May 02 2024 1 mins
This film installation is a statement of presence, revealing the working processes of 29 people across seven days – placing the audience at the centre of the Project Art Works’ studio in Hastings, UK.
The studio offers a freeing, non-hierarchical environment in which wordless languages are amplified. Interactions with and through materials reveal the essence of each person. The brush of ink across paper, a screech of peeling tape, the words ‘I love you’ – any of these might be a way to say ‘I am here’.
This self-revelation, the responsiveness to it and the vulnerability to sit in a place of ‘not knowing’ are the foundations of the work, building trust between artists/makers, facilitators, support workers, advocates, and families, in the studio and beyond. The work depends on enabling people to make choices, creating an environment in which those choices can be realised.
The value and impact of being seen on one’s own terms, in and out of the studio, drives change in life and in the systems that support us. The work towards understanding, visibility, representation is fundamental.