edge-zine edition 12 “Identity”. by Edge-zine

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Identity Please note: Readers may find some of the themes covered in this issue upsetting

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Front Cover Art: IMPERMANENT IDENTITY By Kinga Owczennikow

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Back Cover Art: Exposed By Kuljit Bhogal

CONTENTS

Identity Through Colour By Mini Arora

Disclaimer: Despite careful control of the contents, we assume no liability for the content itself or of any external links. The operators of each interlinked site are exclusively responsible for the respective contents. Copyright: We hold no claim or credits for images, texts or other materials featured on our sites or publications. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials on these pages are copyrighted to the respective owner and artist. No part of the material published on our site or publications, either text or images may be used for any purpose other than personal use, unless explicit authorization is given by the stated owner. Therefore reproduction, modification, storage in a retrieval system or retransmission, in any form or by any means - electronic, mechanical or otherwise, for reasons other than personal use, is strictly prohibited without prior written permission.

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Editors Note Exploring Identity Through Art - Allan O’Neill Recollections - Alison McCoy At 58 - Alan Bulley Journey in Wartime - Jane Edmonds

Identity Under Scrutiny - Amano Tracy Human Identity - Bethany Gale The Shirkin Family - Nuala Mahon A world without Identity - Negood Baggash The Comfort Blanket - Katie Lewis One Man in His Time - Chas Bedford Northern Bird - Chelsea Bodley Courtney - Helen Rosemier Behind Me - Ivan Radman Divergent - Abby Bathurst The Interior - Jasmine Wilkinson Holistic Paper - Juni Sakala Exposed - Kuljit Bhogal IMPERMANENT IDENTITY - Kinga Owczennikow

Identity Dissolution - Lilia Vinnikova Who am I? I am an artist! - Liz Smith Little Piece of Blue Sky - Manar Kadri Identity - Michael Green Inside the Shell - Michele Usher Identity Through Colour - Mini Arora Mycelium as a method - Natalya Griffin Jane masked and unmasked - Neil Cramond Reprogrammed - Nina Vallard Identity - Patricia Howe Traces of Identity - Roger Rowley Route 52 - Sarah Baxter Looking to Find a Voice - Stella Therond Identity - Terence Brick Quintessentially human - Steve Cussons Implant Journey - Susan Green In-between - Wendy Healey Identity lost in Stories and Woven in Abstraction Paul Butterworth

Editor’s note:

Welcome to the twelfth issue of edge-zine. Our chosen theme is Identity, a concept which encompasses so many different aspects of how each individual perceives themselves as a unique human being in the world whilst balancing those competing needs of self-autonomy and the positive attention of others. Our sense of self is formed from birth through our experiences, environment and relationships - not all of which are nurturing, - and it can be a struggle to maintain a supportive sense of self that is yet flexible enough to allow us to change and reach our potential. Exploring and expressing ourselves through creative arts of all kinds can be such a catalyst for personal growth and fulfilment. We have a bountiful selection of creative work to offer you – painting; drawing; photographs; poetry; textiles; creative writing; sculpture and installations – which illustrate a wide variety of individual self-perceptions, observations and responses to the theme. As I look through our submissions, I imagine travellers meeting together through their stories and creating a kaleidoscope of experiences for readers to reflect upon and enjoy. Many thanks again to all who submitted and thanks also to our readers for their support and encouragement to continue celebrating and showcasing such a variety of creative approaches. At the present time, we have decided not to give a call for submissions to the next issue as the team needs some time to consider the future direction of the zine. We’ll be back to you as soon as possible with news on our progress. In the meantime we send our best wishes to you all for a creative and successful 2022.

Catherine Banks

Catherine Banks February 2022

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Imprint: Editors: Sophie Edwards Catherine Banks Michael Green Communication: Michael Green Funding: Catherine Banks Design & Layout: Amy-Sarah Opitz Contributors to this issue:Nina Vallard,Chelsea Bodley,Roger Rowley,Lilia Vinnikova,Mini Arora,Natalya Griffin,Chas Bedford,Nuala Mahon,Amano,Ivan Radman,Patricia Howe, Neil Cramond,Stella Therond,Katie Lewis,Susan Green,Jane Edmonds,Kinga Owczennikow,Paul Butterworth,Sarah Baxter,Abby Bathurst,Alison McCoy,Kuljit Bhogal,Juni Sakala,Michele Usher,Terence Brick,Alan Bulley,Steve Cussons,Allan O’Neill, Helen Rosemier,Jasmine Wilkinson,Negood Baggash,Bethany Gale,Liz Smith,Manar,Wendy Healey, Michael Green Publication is property of the open student collective of edge-zine, 2016-2021 Email: michael515037@oca.ac.uk Publication platform: www.issuu.com/edge-zine Website: www.edge-zine.com Twitter: https://twitter. com/edgezine Facebook: https://www.facebook/edgezine Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/edgezine www.edge-zine.com

Exploring Identity Through Identity informs us of who we are, where we came from and what we believe. It weaves together stories we tell about ourselves and enables us to find our place in society. My dad, Frank, was serving with the British Army when he first met my mum, Yuet Wah. They married in Hong Kong in 1955 before returning to live in an old Lancashire mill community in the north of England. We were brought up in the northern English working class way, except in our house was kept a Chinese English dictionary, jade and buddha ornaments, the blue envelope airmail letters postmarked Hong Kong, mah-jong, and chopsticks mixed in with the knives and forks. To me, these were like secret nuggets of gold from a mythical land, but within our house they felt totally normal.

Image 1 Frank and Yuet Wah, made for OCA Identity and Place, 2018 6

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Art

By Allan O’Neill

This constructed photographic image reimagines the life of Frank Soo, the first player of Chinese heritage to play for England during WWII. Frank Soo’s achievements were airbrushed from the story of English Football, but through the making of this image, I question how histories and narratives can become established and constructed to obscure certain things – people, events – completely out of our social reality. This project explores identity and Image 2 Frank Soo, made for A5 OCA Context and Narrative, 2017 representation within the context of the British Chinese community. Many minorities are denied a balanced representation, and at times, even the most basic recognition. This silencing can shape or even deny their place in our collective social and cultural history. This was the first time that I had explored my identity, and it was a very cathartic experience. Also, it is my most favourite photograph as it works on many different levels. Growing up, football was my one real passion. My son is the model, and the project initiated a really honest dialogue about identity and heritage. At the same time, he was playing professional football for Birmingham City FC. I have shown Frank Soo in regional exhibitions, and it (he) won the silver medal in the China West Midlands 2020 photo. This was only the start. Later in 2017, I hit a psychological brick wall, and sought counselling. I had strayed so far from my authentic self that I was buried deep somewhere else, and by repressing my Chinese roots, I had neglected a large part of myself. My subconscious thoughts and emotions began to swell into my creative process, and I could feel the hurt, bitterness and grief as my dad passed away that year. The emotions just intensified as I concluded Landscape, Place and Environment, amplified by COVID and the racial culture wars raging since Brexit. I was digging ever deeper, trying to cut out a cancer, until it was all gone, and I could let go. Image 3, made for OCA Identity and Place, 2018 www.edge-zine.com

Exploring Identity Through Art cont...

