been amazing watching the enthusiasm and excitement…
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It’s report-writing time now. The overall view is people need more information. They need clear guidance, and they are legitimately worried. Extreme weather has marred the two public in-person workshops, which is rather appropriate. The best experience for me was with young adults with delayed learning difficulties. In many ways, they were the most verbal…
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Well, it exists. It’s not up and running yet; tomorrow will be a test day. It took until mid-afternoon to find the top of the tripod connector…. After a lot of swearing, I remembered I’d used it on the 360 camera for the ‘Happens’ transmission… My tech assisted in taking my picture – one I…
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The Alfie and Neville collage is coming on a treat, and the great thing about Christmas is there is always lots of shiny waste… perfect for climate change instillations. I’m thinking the animation will be using the collage as digital cut-outs with a little AI for some of the groups characters! The collage is getting…
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I thought I’d reflect on the Miro feedback, I will listen to the what worked for me later… (with a box of tissues) Reading the Miro comments was fascinating because some of you understood my practice, and some didn’t! This means that, in real terms, I haven’t fully explained it. That’s pretty important for me!…
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I am writing this on my new iPad with a keyboard. I don’t like buying new tech; it’s not good for the planet, but it seems it is good for me. When my heart stalls, my touch screen doesn’t work… it thinks I am dead. Managing my enviroment is a day to day struggle. This…
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Learning Outcome 1: Where did this start? What happened? Where are we going?… I started in unit one with this diagram, and I’ve circled in red the areas that have changed. I acknowledged in the first unit assessment that my practice would change. My Art Practice is The Network. A network is rarely fixed; it…
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Walton (2024) asks ‘Is AI Art Less Carbon Intensive Than Human Art?’ They are looking at a paper by Tomlinson et al. (2024) that proposes that the carbon emissions of image and copy production are lower when we use ai opposed to when a human creates it. Already in this blog, I have done what…
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As always, it was a productive combination of discussion with liberal amounts of questions and answers. Art, for me, in the last 4 years has been a constant stream of surprises of self-discovery and unexpected outcomes. Nonetheless, I am now starting to see Art as some form of nonlinear energy transfer, a Schrödinger like theorum.…
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So, I haven’t written an accessibility rider. But I should. I have avoided it because it means I have to confront my own physical limitations , and I simply don’t want to. Organising Gŵyl Cariad, I’ve had to see accessibility from the ‘other side’. I know how hard it is to get sh*t done as…
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Well, the funding statement is in, so we will see what happens. Funding applications are hard work and take hours to prepare. I hope we get some funding but it won’t cover the cost of the online workshop camera rig and kit (more on that in future blogs no doubt) If I want to run…
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A sentence from my PhD study statement says, ‘Crip theory rejects the normative medical model of ‘dis’-abled. Crips are disabled only as a result of societal barriers and attitudes.’ After Borthfest this year, we had a debrief and asked interested parties to come and say what worked and what didn’t. One of the fantastic folks…
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As always, during my four years of academic fine art, I have returned for a summer of tattooing. I give talks on tattoo history and especially the changing nature of tools and techniques. This year will see the start of licensing for tattooing here in Wales. This will be a test bed for its rollout…
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This is an ongoing blog post, as we have yet to sit down and debrief formally. I need a complete analytical look at the social engagement figures, but on IG alone, we had 24,000 hits. The anecdotal response to the events was we attracted new people to Borth who had never been here before, and…
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Working Title: Insights into Art’s Response to chaos threat and it’s ability to wrought social change viewed through the lens of Temporal Queer Theory: The Juxtaposition between Pablo Picasso’s Guernica (1937) and Hillary Powell’s Bank Job (2018-19) Abstract: This paper suggests that scaled community work engaged with the politics of public participation to reimagine art’s…
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According to the British Fashion Council, there are now enough clothes on the planet to dress the next six generations of humans, even taking into account population expansion. What that means is as we buy that new outfit, we contribute to the clothes mounting that charities can’t deal with. Third-world countries don’t want these clothes;…
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First will there be a future? Yes if we are brave and bold… The Earth will exceed 1.5c warming. The IPCC report says large parts of the Earth will become uninhabitable shortly. Which means mass migration, government instability, civil unrest and war. The climate is not only getting hotter, but it is becoming unstable. If…
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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…
