I was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, to German and Hungarian immigrants; and lived/travelled in various countries before settling in the UK and studying for a BA (Hons) and AHRB-funded MA in Painting at Winchester School of Art. In 2006 I took up an AHRC-funded research scholarship in film at the University of Portsmouth. My cross-disciplinary practice includes working with moving image (celluloid and digital), photography, drawing, artists’ books and performance. Work is informed by my cross-cultural background, travelling/living in various countries and by discourses on migration and post/colonialism. Philosophical, theoretical and literary questions on the meaning of exile and 'home' underpin recent practical and written work, informed by (amongst others) Vilém Flusser, W.G. Sebald, Breyten Breytenbach and Walter Benjamin. Questions related to how we live, and particularly how we observe our living, are consistent preoccupations. In this it is the recorded evidence of existence that offers up a rich seam of material for excavation, enabling a sense of real or imaginary narration of human existence. Processes of thinking between theory and practice are integral to my methodological approaches; and materiality forms an important part in directing the outcome of visual work. Two Arts Council England grants include: 2012 – ‘Research and Development in Film’ with no.w.here lab, (London) residency; and 2013 – ‘Questions of Home’ Aspex Gallery Exhibition, including production of 2 new films). Collaborations with Australian singer/songwriter, Emily Barker, include a rich collection of films/music performed live at Aspex, Tate, King’s Place, etc. Recent film screenings include ‘Letters’, (part of ‘no.w.here’s 10th Birthday’ programme launched ICA November 2014 and ‘Blutrausch’ in ‘Living Film’ at no.w.here (October 2013). I am Reviews Editor for Transnational Cinemas journal, and published A History of 1970s British Experimental Film: Britain’s Decade of Diversity (Palgrave Macmillan, April 2015).
I was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, to German and Hungarian immigrants; and lived/travelled in various countries before settling in the UK and studying for a BA (Hons) and AHRB-funded MA in Painting at Winchester School of Art. In 2006 I took up an AHRC-funded research scholarship in film at the University of Portsmouth. My cross-disciplinary practice includes working with moving image (celluloid and digital), photography, drawing, artists’ books and performance. Work is informed by my cross-cultural background, travelling/living in various countries and by discourses on migration and post/colonialism. Philosophical, theoretical and literary questions on the meaning of exile and 'home' underpin recent practical and written work, informed by (amongst others) Vilém Flusser, W.G. Sebald, Breyten Breytenbach and Walter Benjamin. Questions related to how we live, and particularly how we observe our living, are consistent preoccupations. In this it is the recorded evidence of existence that offers up a rich seam of material for excavation, enabling a sense of real or imaginary narration of human existence. Processes of thinking between theory and practice are integral to my methodological approaches; and materiality forms an important part in directing the outcome of visual work. Two Arts Council England grants include: 2012 – ‘Research and Development in Film’ with no.w.here lab, (London) residency; and 2013 – ‘Questions of Home’ Aspex Gallery Exhibition, including production of 2 new films). Collaborations with Australian singer/songwriter, Emily Barker, include a rich collection of films/music performed live at Aspex, Tate, King’s Place, etc. Recent film screenings include ‘Letters’, (part of ‘no.w.here’s 10th Birthday’ programme launched ICA November 2014 and ‘Blutrausch’ in ‘Living Film’ at no.w.here (October 2013). I am Reviews Editor for Transnational Cinemas journal, and published A History of 1970s British Experimental Film: Britain’s Decade of Diversity (Palgrave Macmillan, April 2015).