Images 4, 5, 6 taken from The Little City set on a

For A5, I made a photo-zine around the Malvern Hills that explored the construct an old travel journal. Malvern was a country retreat for the Victorian middle-cla during the reign of Queen Victoria,

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Hill -- A5 OCA Landscape, Place, Environment

ted nature of culture, combining landscape images with reappropriated texts from asses. It is now where I go out walking. The colonisation of Hong Kong occurred , so I was drawn to this connection.

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Exploring Identity Through Art cont... I have just started Self and Other, and feel ready for the next phase of development. A1 was entitled The Garden Portraits and explores individuality and how we see people; the tension between what makes us different and what makes us the same. I believe that experiencing life as an outsider should help you become a more empathetic person, but making art also teaches us empathy and to question our own unconscious biases. Diversity can bring challenge, balance and fairness to all situations from simple conversations to complex social systems. My coping mechanism for dealing with the inevitability of racism

Images 7, 8, 9 taken from Garden Portraits, made for OCA Self And Other

was to whitewash my ‘otherness’ u itage was almost an abstraction. Th ful about racist abuse or discrimin ing. I have also experienced plenty just never felt as personal.

Making art has proved to be a ther provided the process to dig more d questions. Through art, I have bee of my own identity and feel real pr heritage. I have found liberation an es’. It allows an independence whic

until my Hong Kong Chinese her- able to think, say and do what I really want. I don’t have to do or There is something uniquely pain- say things to fit in, partly because I never fit in; I can just focus on nation that is deeply demoralisbecoming my authentic self. It’s a fantastic journey. y of class barriers, but somehow it These experiences have motivated me to become an OCA Student Rep for EDI, and I have committed myself to the recently reformed Student Association, which is beginning to make a real difference rapeutic antidote, it has also deeply and ask the uncomfortable in creating an equal, diverse and inclusive student experience that will benefit all of us. en empowered to take control ride in my Hong Kong Chinese nd harmony in ‘my differencAllan O’Neill ch has been invaluable in being

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Recollections By Alison McCoy

I am currently in my final year of my Painting degree with the OCA which I have studied for the last 8 years. Art was not the preferred route of study when I was at school and I was dissuaded from following an artistic course, with an academic one and university placement the route chosen for me. My non-art career has enabled me to travel the world with extended periods spent in the Far East and Italy. More recently, I returned to my hometown of Glasgow where I spent several years caring for my mother before moving south to Devon where I am now based. Having lived in Hong Kong, Italy, England and Scotland, I could be considered a global citizen but my roots are in Scotland where my “national” identity was established during my formative years. While the notion of identity can be seen as little more than a label or collection of labels, for good or for bad, sharing common experiences with others is something that the majority of people seek to do to create a feeling of belonging. Just look at the many thousands of Facebook Groups catering for everything from following a band or restoring classic cars, to being a mother. We are a collection of experiences, shared and individual, which influence our behaviours to a greater or lesser extent. The final body of work for my Painting degree deals with my memories of growing up in 1970s Scotland with abstract representations of our regular holiday destination in the North East of Scotland and of objects, general and personal, which take me back to these times. Many of these objects will resonate with those who were children in Britain, and particularly in Scotland, during the 70s. These shared memories serve to reinforce the idea of identity of place and form or strengthen bonds between those who experienced the times and locations referenced in my work. Oil paints have been a fairly recent discovery for me and I love the way the paint can be manipulated on the surface of my work to reference the distortion of our memories. Through my work, I seek to reconnect the viewer with their own personal remembered histories. www.edge-zine.com

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At 58...

By Alan Bulley

With this image I wanted to portray something that has been occupying my thoughts: ageing. For me, the issue is less one of fear of getting older and more a question of making sense of my changing place in the world. I am not yet ‘old,’ but I am clearly not a young man, either. It is the experience of ‘in-betweenness’ that I wanted to suggest in a photograph. These days, I am looking backward and forward at the same time: more than half of my life is behind me, but there may be several decades yet ahead. What do they hold?

Journey in Wartime

By Jane Edmonds

don't know if this poem falls into the category of 'identity' but it is a portrait of a small child in a specific time. I have many memories to fall back on, which have filters of remembrance, by which I mean that stories we tell ourselves get re-written each time they are remembered. Maybe this makes them poetic, but at any rate it gives them a sort of resonance. The succinctness of poetry attracts me. Most of my poems are free verse, though sometimes more classical forms seem appropriate. Rhymes, alliterations and assonances will just happen, but as in the last line of 'Journey in Wartime' I will switch to an internal rhyme if there are no other rhymes happening. I wrote this as a very rough draft and left it for a few days. I fiddled with the line lengths, moved the first line to the end of the first verse, but wanted to keep the visual memory of a train journey, as well as the feeling and smells of humanity in wartime. My other poem is about the other end of life and does use rhymes and half-rhymes that I use often. English is full of them.

JOURNEY IN WARTIME

ACCEPTANCE

A woman I have never met before is taking me to where I have to stay. We’re in a train. The sun shines through dirty windows as smuts fly by. The telegraph wires dip and rise, dip and rise, dip and rise. My baby sister has polio so I am sent away.

When I walk through a doorway, just another old woman, nobody notices me nowadays.

The train is full of soldiers. The one next to me smells of wool and sweetness. I am only five with curly hair. That, and my name, is all I know. The woman I have never met before sits opposite me. The soldier next to me asks if I would like some candy. His deep, slow voice implies it would be nice. I don’t know what it is, but say yes please.

To announce my presence sometimes I wear loud clothes, but it is a defence. At least my lipstick stays in place. I don’t bother to be a Joan Collins smoothing the wrinkles out of my face. I’m still upright, without a limp. It’s just that I simply fade into the background making very little sound.

He gives me a little tin, the sort cough drops come in. It’s very small in his big hand. The woman opposite frowns. I don’t open it. It feels like treasure. www.edge-zine.com

IDENTITY UNDER SCRUTINY Generally speaking, we tend to be fairly sure on what our identity is. Passport details for instance or maybe our driving licence can sum it up, or to quote a fellow student … “Our gender, our colour, our race and our talents all contribute to who we truly are – and to what makes us special. To what gives us our identity.” Yet maybe identity cannot be so summarily presented. Following the death of my mother and the discovery of correspondence in her effects that considerably altered my understanding of her, I started sifting through photographs of her with what felt like the ghost of Barthes looking over my shoulder. In Camera Lucida he writes … “There I was, alone in the apartment where she had died, looking at these pictures of my mother, one by one, under the lamp, gradually moving back in time with her, looking for the truth of the face I had loved.” (Section 28) Barthes does come across a photograph that for him reveals the essence of his mother which he calls The Winter Garden photograph. Yet for me, there was no defining image only a mass of images that made up an incomplete whole. I could not find my mother in the photographs of her! Tarthang Tulku, a Tibetan exile who after teaching at Banares Sanskrit University in India, moved to California where he set up his own centre of study, talks about our “dependence on identity” that “gives us a sense of status and focus” which helps us keep our lives running smoothly although it largely functions as an assumption rather than a fact. What the plethora of photographs of my mother showed me was that identity is not as obvious as it might be experienced; a kind of “reality creating program that mind operates” rather than a hard and fast structure that we can rely on. Not surprising then that the work I am making about my mother is titled “A woman I never really knew.” As the Asian British actress Shobana Gulati, one of Victoria Wood’s dinner ladies, writes “ … we never really know ourselves or each other fully. Our memory is an imaginative, creative, destructive and selective place.” Banks C, OCA Discourse, 2021 Barthes R, Camera Lucida, 1980 Tulku T, Reflections of Mind, 2013 Gulati S, Remember Me, 2020

