In 2019 I was fortunate enough to be awarded an inaugural Artist with Disability Mentoring Initiative by the Australia Council for the Arts to work with the extraordinary Dr Rachel Gadsden.
I had been an admirer of Rachel’s work for some time, albeit at a distance - she is based in the UK but works all over the world. I wrote her an email completely out of the blue asking is she might like to take me on as a mentor and possible collaborator and she was kind enough to respond with real warmth and generosity. So began a working relationship and profound friendship that continues to amaze and inspire me.
After many zoom conversations I was just about to book a ticket to travel to the UK when the Covid 19 pandemic began in real earnest. We decided to wait and see just what the impact would be… as we both live with chronic heal issues / disability we were both loathe to put ourselves in any danger of possible contamination.
Over the weeks…months, and ultimately years that have followed we have explored many ideas, shared images and work, collaborated on joint projections and exhibitions and it was through her instigation and connections that the Deluge Collective was formed.
An ensemble of creatives from the UK, Australia and Hong Kong we are proudly disability-led with the principal aim of using distance, technology and the lived experience of disability to create multi-art form works that centre accessibility as a generative tool. We are (currently) myself, Rachel, Siu Fong Yeung (HK), Freddie Meyers (UK), Emily Earl (UK) and Colin Hambrook (UK.)
https://delugecollective.com
Although distance, accessibility, differing time zones, and availability do create barriers we meet fairly regularly and have to date produced one finished piece for Thrive - the art of Protest in 2021. We we also recently commissioned to deliver a series of live, digital workshops in Hong Kong for ADAHKJ - the peak body for artists with disability with a supported studio program. An extraordinary interaction unfolded as we were able to share ideas of the social model of disability, intersectionality, and disability pride whilst engaging in a series of creative activities and explorations. The results were astonishing.
Plans are afoot for further collaborations with the Collective in 2022 / 23…
Rachel Gadsden & the Deluge Collective
17th April – 14th May 2021
Virtual Exhibition: Rachel Gadsden “Storm” in collaboration with the Deluge Collective, from 17th April 2021. An online exhibition of paintings, drawings, animations, and a digital art/sound performance film.
‘And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure, whether the storm is really over. … When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about. ’ Haruki Murakami – Kafka on the Shore 2002
The Deluge Collective is a diverse international collaboration of artists, musicians, and writers. We explore ways that expression moves between our individual artistic practices, to reveal deeper ideas of our shared humanity. Underpinning the creative process is the ambition to embed disability access as a central part of our aesthetic vision.
Rachel Gadsden (UK) is a disabled and visually impaired artist and director. Expressionist in approach, she creates solo exhibitions, performances and collaborative social engagement art projects with disabled, vulnerable and mainstream communities nationally and internationally, through painting, performance, digital film, with the object of developing cross-cultural dialogues considering universal notions of humanity.
Colin Hambrook (UK) is an artist, poet, performer, writer, and editor of Disability Arts Online. He makes drawings, paintings, and mixed media artworks alongside an extensive practice of published writing, which reflects his status as a disabled artist. “Knitting Time” – a research and development project, reflected on ‘loss’ as a trigger for psychosis, including the production of a beautiful book of poems and drawings.
Siu Fong Yeung (Hong Kong) is a disabled visual and performance artist. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Fine Art) from RMIT University and Hong Kong Art School. Yeung has extensive experience in performance, video, installation and painting and has exhibited her work in Hong Kong and Internationally.
Jeremy Hawkes (Australia) is a disabled practicing artist, arts worker, writer, and sometimes performer. He has exhibited extensively in Australia and overseas for over 20 years, most recently at the Berlin Art Institute as part of a Create NSW Fellowship, the Lone Goat Gallery in Byron Bay, and a solo exhibition at the Lismore Regional Gallery.
Freddie Meyers (UK) is a composer, trumpet player, and musical director of @bandwidthensemble which explores the temporality of live music in the online environment. His music explores the way that disparate elements can sit together to create new and exciting sonorities. Part of his practice has focused on collaborations with levantine musicians, navigating ways that different musical cultures can exist as one.
Emily Earl (Wales) is a violinist who’s practice is varied and diverse. She won the @beareslondon Bow Prize from the @royalacademyofmusic and her playing encompass both newly commissioned works and period instrument performance. Emily conceptualises music around the concepts of expression and communication and the Deluge collective provides an intriguing space, where concepts of chamber music can be extended to the wider arts.
In a place far away from anyone or anywhere, I drifted off for a moment.”
Haruki Murakami
Inspired by the 1620 Mayflower voyage to the New World and significant historical and contemporary migratory passages, including diaspora journeys refugees have recently taken to escape war and conflict, UK and International disabled artists have created drawings, paintings, sculptures, digital artworks and films, responding to the exhibition’s themes to express their personal, physical, and psychological experiences of displacement.
Rachel Gadsden has worked in collaboration with Mayflower 400 Southampton to present and curate the exhibition, initiating the displacement theme for the artists to respond to. The virtual Displaced exhibition was designed by Rachel and Freddie Meyers in response to the current Covid-19 pandemic restrictions.
Ultimately, the huge benefit of creating a virtual exhibition space means that the exhibition can be viewed by worldwide audiences, which greatly suits the cultural diversity of the Displaced Exhibition and this transnational artistic collaboration.
Curation: Rachel Gadsden
Design: Freddie Meyers & Rachel Gadsden
Artists
Jeremy Hawkes Australia
Rachel Gadsden UK
Southampton UK
Deborah Goatley-Birch
Gullu Kandrou
Juanrie Strydom
Fred Ashleigh Turner
Hong Kong
Au-Yeung Ngai Hei
Chiu Wai Chi
Vincy Leung
Yeung Siu Fong
