PROJECT ARCHIVE: Art residencies and diary
In August 2019, Jim Joel produces an exhibition on the verandah of Kampala’s Uganda National Museum titled, ‘Caption it’. The exhibition is designed to encourage people to reflect on their surroundings.
In October 2019, Jim Joel came to York for a residency in the York Railway Archive.
He is joined by Shohrab Jahan, Sheala Sharmin, Emilie Flower and Ruth Kelly. The team visit other archives.
The team join Emilie Morin, Paul Gready and others from York University and Yorkshire archives for an archive symposium.
Shohrab Jahan, Jim Joel and Emilie Flower began thinking about how to collaborate and made a small collaborative installation together, Archive Alive at the York Design Week with Kaizen Design. In the search for common ground, the triangle emerges as the simplest form that unites their interests.
During this time, Jim ran a workshop with Ruth on Walkscapes.
In December 2019 Jim is refused a visa for his residency in Bangladesh. Shohrab shows some of Jim’s work in the Cheragi Art Show 7. He chose to show the work in a political office.
Emilie Flower and Ruth Kelly are given visas.
Emilie Flower show’s the Round Bed. In England the photograph is a picture of her daughter sleeping on a bed in the Yorkshire floods. At Cheragi it is widely understood as a dead European in a Bangladeshi rice field. There are several other pieces of work in the show by female artists that depict girls with long hair in white dresses.
Ruth Kelly performs three of her poems in the Baakshala Bookshop, including a poem written in Irish. Jog artist Yuvraj arrives with a flower for her hair and introduces her.
Duniya Khondoker joins the team to carryout participatory observation and informal interviews with audience at the show.
Emilie, Duniya and Ruth carry out film and audio interviews with the artists in the show and Emilie Flower follows Shohrab Jahan.
Shohrab and Emilie discuss possible works for a collaborative exhibition in Kampala.
Ruth and Duniya lead a storytelling workshop in Dhaka with Ribon Khandokhar.
In January and February 2020 Jim spent a month in Egypt on a residency with Darb 1718, under a residency with 32 Degrees.
“
Walking In Egypt has been different from that of York. The language barrier, it gave a whole different approach to my walking. Some places I had to follow a direct route so as not to get lost...where the route was the river Nile, and the instances I used the map, sometimes it was not clear on the elements used in the map.
Other times I had to follow the wind, (This was in Alexandria to locate the sea).
I intentionally refused to use google on my phone as part of the experience and only picked up a map later on so as to cover so many places in the short time available.
I have realized each city presents its own challenges which are part of the story, the major challenge has been language here, which sparked another experience altogether.
The triangle is still floating through my mind and the pyramids kind of tie it down further as an architectural subject. ”
March 2020 Emilie Flower, Shohrab Jahan and Jim Joel produced an exhibition together at the Uganda National Museum, Kampala
Emilie invites Pamela Enyonu to respond to the project.
Pamela invites Matt Kayem and Njola Impressions to join her.
Lockdown
Matt is stuck in Zambia
Pamela produces an illustrated book of the Nambi tongue tie myth
Njola produces a mural made from recycled flipflops titled, Excess, excess problems = Excess solutions
Shohrab completes the anthology of texts
Ruth, Shohrab and Emilie work on the texts with Emilie Morin, Hilda, Sjeala
In December 2020 they produce an exhibit at titled “Mbuuza” (we are asking).