By Amano Tracy

photographs of my mother as a toddler, newly wed, tourist and daffodil gatherer

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Human Identit

I call this artwork ‘Human Identity’ because I was inspired by how people from different cultures and walks of life sculpt the collective identity of humans everywhere. I was also inspired by how it isn’t where we come from that defines us but our actions. When people work together we create an identity that effects all of us which means every individual matters and builds a bigger picture, bigger than just ourselves alone. I created this example of lettering art by sketching my own hand as I tried to spell out the word Identity. It took a few tries to make the letters readable. I created the sketches using ink pens and then scanned my finished sketches to colour them using computer software.

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By Bethany Gale

I am inspired by the idea that illustrations of everyday objects and other things can be used as typography, combining both genres of graphic design and illustration. For many years vintage typography was made to be beautiful and decorative. I believe no part of design should be boring and love to take every opportunity to decorate everyday mundane things like type to make life more interesting and enjoyable. I find the notion of taking everyday typography and turning it into illustrations interesting. It is a very contemporary way to make typography decorative and appeal to a modern audience. I hope it brings people joy. It helps define the meaning of the word Identity to me by literally illustrating the word how I see it.

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The Sherkin Family By Nuala Mahon

Sherkin Island, West Cork, Ireland I live on a small island, five kilometres by three, off the southwest coast of Ireland. We fell in love with and bought our house on Sherkin Island forty-two years ago. It nestled below north-facing cliffs surrounded by wild vegetation. We share the island with an eclectic mix of just over one hundred residents. In the 1970s, people came from the four corners of Ireland, mainland Europe and a handful came from America and Canada to settle on our windswept rock and join the indigenous islanders. Integrating into an island community can be tricky and is best approached with caution. My maternal background in fishing and seafaring proved a slight advantage. Sea fishing is a tough life, and my relations have battled the seas for at least seven generations. My family background helped with understanding the fishing members of the community on Sherkin Island. Boats are in my blood. Establishing where one fits into the mosaic of a small island community requires time and caution. When we arrived in the 1970s, there was an irregular ferry service, a shop, a church, a junior school, a pub and a small hotel. A colourful collection of islanders provided the services. Understanding why something did or did not operate on any given day required patience. Every able-bodied male was required to help herd animals to the ferry slip and onto the cattle boat when the animals were going to the mart to be sold. The animals were required to jump onto the flat-bottomed waiting boat. Unfortunately, cattle were not always willing to board the ferry, escaping back up the island. The escaping cattle were rounded up again and the boarding operation repeated. The shopkeeper doubled as a farmer, so the shop remained closed until the cattle were safely onboard or swimming behind the cattle boat on their way to the mainland. Music, especially traditional Irish music, is a cohesive force on the island. Celtic musicians from all over Ireland, Wales, Scotland and northern France have always come to Sherkin to join the island musicians and make music together. Many of those who have joined this community in recent years are practising artists. Twenty-five years ago, an artist who lectured in one of the art colleges in Dublin moved to the island on a part-time basis. She persuaded her University to establish an outreach programme on the island (http://bavasherkin.com ). As a result, a small number of students are accepted onto the BA Visual Arts degree course every two years. Many of the graduates have gone on to further education or have established successful art careers. A number have settled permanently on Sherkin, increasing the rich diversity of the island life. As a photographer, I appreciate the rich diversity of artistic talent. Traditional occupations like farming and fishing are in decline. Still, they are being replaced by opportunities to live an island life while being able, with regular ferries, to work on the mainland. The shop, school and hotel have all closed but a new residential holiday centre and kayaking school have been established. In common with many other island communities, permanent residents are being replaced by holiday homeowners. Many newcomers expect mainland facilities like cars and modern machinery. An old island way of life is slowly eroding. But a new modern dynamic is evolving, which I have tried to encapsulate in this collage of residents’ portraits, past and present, of Sherkin Island. 22

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A world without Identity... I wanted to create something that we could all agree on. An art piece that would make us appreciate diversity in all its shapes and sizes.

What would a world without variability look like? “A world without identity”

I kept the composition simple and colourless. Segregated and predictable. I used a pencil and kept the geometric shapes to a minimum. I tried to include a variety of objects: Humans, pets, homes, vehicles, nature, and birds. What if everything looked the same in these categories. I hope by looking at this, we can appreciate, admire, and celebrate everything that is different. Identity. Uniqueness. Diversity.

By Negood Baggash 24

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Get Social... There are many groups and forums to be found involving the OCA (if it involves canoes, you are probably in the wrong place). A great startTwitter ing place is the Student discussion forums available on @opencollegearts the student website, you must ...and find us here: be logged in. Here you will find @edgezine plenty of different categories to browse through and a lot of support, whatever your query or news you have to share.

#edgezine #ocaillustration #ocacreativearts #weareoca #ocafriends

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The Comfort T

he Comfort Blanket is a myriad of thou a woman. I wanted to create somethin and other peoples experiences and views it effected their lives. By asking a range o images and stories I was able to gain a hu a textile work to resonate with people. In o through different ideas and decided to cre triptych, having three distinct sections. Th this was about women building a life throu middle larger section is the effect the men create. Within this section I wanted to loo anxiety and tiredness. The last section is life not dominated by those symptoms an

I work with a range of pre-loved, recycled colours I want to use. I love using stitch a techniques and can be very useful to con

Fabric textures create different narratives heavy hessian but they are both relevant

I am inspired by the work of Tracey Emin open in their work displaying their feelings both genders to raise awareness and disc open myself in talking about my own experiences which is something that I would never have done if it wasn't for my course. In my work I look at how complex our identities are in life and how they can change dependent on circumstances. I consider the identity of aging and how a change in life can affect our identity and how sometimes we have to struggle and fight to get it back. 26

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By Katie Lewis

t Blanket

ughts and feelings of a journey through life as ng as a collaborative piece based on myself s of the symptoms of the menopause and how of people to contribute through words, phrases, uge amount of ideas which I distilled in to order to make a connected piece I worked eate a 'life' journey which took the form of a he first section is in sepia with memories and ugh family, friends, work and hobbies. Then the nopause has on the life and the chaos it can ok at different symptoms like moisture, dryness, about looking forward to new beginnings and a nd to create joyfulness and bonding with others.

d fabrics dying them in order to achieve the and paint together as they are very different nvey different emotions and feelings.

s, a flimsy muslin says something different to a in saying something within the piece.

and Judy Chicago in the way they are very s. I want to create work which resonates with cussion on the topic, so I have become more

One man in his time ...

