Day 75 since being categorised as at severe risk of Covid-19, after 69 days of complete 'lockdown' the restrictions on those being shielded have been lifted and I have had 6 days of daily walks, never was such a small thing so appreciated. Total number of deaths in the UK is now over 40,000 and still rising with 204 reported in the last 24 hours. The relaxation of lockdown measures seems ill conceived as the UK death toll ranks in the top three in the world alongside the United States and Brazil. 

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​It has been a week of, personal joy at being able to leave the house and enormous sadness, pain and horror at the death of George Floyd: a black man murdered by a white policeman in Minneapolis who knelt on his neck for over eight minutes while being told by George Floyd ‘I can’t breathe’. This Weltschmerz (world pain) has sparked protests across the globe including the UK where there has been a deluge of antiracist comments on social media and at physical demonstrations pointing out that racism is not confined to the USA.

 

Spent the weekend before last starting to document my Covid-19 Project link and last weekend doing a massive clear out of my studio. It has been very chaotic since we left Camberwell in March and it has been cathartic to get it in order. It is now arranged so I can more conveniently swap between making work and researching. On Monday we received our Unit 2 Assessment written feedback followed by a tutorial on Friday with Anna that made me feel very fired up. In the intervening period I have been reflecting on my work, the experience of working on the online One Day Show with Cathy and continuing to document my Covid-19 Project, drawing each return and thinking about the best way to bring all the pieces together, some returns are still dribbling in I have over forty now!

 

Our One Day Show was on 26 May 2020 link. Cathy and I spent most of the day before putting the work together, taking it in turns to edit the website, write or edit the text, and designing the format. It was a really good experience, it felt like a very easy working relationship in which we shared opportunities to steer the direction of the show. It was a gorgeously hot day and still felt deliciously warm at 9pm when we eventually finished.  The group discussion on the show the next day, led by Stephen Wilson, was really insightful: we took turns to discuss each other’s work and most people participated. Stephen’s gentle questioning style and comments were thought provoking and constructive. The experience made me think more deeply about online presentation, firstly imagining the experience of the viewer with a desire to see more than just static images of work and secondly prompting a critical understanding of the presentation of my own work online. 

 

I was left feeling dissatisfied with the presentation of my work online following the Unit 2 Assessment hand-in and this critique has continued to develop. At the Student Led Crit on 21 May 2020 Helan and Hoiyi made useful comments on the importance of presentation to my current work that were reinforced by Stephen and by a post One Day Show chat with Cathy. These conversations with peers have challenged me to really think about how I might get across the true visceral nature and translucent quality of my latest work. As a result I have started to film it and am experimenting with adding a soundtrack to the film too. My filming skills are not very professional, but I have signed up for an Academic Support online session ‘Thinking Through Moving Image’ that I hope will help.