Savinder Bual//Gravity 19.2.15

One of our Gravity lectures this year, where the theme is 'Time', was given by Savinder Bual. Bual has exhibited her work internationally and has lived in the UK and China. She makes pieces of video art that play with the idea of making movement out of a still image; she will manipulate still images in various ways using technology and older, more hands-on techniques to create a moving image. For example, Bual talked about how she used the manipulation of the bellow of an old fashioned camera which she had cuts slits in and inserted drawing into and moved with her hands, to create the sense of movement.

                                          'Follis Nyctanthous' by Savinder Bual 2010

Bual also talked about the 'black space' she uses in her piece, for example in 'Flicker', 'Train' and 'Wing'. This black space is a result of placing a black frame, which films are made up of, between still image frames when edited her pieces. The result is a flickering image, switching between the still image and black space. The effect that this has on Bual's work is that it forces you to use your imagination and imagine what could be in those 'empty' spaces. Forcing the viewer to use their imagination is also why Savinder uses a black and white effect in her videos; an issue raised by a member of the audience in the question time. Our work is filled with films that use colour, opening up gaps and giving all the information to the viewer, however black and white closes those gaps and allows questions to be asked.

Having moved from the UK to China and back, Savinder felt like her location and how settled she felt at the time, was fully reflected in her work. Her video of paper birds (purchased from a street seller in China) being flown into a white wall in her studios represents the 'block' she felt when she first started working over there; trying to get inspiration and creating pieces but hitting a (metaphorical) brick wall. The birds in this video had been bought, taken apart and remade in order to gain a higher understanding of the object. This technique is used a lot by Bual, she often starts with objects for inspiration for her work, with her video pieces being focused usually on mundane or handmade objects. With this as a starting point, she manipulates them to become very interesting and to have greater meaning. For example, she used the Chinese paper birds in another piece, with one being attached to a spinning ceiling fan; representing the want in people to be free and 'fly away' but our minds are constantly going, not allowing us to do this, not allowing us to live in the present.

'Flight' by Savinder Bual

 When researching Savinder outside the lecture, I found on the 'About' section of her website that she had written about her work "By discovering low-fi ways to add movement to single images and commonplace objects/materials my intent is to ignite an element of wonder at the illusion of cinema, giving the everyday enough of a twist to allow the imagination to run free." This interested me because it describes well the final video pieces that she has produced. Her videos always focus on simple, sometimes handmade objects or mundane scenes that have been manipulated. Despite this simplicity, her video pieces are made with such thought and care that they become automatically thought provoking and beautiful. 

'Flying Work 1' by Savidner Bual 2010

Objects are almost always the focus of Savinder's pieces, with her main interest being how they are made and re-making them. An interesting thought is the juxtaposition of using simple materials, like paper, and the immateriality of film making. Paper is such a basic material that is so easy to get your hands on, and can be used in so many different ways, whereas film making is a digital process where the outcome is not a solid material that can be touched or held, only watched and edited on a computer with the right technology. This is linked to how paper disappearing from the modern world and being replaced with technology like the Kindle, mobile phones and hard drives. For example, we don't use paper to make notes or to-do lists, it's easier to do that on a phone or tablet that we will have on our person most of the time. 

Savinder Bual delivered an extremely interesting lecture very well. She was engaging and sure about her ideas, with the subject of her work fitting in very well to the theme of 'time'. 

Gravity//David Clegg

David Clegg is an artist who visits care homes collecting life stories from dementia patients. His project, The Trebus Project, was named after Polish war veteran, Edmund Trebus, who fills his house with artefacts that have been deemed 'rubbish'. In a way Clegg does the same thing, making his work out of the stories of dementia patients that have been forgotten about and misunderstood because of their condition. The project started when Clegg decided after his degree and a life of wanting to be an artist, that he no longer wanted to be one ("I don't like artists"), so decided to work in a care home. He gradually started working with dementia patients and building up life stories from their confused and jumbled memories; some of which turned out to be quite amazing.

The Gravity lecture David Clegg gave us turned out to be my favourite of the lectures we have had so far, as Clegg was a brilliant speaker, who spoke to his audience with great confidence rather than from a script as many of the other visiting artists have. He had some beautiful stories and ideas that he shared very well. With the theme of Gravity this year being 'Time', Clegg's subject matter fitted in brilliantly, with his work being based of time, memories and loss.

David Clegg made the point many times throughout the lecture that he is not an art therapist. He is however an artist that uses patients' stories to make art rather than using therapy to help his patients. Clegg has worked with so many patients and has gained so many skills and so much knowledge concerned with dementia, that he now teaches nurses and care workers how to communicate with and listen to people with dementia. He has worked with a huge variety of patients, some with extraordinary stories, and some who have lived average lives as housewives or handymen. Clegg has also happened to record the last words of elderly patients and has been with them right up until their death. A great interest of his is language and how language changes with the condition, and how this affects their ability to make sense of memories and put the fragmented parts of memory together.

A discussion in one of my groups that was raised by this subject was the question of whether Clegg publishing life stories of ill elderly people is ethically correct, considering the condition of the patients he was working with. Some students believed that because the patients may not have been aware of what they would have been consenting to at the time. So is it right that he published their stories if they are unable to consent? This also leads to the question of the boundaries in art. A lot of artists make art to shock and go to extreme lengths to capture a shocking subject that may push and question boundaries, something I don't think David Clegg does.

I think Clegg's work is beautiful and genius in it's own way; it raises intellectual questions and reveals extraordinary stories. He doesn't push ridiculous questions and lets the work be understood by the less creative public; something I believe to be very important.