By Chas Bedford These images arise from a self-portrait assignment.

s an individual, I play many roles depending on what I am doing or who a photographer, sailor, dinghy instructor … Indeed, this is something I h surveyor, sailor and photographer but not necessarily in that order”

Therefore, this exercise is an exploration of some of my roles, through the m and props as the variables that express the role. My principal influence on s (high-contrast 8x10, deep focus, giving his subject nowhere to hide). His rat

I kept the technical side of image-making as standardised as possible to ma high and just left of camera for the main light; big softbox centrally at floor le (12 second delay gave me time to press the button and get into a pose). In electrical kit was not the most sensible thing I have ever done.

Post-processing was standardised in Lightroom. Once I had the look I want the selected images.

om I am with. To my family I am a husband and father; at work, I was a building surveyor. Elsewhere, I am have recognised for years, having described myself on Facebook (and on my blog pages) as “building

medium of self-portraiture. I wanted to keep pose, framing, lighting etc. as similar as possible, using clothing style has been Robert Avedon, particularly his ‘In the American West’ images with their almost forensic look ttlesnake skinner is the exemplar I am aiming for.

aintain uniformity. I was working in a small room, with painted walls and set up three lights (open reflector, evel for the fill, small light behind me pointing at the back wall). The camera was triggered by the self-timer retrospect, soaking myself in the shower (for "The Sailor") then standing in the middle of a lot of high-voltage

ted (mono conversion, opened shadows, high contrast) I saved a preset called ‘Avedon’ and used it for all of

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Northern Bird

By Chelsea Bodley

key part of an individual's identity is their accent. Each is uniquely different and makes up and forms a large part of who we are. Whatever country or even part of the UK, we can determine where someone may come from by their voice. I have moved a lot around the country and something that will never leave me, is my accent. Living in the Midlands, I stick out like a sore thumb. Nearly every day I experience words getting lost in translation, repeating myself having to tone myself down and speak in a way the locals can understand. At times its genuine misunderstanding, others cloaked xenophobia. I wanted to create a piece that was like the comments I have experienced, stereotypically poking fun at my accent. There are certain things that you can’t buy as they are only made up North and one which you cannot find anywhere else in the country is a 'parmo'- flattened chicken breast covered in béchamel sauce, covered in breadcrumbs and melted cheese. I decided to create a light-hearted and fun representation of the parmo as representation of myself. Bright and bold, standing out like I do on a daily basis but unstereotypically soft, as I am a sensitive Northern bird. Using a bright and bold palette of felts, I embroidered a felt sculpture of the parmo and its box- mishappen and imperfect a representation of the hurt caused by through away comments and the prejudice that I have encountered.

...My piece is called ‘Northern Bird’...

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By Helen Rosemier I was inspired to make this work while trying to create a portrait of my friend that could be more than just a headshot. There are so many layers to Courtney's self-identity. These layers can be glimpsed in the way she holds herself and how she dresses, the ink on her skin and what each tattoo means to her, and the words she uses to talk about her past and how she moves around in the world.

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Behind Me

By Ivan Radman

The project "Behind Me" deals with the relations between objects and locations as a way of presenting a person, and more generally identity, which is never final. Identity is modified by time, changes in work locations, in other words living. It is defined by what surrounds a person, but also by what a person keeps going back to. It could be said that identity is a buffer between a person and their current location/present time they find themselves in. Identity searches for known in the unknown so that one can more easily deal with the new.

Image 1. Family house.

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This project was born from an idea photographing two sisters from Croatia who both lived outside of their home country and worked in the same place in Luxembourg. That portrait then triggered the idea of presenting those two persons, coming from the same family/country/tradition, but living in another location/country/way of life, however this time not through their portrait, but through their choice of sentimental objects, which for them represent the idea of home/family/memories. I am interested in experimenting on the topics of relations between memory and the present moment, between a previous self and the one now, between reality and fiction. Such a comparison is inevitable in order to understand the process of creating identity, which is never fixed or defined but constantly modifying, trying in vain to keep some imagined idea or framework that we identify with in order to maintain one’s self. Identity and memory are themes that are often explored in all sorts of art concepts. Human behaviour constantly fascinates us because it is directly connected to each individual through similarities but also through differences that we all share. One such example, from a private angle, can be found in the work of Anna Fox’s My Mother’s Cupboards and my Father’s Words. Another example, more from a public perspective, would be the work of Nigel Shafran Dark Rooms.

I hope that the project "Behind Me" will provoke reflections in each viewer, that they will think about personal objects that surround them and locations that carry special meaning for them. Presenting a person via personal objects and locations allows for an element of mystery behind the person linked to the objects and locations presented. A portrait would demystify this since a face would directly influence viewers’ attitudes towards the subject, be it through constitution, clothing, race, gender, etc. I wanted to avoid all that and point to what we all have in common, and that is not directly as visible as someone’s physical appearance. Image 2. More than a hundred years old, despite the heavy and thick glass it is made of, it still shows visible traces of tear and wear. This summer I have decided to take it from our holiday home and bring it with me to Luxembourg. There is another similar one in grandma’s house. Candy jars remind me of childhood in general, of my grandmothers and grandfathers, and of some old ladies we’d have to visit when someone sent us on an errand. They would then present their candy jar, remove the lid with their trembling hand and offer its content to us. And we, actually counting on that jar as a prize for a job well done, would politely thank them and take one candy.

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Image 3. I decided to learn piano against my mother’s advice.

Image 4 (Right). Družba Pere Kvržice is a children’s book about a group of school children trying to renew an old mill together. Although the life of children today is completely different than it was at the time of the novel, the book is a classic loved by all generations. This edition of the book dates back to 1960. My father received it as a birthday gift from the lady in whose house his sister used to live during her university years in Zagreb, a certain Mrs Laura. I gathered from family stories that Mrs Laura was very respected in my father’s family. There is, for example, Laura’s wardrobe, one of my relatives was named Laura, there are recipes... It is possible that my father kept the book on account of Laura, with the inscription she had written for him. He later gave it to my son to read, of course with a warning to take good care of it. 40

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Image 5. Detail.

Image 6 (Right). I bought this small ceramic plate last summer at Hvar, an island where I have been spending my summers since I was six months old. As soon as I saw it, my heart jumped from joy because it showed my favourite beach Glavice. I knew right away that it would be travelling with me to Luxembourg. That beach has a special place in my heart. I feel instant peace when I am there, and this was a way of bringing some of that feeling to Luxembourg.

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Image 7. The new apartment we moved into after coming back from maternity leave in Croatia, where we still live, and which my sister found for us.

Imag This kitchen scale w things I had bought Although not very mo has already changed a times, and I hope

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Image 9. Our future apartment, we hope to move there soon. My sister will come and visit.

ge 8. was one of the first t when I got a job. odern, or precise, it address with us three it will the fourth.

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Divergent

By Abby Bathurst

ivergent, that’s what we are, Unique and individual, No two people are the same, Yet society still holds a ritual.

