Author: tim.lightfactory@googlemail.com

The Slaughterhouse Club

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For the last 5 years I have been working with Artists Robin Whitmore and Mark Whitelaw on Duckie’s The Slaughterhouse Club.

The Slaughterhouse Club was a participatory arts project with homeless vulnerable Londoners struggling with booze and addiction issues. The project ran for forty weeks per year until 2020.

The participants – about 45 hostel residents regularly working throughout the year – were treated as artists and encouraged to make creative work. Together they make songs, poems, stories, short plays, animations, puppet shows, slide shows, paintings, films and videos. The Slaughterhouse Club engaged residents of the hostels to connect with themselves and their community through the creation of these arts activities – to aid harm minimisation and personal growth.

The work was very delicate and the hostel environment is very unpredictable. Our participants lead chaotic lives, and struggle with entrenched alcohol and drug addictions, fragile mental health and often run-ins with the authorities. Most of the work was one-to-one, drawing out creativity through personal conversations and developing inventive exercises. The Slaughterhouse Club was produced by Duckie in association with Thames Reach Hostels and funded by the Big Lottery Fund and Vauxhall One.

We Said No!

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We Said No! Screenshot

One of the things I’ve been working on over the last few years is the community podcast ‘We Said No!’ about the fight to save Rimrose Valley Country Park in Sefton, Merseyside.

I suggested the idea of doing a podcast to the friends group and they were excited by the prospect. Since then, we’ve put together a small core team, initially planning 6 episodes focusing on different aspects, such as the parks history, how National Highways operates and Peel Ports role in all this. We’ve learnt a lot, particularly about air quality and public health and how destructive the plans are where already the life expectancy is a shocking 12 years less for residents who live close to the port. Building another 4 lane highway in the area is not the solution.

It’s been a great collaborative project, from developing the script, to looking at positive alternatives to road building, that seem to be a win win for everyone in the long term. Next year, the consultation by #nationalhighways begins so it will be interesting to see what we can uncover about that process, which will be useful I’m sure for other places in the country fighting to stop the building of these polluting, unnecessary roads.

Analogue Photography and Cyanotype

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Over the last couple years I have been getting back in analogue photography. I’d forgotten how much the limitation on the number of shots and the development process itself really makes you think about the image you are taking before taking the photograph itself. I’ve also found the camera itself (I’ve been using a Widelux) promotes a dialogue with the general public – one that wouldn’t happen say if I was just using my phone.

New Brighton lighthouse

I also think that film itself has a certain delicate softer feel than this often harsher 4K world. I suppose I could achieve a similar feel with a certain amount of digital processing, but I like the element of surprise and potential for unexpected flaws that can add to the feel of an image. Similar to the way in which a record can pick up flaws and scratches that become unique to the listening experience.

New Brighton Lighthouse Cyanotype Print

I’ve been experimenting with different types of printing, mostly Cyanotype as it has proved to be the most practical at homeland I love the scratches and defects that can added (intentionally or not) to the process. I also love the way you can print on all sorts of found materials and objects which can create a whole new meaning to the work. I’m interested in exploring these ideas further, hopefully on a larger scale.

Trees – Cyanotype on Cardboard

Across The Mersey Swim

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The annual across the mersey swim took place yesterday. There’s only a 45 minute window to get over before the tide changes so it’s an amazing achievement for all those that completed it.

We filmed it last year from different perspectives start to finish. I might attempt it one day myself.

Before The Act Podcast

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Over lockdown I was lucky enough to work with a couple of friends Bev Ayre and Lou Muddle creating a podcast about a ‘Before The Act’ a remarkable but often forgotten about theatrical celebration held at the Piccadilly Theatre in London in 1988.

It showcased the work of lesbian and gay authors, poets, playwrights and composers and was intended to highlight the harmful impact of Section 28 – a notorious piece of legislation which prohibited the ‘promotion of homosexuality‘.

It’s been interesting working out the format for the story, weaving archive material with present day interviews using the actual performance recordings as a narrative structure. Episode 3 will be out shortly.

TransVegas

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Over Lockdown I was lucky enough to work with TransCreative Arts Festival to launch the 4th Trans Vegas 2020 as a digital event. I worked with an amazing team of people online, editing interviews and creating short trailers.

It was great to work with Alex Hewitt again who did an amazing job supporting all the artists with essential equipment.

It was a real achievement for TransCreative to have put this together in such a short period of time and with limited resources. You can catch the festival online from this link.

Resonance

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I collaborated with MDI’s group for over 50s, Men! Dancing! last year to create a video work, filmed on location at Liverpool Cathedral. The film was funded by HOP (Happy Older People) and explores the idea of harmony and the workers who built the cathedral.

Screened for the first time this year at the first HOP gathering of 2020 at FACT in Liverpool you can now see the film below. I’m hoping to continue working with the group, exploring dance in alternative spaces in future projects, with the idea of taking back our public spaces as we age.

The Workers

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A new body go work by U.S born artist Alexis Teplin premiered at the Bluecoat in Liverpool in October 2019 in her first major UK exhibition.

I worked with Alexis to create the film ‘The Workers’ which was exhibited as part of the exhibition. Alexis wanted to document the creation of a large wall mural, treating the workers as performing artists and we achieved this over two days using clean jump cuts to show the passage of time.