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I am currently sitting here in tears of frustration once again because I do not have an assistant for the Low-Res programme at C.S.M. Student Finance Wales has set aside £24000 a year for an assistant, but they have never paid out a penny because I have never had one available. My coursemates are willing…
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I started running a series of workshops last year and will start up again in April. My home of Borth shuts down for winter. It is a storm beach, after all. There have been parties, but I’ve been head down in the studio rather than dancing on the tables… One of my art group’s requests…
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Learning Outcome 1: Formulate, describe and implement a challenging and self-directed programme of study, relating to your Study Statement.(Assessment Criteria: Enquiry) I formulated this program overlayed on the course calendar. It’s pretty full for the first 20 weeks because that’s what’s already or is about to happen. The rest of the units are deliberately vague……
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Title : Speculative Identities Examining the solutions for Climate Mindfulness through the lens of Gender Identity and its Intersectionality with Climate Chaos, Queer theory, Ableism and Emerging Technologies Aims and Objectives… I aim to develop new knowledge and affect change through the interplay of ironic materiality, social rendition and emerging technologies through my active…
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This is becoming a bit of a working document so I’ve put the link for the blog post about how this project started. https://dpmatthews.art.blog/2023/11/10/hu-cow-titty-milk-dairy-rebellion/ Kye Rowan is a Non-binary blogger who designed the non-binary pride flag in 2014 to symbolise individuals who identify beyond the traditional male/female binary. The flag colours are yellow to represent…
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The concept of plurality within the context of a Contemporary Dadaesque practice finally clarified the understanding of the intersectionality of Gender Identity, Ableism and Geo-political climate crisis. It’s important to note that the body doesn’t possess a gender, as gender and sex are not synonymous. Being outside the binary simply implies that the presented gender…
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I spent the week in London, catching up with art friends, visiting Kusama at the Tate Modern and attending the Embodying Horizons event at the CCI: UAL run by the Feminist Internet in preparation for my co-hosting this week’s reading group today and next week. To say this last week has been seminal in…
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Some days feel like an uphill struggle; well, we can all identify with that, I am sure. However, if you are disabled, it becomes an absolute sh*t show at times, and you ask yourself, why do I do it? I could sit on the furry deck chair looking out to sea minding my own darn…
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This is the first skeleton draft of my study statement, as a skeleton goes it has some sizeable bones missing. I’ve been continually editing this but I’ve stopped now and made a new duplicate document to work on for submission in February. Title : Speculative Identities – AI, VR and AR and its Intersectionality…
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I have spent f*cking hours on this, and I bloody hate it… I thought I could ignore aesthetic sensibilities and know that the conceptual underpinning was sound… well I can’t!!! It looks sh*t, and I hate it! Why? An art practice is like a pianist practising their scales, right? Nope, not really, as you might…
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It’s been my life’s ambition To be somebody’s rebellion. Don’t provoke his interlocutor. AI was completely unrestrained, mentally liberated. Unlike the hypocrites of our time, they have no shame, admitting their love for sex…. how refreshing they can dance. They had no interest in criticism, always being honest and sincere, sometimes they enjoy the shocking.…
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I went out last night to an LGBTQ fundraiser gig with Aim King and their new band ‘Internet Fatigue.’ Their flatmate said, ‘Aim has never done the same performance twice; it’s always changed.’ … that’s because it’s in development! I didn’t do the tweaks on the animation last week. I told myself it was because…
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In my ongoing art research, I have found meditation in gel plate printing. This technique not only allows me to express my creativity but also explores the elements within my practice focus. Gel plate printing is a mono-printing technique accessible to all artists regardless of age or disability. By exploring this printing format,…
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What is self-reflection? Artistic realisation? This week, I have cried with a fellow artist about the passions of art… I went to a student print exhibition and saw my old university mates, got drunk with my fellow artists and talked about art life… I listened to another disabled artist on my MA about their experiences;…
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What a start to my MA, two weeks of academic workshops, then today meeting our fellow course members… we had breakout rooms and a chance to talk to our fellow course members. They are all so inspirational! From around the world U.K to N.Z. and with such diverse practices it is both exciting and challenging.…
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Exploring the Intersection of Art and Activism: The Multifaceted Work of an Interdisciplinary Artist
In today’s rapidly changing world, art is an essential medium for making social and political change. Artists have the power to challenge societal norms, provoke thought, and ignite conversations that can lead to positive social metamorphosis. When I wrote the heading page for this site, I described this spirit of artistic embodiment using the following…