I want to rebel and Change all these things To free us girls from stereotypes And to unclip our wings.

When we are young We are taught how to be How to look, how to act And to follow society’s decree.

We are who we are There is no excuse The world’s view is archaic These expectations we must reduce.

We’re supposed to fit in But to be our own person To blend in with others But be our own version. Men are superior with their Intelligence and power Women suffer inferiority Delicate little flowers. Us girls should look A certain way Slim waist, pretty face, Thigh gap, typical cliché. Don’t know everything Don’t know more than men Don’t show you’re stronger Don’t go into the lion’s den. Makeup and fashion Crushes and creativity The Arts and beauty A maternal activity. Sports and video games Action films and cars They’re typically male Girls, they’re not ours. We should not like The things men do It is not proper It is not good for you. But what happens when You don’t conform? When society is wrong And you want to reform?

I’m different from my friends In interests and looks They like the makeup and fashion Whilst I’m more cars and books. Card Against Humanity for them But GTA is what I play They wear crop tops and skirts But sports merch is my way. Society accepts them Their appearances and bodies But my beauty is inside me My brain, humour and hobbies. We’re told how to look We’re told how to act But I’m tired of it all I want to be abstract. I’m unique and different From people I know But I’d rather be that than Be an ordinary show. Your opinion is your own Whether you like me or hate me Honestly, I don’t really care I just know being me is a guarantee. I am who I am You are who you are Everyone is different But we’re all our own star.

Before writing my own piece for the edge-zine, I browsed through previous issues to gain an understanding of what has been submitted in the past. Knowing that the theme of the edge-zine was identity allowed me to hone my ideas; I brainstormed different sub-themes to see what I could come up with and delved into issues surrounding society. Having read Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams, it was clear that in society today there’s a certain expectation. You're expected to fit in and look, and act, a certain way. You're supposed to be typical, normal, and whilst there is a growing resistance against this, I still feel that there's a lot wrong with society's expectations. I feel strongly about having different interests or looking different and so, they were my main focuses for my entry. I began writing a first-person prose piece. I chose first-person to create intimacy, but I found it hard to maintain momentum with my writing. I couldn't get the right tone or flow in my writing and struggled to get my message across. Therefore, I decided to go back to basics and analyse the themes I brainstormed, and read some poetry, having just published my own anthology. Reading the collection ‘Breaking Silence’ by Jacob Sam-La Rose showed me that using poetry can be a clearer way of conveying a message. In the ‘Speechless’ poems, Sam La-Rose uses poetry to tell a

story of identity, with each poem being of a different time. This influenced my decision of using poetry for the edge-zine. Poetry doesn’t have to rhyme but I decided to use a rhyme scheme, ABCB; in my opinion, the rhyming makes it more enjoyable to read as it keeps a fast pace and adds a musical element to it. Rhyming poems, like ‘Honey’ by Pam Ayres, keep the reader intrigued through the rhyme scheme and so I wanted to emulate this in my poem. I chose topics that I’m passionate about and included them in the stanzas, highlighting societal issues of today; “Us girls should look a certain way” and “We’re told how to look; We’re told how to act”. I used personal experiences and included my thoughts within the poem adding to the intimacy and heightening the passion that I had writing it. I feel that the poem, ‘Divergent’ conveys the theme of identity and societal issues a lot better than the prose did, as I found it hard to create a piece of narrative surrounding identity. The topics I brainstormed fit better in a poem structure than as a piece of narrative, in my opinion. www.edge-zine.com

The Interior.

By Jasmine Wilkinson

hen I think "identity" I don’t think of one person, style or any one race. I think of a collective of people; st photographs are a mix of individuals I have the pleasure of knowing and people I have never spoken to.

You will see images of contrasting people, completely different faces, hair and attire. Although to me it’s not a interior. How someone is, what they love, who they are beneath the skin. I want you to look past what you see

trange, wild and colourful. These .

about the exterior, it’s about the e, and think about what inspires them.

Holistic Paper By Juni Sakala

H 48

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I’m joining authentic Japanese handmade paper making training while taking Textiles course at OCA. Although I’m deeply into these two practices, I’ have been confused with the gap between them. Paper making is all about precision to meet strict criteria, while the Textiles course encourages an experimental and exploratory approach.

Materials: paper mulberry tree (skin, bark and woody core) Size: 120cm in diameter

Am I expected to suppress my personal voice if I am to conserve our cultural heritage?

How to let my individual identity speak out while respecting a communal identity? www.edge-zine.com

This work is my translation of material for making paper, paper mulberry tree, of which ultimately refined paper is made.

How would I manipulate this material to interpret its quality in my own voice?

Knowing how it is grown in the field and how it is processed, I now cannot ignore those parts that are only discarded in the process of making paper. The material of my work transitions, from the centre to the outer part, from woody core, bark then to skin as seen inside a twig.

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I started with observational drawing of the twigs. Then,

...Little by little, the ma 52

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, sample making, reflection, sample making, reflection...…

aterial found its own way.

Exposed By Kuljit Bhogal

his work started as a sketch which was then edited digitally, printed and then painted using gouache and ink. The work was then redigitalised and edited using Photoshop. I still find it a struggle to translate handdrawn work into a digital format without losing it's energy or essence and this work involved a lot of trial and error. The original image was coloured in yellows, oranges and blue but I decided to simplify it using a brown filter. This made the image easier to 'read' and also added to the sense of brownness as part of my identity. The work speaks about my anxiety about trying to live authentically whilst still feeling watched and judged by others.

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IMPERMANENT IDEN All photographs are self-portraits.

The camera is first a means of self-discovery and a means of self-growth. The artist has one thing to say—himself. [Minor White]

orking on auto-portraits is not new to me at all. In fact, I’ve been taking them since January, 2013 in more deliberate way, with more awareness and will. They seem to be influenced by work of Francesca Woodman a lot and my general sense of aesthetic as well as personal preference of dark tones. They have also been encouraged by my previous photography professor, who still tutors me in one or another way. I am very present in many of them whereas in this series they rather lacks that kind of presence. The work presented below differs from that continuous series and it’s a result of a lengthy process of selfreflection/self-narration taking place in me within. Actually realizing that I am in a process of growth even

when I don’t really think about it, brings a good feeling of being on the right path in my photographic work. I explored the unseen subject of impermanence, and from then on, I started to get a feeling that it would be significant to make a reference from it, in this series of self-portraits. As a final result, I put together only 5 photographs and they present a personal extension, in a sense, to the main Buddhist themes of non-duality. It goes without saying that photography should stir people’s emotions. Thus with sincerity and humbleness, I wish to lead the viewer of these series towards his/her own reflections on the fleeting nature of life.