Education
2011 PhD (A History of 1970s British Experimental Film) University of Portsmouth
2006 PGCE University of Greenwich
2004 MA Painting (distinction) Winchester School of Art
2003 BA (Hons) Visual Art (1st class) Winchester School of Art
Professional and Employment
2015 Liliesleaf Farm project – film, related photographs and artists’ book
2015 Writer-in-Residence, Sarah Hosking Trust, Stratford-upon-Avon
2015 External Examiner (Open University), Somerset College of Arts & Technology
2014 Writer-in-Residence, Sarah Hosking Trust,
2014 Artist-in-Residence, Portsmouth Grammar School
2013 Arts Council Grant - ‘Questions of Home’ Aspex Gallery Exhibition
2012 Arts Council Grant for ‘Research and Development in Film Practice and
no.w.here Film Residency’
2009 – current Reviews Editor for Transnational Cinemas (Intellect Journal)
2006 – 2011 Lecturer in Film, University of Portsmouth
2004 – 2006 Teacher of Photography, St Vincent College, Gosport
Residencies
2015 (May/June) Writer-in-Residence, Sarah Hosking Trust, Stratford
2014 Writer-in-Residence, Sarah Hosking Trust, Stratford
2014 Artist-in-Residence, Portsmouth Grammar School
2012 International Artists’ Residency, Nirox Foundation, South Africa
Research Funding/Awards
2013 Arts Council England Grant – ‘Questions of Home’ exhibition, Aspex Gallery
2012 Arts Council Grant England – ‘Research: Film Practice’ – no.w.here Film Residency
2006/09 A.H.R.C. award for Postgraduate Research (PhD)
2003/04 A.H.R.B. award for Postgraduate study (MA Painting)
Publications
2015 A History of 1970s Experimental Film: Britain’s Decade of Diversity (Palgrave Macmillan)
2015 (forthcoming, 2015) ‘Nelson Mandela: A Life of Perseverance and Inspiration’ for
The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Imperialism and Anti-Imperialism (Palgrave Macmillan)
2014 DVD review: new BFI release of ‘Riddles of the Sphinx’ (1977) by Laura Mulvey and
Peter Wollen, commissioned for Viewfinder magazine (BUFVC).
2013 Film review of The Nine Muses (John Akomfrah, 2010), Transnational Cinemas journal
2013 ‘Parameters of Practice: Annabel Nicolson’s 1970s Work’ - Exhibition information for
‘Film in Space’, Camden Arts Centre, London (Dec 2012-Feb 2013).
2012 ‘De-Westernizing film through experimental practice: an interview with Patti Gaal-
Holmes’ in De-Westernizing Film Studies by Saër Maty Bâ and Will Higbee (eds)
2012 ‘(Re)calling ‘Home’: An Artist’s Negotiation and (Re)negotiation between Memory,
Geography, History and Language’ in Crossings: Journal of Migration and Culture, Vol
3 Issue 2
2011 Tea Project in ‘Collectors’ issue of COLORS Magazine, winter 2010/11
Conferences/Symposia/In Conversation/Panel Discussions
2015 (April) Public talk and book launch for A History of 1970s Experimental Film: Britain’s
Decade of Diversity, British Film Institute (BFI), London
2015 (March) ‘1970s Films: Images in Shadows and Light’, for ‘Pluralities’ symposium,
Central St Martins, London
2014 ‘Liliesleaf Farm: Excavations for Opening up Histories’ for ‘Cultures of
Damaged Societies: from Post-Conflict Resolution to Intercultural Dialogue’ conference,
Monash University, South Africa
2014 ‘Opening up the Archive: the Problems and Uses of Nostalgia’ for
‘Cultures of Commemoration’ Conference, University of Portsmouth
2013 ‘Certitudes of Belonging and Embodied Excavations’ for ‘Crossroads: Europe, Migration
and Culture’ Conference, University of Copenhagen
2013 ‘into the frameless distance: concepts and experiments’ for Mieke Bal ‘Migratory
Aesthetics: Reading Moving Objects Master Class’, University of Copenhagen
2013 Panel discussion for ‘(Wo)Man with Mirror’, Apiary Studios, London
2013 In-Conversation with Dr Marius Kwint and Patrick Altes for
‘Questions of Home’ exhibition, Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth
2013 ‘Histories in Film’ Panel discussion with Bridget Baker and Katy
Beinart for ‘Questions of Home’ exhibition, Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth
2013 ‘Liliesleaf Farm’ for ‘Affect, Memory, and the Transmission of Trauma’ Symposium,
