Reignite: Artist Development Fund 2022
In November 2021 Home Live Art placed a call-out for artists to be part of Reignite, a new development initiative providing funding and support for five artists to work on an element of their practice with fellow creative practitioners from different disciplines.
There was no expectation of a final or fixed outcome, the fund was about supporting collaboration across disciplines and allowing space for artists to try new things out and take risks.
The five artists selected were Anna Maria Nabirye, Homosexual Death Drive, Istanbul Queer Collective, Jake Wood and Rodent.
More information on each residency can be found below.
Black Joy Matters:
The Story of Joy
“What is it to reimagine your body as a home for joy and pleasure? How can the words of Black women describing what they find joyful, be a pathway to healing. The skin is a thin place where words, imagery and ancestors can pass through. Moisture for dry skin.
Sometimes the skin is so dry it cracks and breaks and bleeds. Sometimes the skin is so dry and the balm too potent to penetrate it.
What is it to not only survive on this island built on blood but to thrive?
Reignite has been fundamental in positioning my own work front and centre, fostering a methodology that embraces time, space, collaboration and the joy of the process.” – Anna Maria Nabirye
The residency will take place during late summer 2022 in St Leonards and Brighton, the artist will collaborate with movement practitioner Imogen Knight and cinematographer Bani Mendy.
Anna Maria Nabirye website. Follow them on Instagram
Homosexual Death Drive Poundbury
“Poundbury is a suburb of Dorchester, it is the architectural mission of Charles, Prince of Wales and also one of his cash cows. I spent a week in Poundbury, immersed in totalitarian middle England. I wanted to see what my Otherness and critical perspectives, factors not included in the Masterplan, might reveal creatively.
I walked, photographed, filmed, experienced and danced its different sectors. I found its edges. I spent time in public spaces observing and sometimes talking to Poundbury people. I ate Poundbury food. I read the local paper and gathered promotional materials. I found its arts scene. I disintegrated.
The Reignite bursary represents a significant progression in my work as a live artist, navigating professional solo work whilst retaining core values established through DIY culture. It is the first time I have successfully scored funding independently from an open call and been supported in a solo residency. ” – Homosexual Death Drive
This residency took place from 19-26 March 2022 in Poundbury, Dorset and the artist collaborated with artist and educator Aislin Evans.
Homosexual Death Drive website. Follow Charlotte Cooper, the artist behind HDD on Instagram
Istanbul Queer Art Collective
Sympoiesis
“Sympoiesis is the tile of a new performance, which catalogues sexual positions for an alien anatomy created through costumes that map new and detachable/adjustable erogenous zones on to the body. Sympoiesis hopes to incite the viewer to open their minds to the infinite possibilities inherent in bodily intimacy that is often reduced to the straight and narrow by the heteronormative dominant culture.
The Reignite bursary allowed us to release an impossible dream of turning this into an even more collective and collaborative work with different costumes and “pairs” added to our ‘dance”, underlining the meaning of sympoiesis as “complex, dynamic, responsive, situated, historical system…generatively unfurling and extending.” – Istanbul Queer Art Collective
This residency took place from 28th March to 3rd April 2022 in London and the artists collaborated with choreographers Thick & Tight, costume designer Pam Tait and photographer Eda Sancakda.
Istanbul Queer Art Collective Website. Follow them on Instagram
Jake Wood
Muscle Mary
“This residency is about using notions of reclamation as the foundation of connection. Reclaiming land to grow, reclaiming my queer identity to grow and using the notion of the Romney Marshes as space to investigate and reflect these ideas. In addition to looking at a physical, humorous practice in my work, the residency also explores where my work sits in the context of queer spaces and histories.
The Reignite bursary supported me to start the development of a new performance work called Muscle Mary, a performance intervention in the landscape exploring queer histories, queer bodies and queer sites alongside bodybuilding and fitness.” – Jake Wood
This residency took place in March 2022 at Romney Marsh, Kent and the artist collaborated with artist Louisa Ashcroft and artist and curator Dr. Blanca Regina.
Jake Wood Website. Follow them on Instagram
Rodent
InterDepenDance
“During the residency, I explored how to further develop an interdisciplinary practice, utilising sound, language and the body to create interdependent strategies for devising and performing work. As I continue shifting the focus of my work towards theatre and live art contexts, producing more long-form work, I want to retain the sonic embodiment that makes club and cabaret performance so immediately captivating and absorbing as both a performer and audience member.
The Reignite bursary was a valuable opportunity to approach creating work in a completely different way. Not only was this the first time I had explored the role of ‘choreographer’, but it was the first time since 2019 that I had been able to make time and space to explore my relationship with the/my body in a rehearsal studio.” – Rodent
This residency took place from 1-9th March 2022 in London and the artist collaborated with choreographer Rowdy SS and sound designer Alicia Jane Turner.
Follow Rodent on Instagram