THE NEVER-ENDING CYCLE OF LIFE AND DEATH While living in Vietnam, I came across teachings of Zen master and poet Thich Nhat Hanh. Below is an excerpt from his writing, which I would like to quote: Impermanence is looking at reality from the point of view of time. No self is looking at reality from the point of view of space. They are two sides of reality. No self is a manifestation of impermanence and impermanence is a manifestation of no self. If things are impermanent they are without a separate self. If things are without a separate self, it means that they are impermanent. Impermanence means being transformed at every moment. This is reality. And since there is nothing unchanging, how can there be a permanent self, a separate self? When we say “self” we mean something that is always itself, unchanging day after day. But nothing is like that. Our body is impermanent, our emotions are impermanent, and our perceptions are impermanent. Our anger, our sadness, our love, our hatred and our consciousness are also impermanent. 56

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On another hand, there is a short yet quite powerful quote by American master photographer Wynn Bullock. He was primarily known for his monochromatic imagery but created a series of chromatic photographs called: Color Light Abstraction between 1959-1964. Back then, he made this statement, which offers a wonderful summery about time and space, making a reference to the words above. I feel all things as dynamic events, being, changing, and interacting with each other in space and time even as I photograph them. His daughter Barbara Bullock-Wilson wrote about those photographs: Abstraction enabled him to get close to the essence of universal qualities.

NTITY

By Kinga Owczennikow

#1 When I look at this photograph, it gives me an illusion of carta blanca, which is a Spanish phrase, literally meaning the white card/ blank card. I chose to use it as the first one of the series to symbolically represent the beginning and the ending of one’s life/one’s story. At this point anything is possible. I actually took it while shooting for the series on impermanence in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

I continue to live with, and at the same time, I somehow try to break though the delusion of having a wide range of freedom and independence as a human. This photograph shows both a reflection and a shadow. It puts together the self, one of HERE and another of THERE. This self-portrait tries to convey the message of duality in my chosen existence: the foreigner in Hong Kong/Asia [HERE]* and the Polish citizen [THERE].

This is a shadow of self yet no-self is truly presented. Even though it is bright, colourful and rather summery-like, it also consists of an underlying sense of melancholia. I came to feel that the lower, right part of this image carries the essence of it. The shadow superimposed on the hole of the tree trunk, brings to mind Alice in Wonderland falling into a rabbit hole. It also reminded me of the quote from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland: “I can’t explain myself, I am afraid, sir” said Alice, because I’m not myself, you see.”

This image was Ghost Festival taken in a priva public which inc international ar this frame, I felt was in a tiny ro among strange familiar, as if it of. Just before, he opened and entering the roo camera, focuse myself in the pr shutter. The ch to this photogra a split second, I exhaled loudly spiritual experie I came back to subconsciousn

*currently in London

[Lewis Carroll] Next, viewer may look up and notice the clear sight of decay of the wooden hut. At such moment, nostalgia seems to naturally intensify and so does life as we mature.

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#5 The moment I created this photograph, I thought it had an appearance of a coffin and my body in it, at the end of its time. The original image was taken in colour and I was not satisfied with the particular yellowish tones of the three-sided frame. Because I liked the general result, I tried to make a positive change in order to keep it. Firstly, I converted the image into the grayscale but still it was not good enough. After several attempts, I inverted all channels of the original chromatic image into a negative. In my opinion, this simple process added a new dimension to the image. The result leaves me with a strong impression of continuum of consciousness, the state in-between, the emergence of new/next life. Thus here I have made the full cycle underlying one’s life and a belief in the past and future lives.

s created during Guest Host on Cheung Chau, HK. It was ate flat, open for a day to the cluded art work from local and rtists. The moment I perceived t immediately enriched. Here I oom, with an outlook of the sea, ers yet everything felt somehow had happened before-kind , there was a man on a balcony; d then closed the sliding door, om. It was then, I picked the ed yet unfocused, while immersing resent moment and pressed the hair might have been the trigger aph. I asked myself: “Have I, for entered into the same river ?” y afterwards; it was not just a ence but also a physical one. sit down on ‘the chair’ of my ness.

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Identity Dissol By Lilia Vinnikova

hen I think of the topic of identity, I am not only concerned with the inside or outside of people, but al their inseparable bond with who we are. Our everyday life is a large part of our human personality an unexpectedly and many accustomed activities cease to exist, one suddenly remains alone and incomplete forced to look deeper into one's own soul. Only after a while you realize that everyday life is not coming ba rediscover everyday life and to research more thoroughly your own identity, and gradually shape it with ne blurred monotypes were created in the Painting 1: Understanding Painting Media course and are my abstr technique of the oil monotype can be used to depict the above-described state of identity dissolution, whic fluid oil paint can only be controlled to a limited extent and the result is difficult to predict on paper, which e own identity in a melancholy artistic way

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lution

lso the immediate environment and nd identity. When everyday life changes ely in a vacuum for a certain time and is ack in its usual form and you begin to ew parts that are now available. These racted self-portraits. I find that the ch I could almost physically feel. The very expresses the incompleteness of one's

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Who am I? I a By Liz

ver the past few months, I have been in a reflective phase, reflecting upon life changes and its challenges. As part of this reflective journey one of the areas I have been exploring, and most relevant to my studies, is understanding my practice, how it fits with my place in the world and where my ‘art’ sits within that.

Progressing through the degree we are guided to narrow down fields of interest until we reach a point where we can articulate a few key areas we want to explore at level three and potentially our practice going forwards. Level two has been key to this narrowing down process, but some of the answers have only revealed themselves retrospectively.

Metamorphosis' was inspired by the film Joker (2019) and by the concept of clowns putting on make-up mas some part of ourselves linked to our identity. To create the triptych I took a photo of myself and then in Photos another textured layer, which I then remo 62

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am an artist! Smith

Looking back at my level one work I can see now that identity and the self have played a major role and have been a theme running through my work, so I have already been sub-consciously working towards an understanding of what these mean in the context of my ‘art’. To fully understand this relationship more investigation and experimentation is required, but it’s good to know I am on a path.

It’s like the student layer is being chipped off and an artist (or maybe a clown) is emerging.

sks to become funny. I was thinking about the masks we wear in our everyday lives, each representative of shop put a textured layer of peeling paint on top. For the other images I used a layer with clown make-up and oved in part to reveal the clown make-up. www.edge-zine.com

Little piece of blue sky

Manar Kadri

By Manar Kari

Watercolour on rough, 300 gsm watercolour paper. 42.1 x 57.3 cm 64

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I wanted to explore the relationship between individual and group identity through shape and colour. I chose the square because I think as a shape it's both independent, when represented alone and collaborative when seen in the form of a grid. Initially I experimented with a few different colours, before I settled on blue. The inspiration for the colour blue came from the quote "little piece of blue sky" from the film My sister's keeper. I thought of the grandeur of the sky and how it's made of atoms; tiny pieces. Then I knew blue was the colour I had to use portray the relationship between the smallness on the individual and the vastness of the group. My aim was to give the word identity a visual existence, so it was important to create something that was symbolically resonant. I used watercolour due to its fluidity, I've always liked the inability to have full control over this medium and how the process of painting itself feels collaborative, I wanted each square to be unique and the overall piece to feel natural and far from perfect. The transparency of the medium also made the slightly difficult task of coming up with so many shades of blue easier.

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Iden%ty.

