Critiquing my practice

My practice and the gig economy. I commission artist-makers who are also housekeepers, doctor’s receptionist, reluctantly self-employed, over qualified and demotivated. They would rather work full time at their trade. In this sense I am part of the gig economy even though I have developed a sensitive relationship. I am part of this system and wish it were different. I am also an agent experienced in and attentive to problems of the precariat. Rather than going for lowest quotes and just skills, I apply other values when choosing artist-makers. One thing important to me is trust and my personal connections to them.  

My research has led me to question rurality. What is contemporary rurality when 50 percent of the global population now lives in cities and 98 percent of the world’s surface is the countryside? From the rural point of view almost 50 percent of the global population lives in the countryside, most of them are a peasant population. During the Anthropocene, is the countryside the future of the city and of the world?  Is rurality to be globalised and urbanised?

My map is based on geological resources. It could instead have studied the local Agri-food sector (apples, bulls, lambs and chickens), permaculture, seasonal workers etc. Entire rural spaces in the county could have been represented as white areas to suggest that these areas are irrelevant in terms of the national economy as a whole. Just as this is shocking now, would it not have been shocking for people living in the era of William Smith’s map to see that their world had been reduced to geology? Similarly in the future will entire areas of rurality be mapped as reserved for nature, as a ‘nature deposit’? (Alter-rurality, 2014)

How do I situate my practice in rural contexts and what paradigms could I use?

Evaluating my work using Lucy Lippard’s criteria. Lippard’s criteria underpin my analysis and critical thinking. Below I reflect on the criteria that I have not already covered above.

-Criterion: OPEN-ENDED enough to be accessible to a wide variety of participants and people from different classes and cultures, to different interpretations and tastes.  

How I met it:  I am engaging both formally and informally to achieve accessibility online as well as through bricks and mortar. I do so formally with local institutions such as Brightspace and the Cider Museum to display the Word-Hoard. This is a piece of art which links with the sustainability mission of the Brightspace Foundation in Herefordshire. The piece will add value to the exhibits of the museum through July and August. The visitors to the museum come from across the country. I am also engaging informally in the town of Hereford and in the village of Kinnersley through the piece entitled Climate Walk which is accessible to all and free of charge. Turning to online accessibility, the QR barcode (Quick Response Code) is free to all, and in particular youngsters, and will make available the map, its key and the four soundscapes.

-Criterion: APPEALING enough either visually or emotionally to catch the eye and be

memorable. SIMPLE and FAMILIAR enough, at least on the surface, not to confuse or repel

potential viewer-participants. 

How I met them: The map is hand-made with beautiful water-colours. Its aesthetic is persuasive and stimulating. It is simple and familiar in that it represents local knowledge which is felt and lived

-Criterion: LAYERED, COMPLEX and UNFAMILIAR enough to hold people’s attention once

they’ve been attracted, to make them wonder, and to offer deeper experiences and references

to those who hang in. 

How I met it: The project is a multi-layered construct which shows the geological history of the region, including its tracts of coal. The newspaper, which critiques the map, encourages readers to look closely at mundane elements like soil and complex issues like private property and the commons. The unfamiliar is that there is no fixed point in time. This helps people to explore challenging subjects such as a new climate and the extinction of species.

Lucy Lippard’s criteria include: