Deserters

Deserters

The call-out to Artists:

"Illness is a part of every human being's experience… It is the great confessional; things are said, truths are blurted out which health conceals" - Virginia Woolf, 'On Being Ill', 1926

What is the relationship between illness and making? Does being one of the ‘unwell’, a ‘refusenik’, a ‘quiet-quitter’ engender creative processes?

The divisions between the healthy and the sick; the virtuous and the sinner; rich and poor are fault lines often occupied by artists. Witness to the ‘taboos and social stigma surrounding illness’,* many artists have gained agency over their medical conditions to reimagine ‘the parameters of bodily trauma, reconciling trauma with recovery’.**

Sickness connects practices across decades, genres, and lifetimes. Agnes Martin, Derek Jarman, Donald Rodney, Frida Kahlo and Virginia Woolf, all produced accounts, while recent cultural discourse has examined chronic illness to challenge conventional representations and celebrate health diversity.***

Artists are invited to submit evidence of work that explores these or connected themes. We aim to develop a conversation between curators and exhibitors, with the intention of exhibiting more substantial works. Digital catalogues for our past FaB projects brought together the exhibitor's words and work, and we will extend this aspect by inviting writers to contribute to a more ambitious online catalogue.

* Stuart Morgan, 'Derek Jarman: A Portrait'
**Peter Miller 'Donald Rodney and the Cyborg'
***The Wellcome Collection 'Misbehaving Bodies'

Curated by Bella Kerr, Amanda Roderick & Caroline Humphreys

Bella Kerr, artist, lecturer and curator and Amanda Roderick, creative producer, have extensive experience of the management and delivery of projects and exhibitions in galleries, off-site locations, cultural institutions and educational settings. They will be co-curating Deserters with Caroline Humphreys, who in the last decade has returned to the study and practice of art and design, following a career working with national and local bodies in Wales to address the needs of people experiencing exploitation, sexual violence and abuse, as well as the housing and support needs of homeless people and those with vulnerabilities.

roderickaj.wixsite.com/roderickandjones
www.bellakerr.com / insta @bellakerr6648 / twitter.com/keeper_s
insta @rodericka_j / twitter.com/amandajroderick

Submission deadline: Friday 12th April at 23h59 GMT

• Media accepted: All media.

• Free submission. All are welcome to apply, of any age, status, and from anywhere in the world.

• If selected, we ask Artists for a £22 contribution (like crowdfunding) and/or to give some of their time, as we are all volunteers. Please read our FAQs here to find out more.

• See all 20 projects open to submissions on our home page: fringeartsbath.co.uk

Fringe Arts Bath Festival will take place 24 May to 9 June 2024

To submit your work: please email the Curator deserters@fringeartsbath.co.uk including:

• NB: please include the exhibition / project name in the email title.

• max 200 words about your work and how it fits the call-out (written, audio file, video or another way to suit you).

• some images of the work, or links to video / performance work (or existing work if it hasn’t been made yet).

• any relevant links, if you have them (though it’s not a requirement and Curators might not have the capacity to visit them all).

• of course please include any questions you have.

• you might not hear back from Curators until after the deadline, thank you for your patience.