Reading Ernst Von Glaserfelds essay “Thoughts about Space, Time and the concept of iden=ty which he writes about iden=ty being inﬂuenced by the experience of occupying an environm made me think of the Inuit I have seen in Greenland. They have lived on and from their land s the last ice age and are the masters of the space they inhabit. I have looked at their lives and that I would ﬁnd it almost impossible to survive in such a place.

Identity

By Michael Green

This led me to ponder how do they pass on knowledge from genera=on to genera=on, speaki the people I met and visi=ng an exhibi=on of arc=c art in the Victoria and Albert Museum I be understand they pass on knowledge by stories and art. When they kill an animal to survive, th all of it, even the spare pieces are used for art and learning, to pass on the knowledge to futu genera=ons.

When I experience this landscape, I ﬁnd I must photograph it to document what I have seen a remind me of my lack of knowledge about this environment when I return to my space. I won how the stories I had been told and had read could be depicted in our digital world.

I created these images placing Inuit art and their stories on the Landscapes I had seen and ca Each image has a QR code which will tell the story if you have the right technology. However, look and think the story is in front of your eyes. Only the last one is a mystery depic=ng the re we send for sor=ng to Arc=c dumps. Why should our waste technology be dumped on this te and these people?

I can iden=fy with these people they live with the land as custodians, we could learn much fro them if we stop and listen to their way of life. One thing I learnt is they get vitamin C from the meat they eat and not from fruit and vegetables as I do.

y”, in ment since know

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Inside the Shell

This series has been created around the coastal community of Ngawi (pronounced ‘naa the southernmost point of New Zealand’s North Island. Known for having more bulldoz and discovers what is holding the community

The location is exposed, with intense and prolonged periods of high winds and heat during the summer months. With very few trees, what kind of person is prepared to endure these conditions? Only the strongest it seems. Regardless of the media headlines of declining mental health conditions within rural New Zealand communities the strength lies within the softer gender in this location. They are the ones holding things together, making do and patching up both mentally and physically.

My proposal was to explore and get to discover the real stories behind the Kiw wanted to discover if everything that wa rect. The location I chose was about a fishing community that makes it’s living and pass through on their way to the lig coastline.

When I started this project the New Zealand press were highlighting the issues of mental health within rural communities and how we as a country had one of the highest rates of suicide, especially amongst young farmers and within rural communities and it was time for the government to act. This resulted in a $1.2billion injection but it was hard to see where this went.

This project has taken many twists and it’s a wonder it even got finished, but in its weight we came out the other side a the trust and friendship of some amazin

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Michele Usher

a-wee’). A small fishing village which is located just five kilometres from Cape Palliser, zers per capita than permanent residents this project scratches the hard-male surface y together, the very backbone under the shell.

know a local rural community. To wi ‘she’ll be alright’ approach to life. I as written in the media was in fact coran hour’s drive from my home, a small g from cray fishing and tourists that surf ghthouse and fur seals that inhabit the

Through these eight women I have explored the relationship between the land, location/space and the community who inhabit it and with them. I have tried to capture a feeling of the location through landscape, portraits and still life, showing the hard conditions and the environment which gives a feeling of isolation, hardship, mental health issues, but also the softer side. The women that through their own strength hold the community together by making do and sticking together to support each other.

d turns and throw in a world pandemic n a small country know to punch above and I managed to photograph and gain ng Kiwi individuals.

The use of black and white images contrast with the softer images of the portraits and everyday life. The black and white offer the feeling of the hard external shell that keeps the community protected, but for me I found the strength in the softness of these women, they were and are the glue to this community. www.edge-zine.com

Identity Throug

A sense of belonging is the first thing I think of when I think of th word 'Identity'. Who are you and where do you belong in society?

suppose this comes from the fact that I grew up in England as an immigrant from India. The colour of my skin was the main factor for not ever feeling as if I fitted in. I now live in India and those things have changed. Here skin colours come in all sorts of hues, generally speaking, lighter tones in the North and darker ones in the South. The colour of your skin sets you apart if you are visiting or living in a region different from your ancestry. As far as skin tone goes, I still don't fit in being a lighter Northerner's shade, living in the South.

Snow White story. I know there are activists who are tr to change this belief system but has it really changed or changing, but slowly? I decided to take a closer look.

In India there is a general desire to be a lighter shade. If you read the ads in Matrimonial columns in newspapers, “looking for a fair bride” is the norm. Skin cream manufacturers advertise that by using their products one will become fairer. Fairer is considered synonymous with lovelier...much like the

I was also procuring earth shades from clay and soil. This me to think of the colours of skin. I became more intere in narrowing it down to making swatches of browns and n trals that could be associated with skin tones. I used po granate and avocado peels for some of the lighter sha but getting darker shades was a challenge (with shopping for materials) so I made some lampblac add to the browns to change the tones.

My recent practice has been around making natural ments with flowers, leaves, fruits or vegetables solely f my garden. I was experimenting with the colours that can derived from nature. It stems from a desire to go back to basics and stop using synthetic colours that pollute the ri and streams, with their cast-off chemicals.

The process involved simmering the material, str ing it, letting it dry and then grinding with mortar pestle to make a powder. The final step was to m a pigment that can adhere to paper using gum bic.

I then treated it as a search for identifying one's skin colour and one's preferred skin colour. I as a number of random people to choose a colour f the shade card that I showed them; that most sembled the skin on their face. I made sure that were not labelled so as not to influence them. may not like to think of their skin as soil-coloure also asked them which state they originally belon to. A few, surprisingly, chose shades that were m paler than they actually appeared...

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gh Colour

By Mini Arora

rying r is it

pigfrom n be o the ivers

s led ested neuomeades hout ck to

rainand make ara-

own sked from t rethey One ed! I nged much

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...Also a few who were already in the lighter spectrum chose even lighter preferred shades. I really didn't know what the outcome would be but after choosing their first colour, 41 % then chose a preferred colour that was lighter than that. The 59% who did not choose a preferred colour said they didn't believe in “all that” or were content with what they were. It wasn't really relevant to my enquiry to know if they were local to Bangalore or not, but as we live in a Cosmopolitan city, my random pickings discovered many people were from neighbouring Southern states and even some Northern states...and I was surprised to find that only 14% of the people in my enquiry were local to this state. Nevertheless for my purpose I managed to find an equal number of Southerners and Northerners so I was able to narrow it down and determine if there was a marked difference in their desired skin tones. The findings in this were that 55% of those from the Southern states wanted to be fairer, compared to 27% from the Northern states. Even though I chose an equal amount of men and women, of various ages, and different walks of life, I was able to make a significant interpretation that those in lower paying jobs wanted to be fairer. I wondered if this was because of being less educated or more deeply rooted in their traditions. An old saying came to mind, “if you drink tea you will become dark but by drinking milk you will be fair''..usually proffered to children. The skin care manufacturers may be making false promises but they certainly pander to the desire of those who want to be fairer. Many caucasian people, for that matter, want to be tanned. Is it just a matter of not being happy with what you were born with? It brought me back to my childhood and the idea that I wanted to be white to belong and in this study I didn't see the need to be anything lighter. Identity is a complex subject and I know this is only one way of tackling it. I do believe that it means to be comfortable with who you are, to be happy in your own skin ... if you know what I mean. 74

