I’m starting a a practice-based PhD to will explore the cultural and creative value of true crime, queer inter-generational mutual aid, and embodiment in film making. This examines the fire that in 2016 burnt down Steam Sauna Complex, a queer sex space located in a former bingo hall in the working-class area of Armley in West Yorkshire. The relationships formed there were mutually supportive forms of kinship, situated outside of normative family structures and within wasteful time. Queer spaces like Steam are historically precarious due to the presence of body fluids, the potential for viral trans- mission, and the risk of right-wing and homophobic violence.
For Working With Waste I will to focus on the waste (and the lack of) around the sauna and the fire. Considering how bodily fluids can be found, how the waste generated by sexual contact (both biological and artificial) can be examined, and how the ruins of the actual site can be explored in audio visual work. Within this I will use found scraps of footage, photographs and linguistic fragments that already exist. I will consider the idea of wasted time and intoxication through poppers trainer videos. This will build on recent work exploring accessibility within cruising, the figure of the bat and Nancy Holt and Robert Smithson's Swamp (1969).
I am an artist, writer and sodden suspicious faerie born in Wakefield based in the north of the UK, mainly working in moving-image with family and friends. My pronouns are they/them. My work is like an armpit, personal and intimate, of the body and relationships - smelling earthy. I am particularly interested in autobiography, forms of documentary, intimacy, and speech acts in public. I love to cook, dance and read. I aim to resist dominant forms of media and sit against professionalised forms of moving image production through DIY and home video techniques, as well as queer crip analysis. I have shared work with has shown work with LUX; Video- club; Book Works; V22 Foundation; IMT Gallery; Grand Union; Workplace Gallery; MAP Magazine, Embassy Gallery; Spike Island; Eastside Projects; Tramway; S1 Artspace; the ICA; and undertaken residencies at Triangle France – Astérides; Hospitalfield Arts; and Cove Park.