Goldsmiths College, London
2012 ‘Liliesleaf Farm – Excavations in Film and Fragments Lost in the
Ether’ for ‘Migration, Memory and Place’ Conference, University of Copenhagen
2012 ‘Liliesleaf Farm – Excavations in Film and Fragments Lost in the Ether’, Maboneng
Peace Week, Johannesburg, South Africa
2012 ‘Catching the Unseen: Conan Doyle & Spirit Photography’, Public Lecture at The
History Centre, Portsmouth
2012 ‘Notebooks of the Mind: the Art of Collaboration’ with Emily Barker, Aspex Gallery
2012 ‘Marking Time: Excavations in Film and Fragments Lost in the Ether’ GASP Gallery
2009 ‘Parameters of Practice: Annabel Nicolson’s 1970s Practice’, Narrative Exploration in
Expanded Cinema: Expanded Cartography and New Live Cinema, Central St Martins
School of Art and Design, London, UK
2008 ‘Details in the Text: Lis Rhodes and Sally Potter’, 1970s British Cinema Conference,
Portsmouth University, UK
2010 ‘on drinking tea to escape the noise of the world’, COLLECT II Symposium, Portsmouth
University, UK
2009 ‘Some Acute Angles of Observation’, Wild Eye Film Conference, De Montfort
University, Leicester, UK
Exhibitions/Screenings
2015 Letters for , Cornerhouse, Manchester
2014 Letters for 'The Tin Screen: no.w.here 10th Birthday', ICA London
2014 Terraça del Ossos screening for ‘Loop the Loop’ (no.w.here & CineStar), St Ives
2014 ‘Moments, Memories and Histories: A Response to the Archive’ drawings and etchings,
Portsmouth Grammar School Artist-in-Residence exhibition, Square Tower, Portsmouth
2013 Blutrausch: Das Ende der Geschichte for Living Film, no.w.here film, London
2013 barefeet in grass and Liliesleaf Farm-Mayibuye for Making Waves Film Festival,
Portsmouth
2013 solo exhibition ‘Questions of Home: Excavations in Film & Fragments Lost
in the Ether’, Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth
2012 Open Studio - Nirox International Artists’ Residency (Sept/Oct), Maropeng, South Africa
2012 Useless Mouths: International Exchange of Artists’ Books, Gibraltar House, London
2012 The Rains (with Emily Barker) screening at Visioneca, Isle of Wight
2012 Notebooks of the Mind (talk/film/music) with Emily Barker, Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth
2012 Marking Time: Excavations in Film & Fragments Lost in the Ether, GASP, Portsmouth
2011 nine films:nine songs with Emily Barker for Arctic Circle, Green Man Festival, Wales
2011 Eight Films for ‘Home’ with Emily Barker, King’s Place, London
2010 despite the snow screening, Women’s Music & Films, October Gallery, London
2010 The Lovers The Dreamers and Me screening of films for ‘Late at Tate’ Britain, London
2010 spill (tea installation) in ‘COLLECT II’, University of Portsmouth
2009 winter’s tea (short film) 'Kinopravda: Fragments/Out-takes', Coventry
2008 despite the snow (film trilogy), 800 feet, SPACE Gallery, Portsmouth University
2008 despite the snow screening for Emily Barker CD launch, London
2008 in dreams to return again screening ‘Shot By the Sea Film Festival’, Hastings
2005 Alice: there was a party once (short film) ‘Super-8 Festival’, Bristol
Curatorial Projects/Screenings
2013 Screening of The Nine Muses (John Akomfrah, 2010), Portsmouth Film Society
2012 Catching the Unseen: Spirit Photography from the Conan Doyle Collection,
History Centre, Portsmouth Library (short-listed for The News awards)
2012 Screening of Slow Action (Ben Rivers, 2011), Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth
2012 Film Collection and Screening: Family Histories on Film, Portsmouth Film Society
2008 ‘Cameraless Film’ workshop (by no.w.here), Aspex Gallery
2008 Introducing filmmakers Ben Rivers and Ian Helliwell: screening/talk, Aspex Gallery
2008 Screening 1970s experimental films for ‘1970s British Cinema’ conference,
Portsmouth University
Professional Membership
Art Space Portsmouth (Trustee 2014 - )
ISCH (International Society for Cultural History)
Network for Migration and Culture (University of Copenhagen)
no.w.here Experimental Film Workshop (London)