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Mycelium as a Meth

hod

By Natalya Griffin

“ To me the process of painting and making is like a maze – or mycelium – it moves in all directions, sometimes reaching a dead end, sometimes finding a new source of energy ”

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The journey is the important part of progression, constantly seeking new possibilities, fighting obstacles, devouring problems, and growing new “hyphae and mushrooms” that evolve and mutate as part of the evolution of learning and living, growing artistically and personally all the time. Inspired by the kingdom of Fungi, their invisible network of mycelium that entangles the world beneath our feet as well as their fruit – mushrooms I use subject metaphorically, linking it to connections between all people, places, and time. I draw inspiration from ancient mushroom imagery, folklore, and cults that admired worshipped, and respected this mighty and magical kingdom. During my daily walks, I imagine each step being a hypha – a link that creates maps and mosaics, a network that anchors me to this world; combined with memories of the past, present events, and plans, my work is the visual mosaic – a network of roads that connect it all. Segmented plane metaphorically works as doors or windows into another world, a world created through engagement with process and inspirations. Each layer is a segment of time, a memory, or encounter I identify with.

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Colour plays a big role in my work, I use it to capture ideas, evoke an emotional state and change the mood – it is a part of my identity that was formed and influenced by many cultures and places I have lived in. As well as network I’m using the mythological Tree of Life as a symbolic path, a ladder that connects the spiritual world, reality, and heavens. Various depictions and meanings can be found in most cultures, prehistoric imagery, and legends but they all connected with underlined spiritual significance, representation of life, rebirth, and a connector between worlds. Each work is a timely process involving multiple layers of colour washes, the addition of mediums, and the use of various tools to create textures that represent events or encounters.

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Sometimes I make my own tools to achieve personalized marks and textures; I paint, print, scrape, draw and explore the surface over a prolonged period until it clicks. Network lines are painted later – they grow slowly, in all directions like mycelium – working their way across the surface, breaking, and digesting until the final mushroom (the work) appears. Like fungi I use materials as my substrate, it is my fuel that feeds the process. I recycle old canvasses and previous works to be “reborn” as new entities; the work is never finished and with a new spore/idea it can start to regrow or change again. www.edge-zine.com

Jane

masked and unmasked By Neil Cramond

I began a series of works depicting the care being provided to my terminally ill mother in law who lives with us during the Covid-19 pandemic. The carers who provide palliative care also featured and I felt that I had to portray them both wearing their protective masks and without whilst also experimenting with mark making with thicker use of oil paint, I combined two images into one whilst trying to retain a likeness of the subject. Because of time constraints during their visits I could not work from life and had to use photographs as source material which is not quite as good as painting from the live model to gain the soul of the sitter.

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Reprogrammed By Nina Vallard

As autobiographical piece written from the perspective of the author as a child. On a housing estate, in a coastal town, an excited couple awoke. 1982 was the year they would become parents. This decade was the decade when they decided to speak to an adoption agency. The seventies passed in a flash of hospital appointments, fertility treatments and industrial action. The past year had been a whirlwind of paperwork, and assessments, and constant letter writing. Watching nieces and nephews grow up, get married and start their own families. Feeling frozen in a moment in time. Waiting. Later that evening the couple received a telephone call from a hospital on the other side of the county, the baby had arrived. The couple jumped into a Ford Cortina and went to the hospital. They waited outside eagerly, waving at the nurses as they passed the window in the corridor. Eventually they entered the hospital and were led to a room where a baby was laying. The baby needed it’s nappy changed. The baby had a name, but the couple changed it to Nina. Named after a step-aunt in Poland, or some other unremembered distant family member, a perfume, or after St Nicholas according to a grandmother. We don’t know the truth. The baby was taken home. We don’t know what happened to the teenage mother, we couldn’t reach her for comment. Not that we tried.

Little house The house was little but it was Nina’s favourite place. She didn’t want to move out of it when a sister was adopted a few years later. But like most toddlers she didn’t have a say in the housing arrangements. Her parents said they watched her ride her tricycle in a small circle because there was hardly any room in the back yard, and that’s when they decided they’d buy a new house when Nina’s little sister arrived. Adult Nina questioned this; and thinks that the parents picked a year to move to the other side of the estate because the daughters were due to start a new school – and they could give off the impression of a biological family. Before Nina’s little sister came along, she had a bunk bed. She slept on the bottom bed and the top bed was full of cuddly toys. Most of her cuddly toys looked tired and scruffy with the exception of two; one was a pink bear from France that stayed in the original packaging because it was from France and the other was an ugly doll on a tricycle which also was from another country. This was enough to make it too important to play with until Nina was a bit older. Nina wanted to sleep on the top bunk bed, but her mum said no. Mum used to worry a lot about Nina hurting herself by falling out of the bed. In fact, Mum worried about Nina doing anything. Mum was afraid of Nina’s falls, or Nina getting lost or Nina getting taken by bad people. Mum still is afraid of all these things. For a while a social worker, or some other type of agency worker, visited regularly. Though Nina had no memory of this. Teenage Nina got angry at this person she had heard of but never met; she hated that he was the only person with knowledge of her 1981 life but left before she had a chance to speak to him or for him to listen to her. She wanted to tell him all about her ideas to help adopted people. But like most teenagers she didn’t have a say in the local political arrangements. And by the time she did she had given up trying to be heard. 86

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Attic Little sister came along in the mid 1980s. Nina went to a foster home and met her, she laid in a crib and Nina felt like she should spend more time with her before they went home but the other children in the foster home wanted to play chase so that seemed much better. The story is that Nina named her little sister. She disagrees. Nina remembered liking a girl at playschool called Debbie and asking Mum about calling the baby Debbie. She also thought this would be nice because she had a cousin called Debbie. Mum didn’t like this name. A while later they were watching a soap opera together and Mum said, “What about C for a name?” Nina said “Yes”. But this is one of the many situations where Mum and Nina remembered things very differently. Nina keeps this memory close as it was the first time she recalled having her opinion disregarded, and not being believed because adults know best. Up Nina went into the attic. Nina does not remember much about the attic other than the view from the window was of a graveyard, and in the distance a hospital. Nina thought this hospital was a college because it looked like a ceramic ornament she had that she thought was a college. Teenage Nina learnt that the ornament was a narrow canal house. Adult Nina learnt it was a generic building. At all ages Nina wanted to go to college. Big House Change came again in the late 1980s. The family moved into the big house, and Nina started her first school. She doesn’t remember much at the time from the big house, except that Mum was always changing it around. First the pantry went, then the utility room, then the outhouse and it was replaced with an annex for Grandma. Mum told Nina and her sister that she invited Grandma to live with us because we asked her too. Adult Nina thinks Mum had already decided by that point. Grandma used her sadness to be mean to Mum; and Mum started thinking she wasn’t loved by Dad. This wasn’t true. But like most people her confidence had been knocked so much that she believed the negative things. It didn’t help that Dad was made redundant and told Nina he was “going to the knackers.” Lots of things felt upsetting to Nina at that point. But what was worse was Mrs Fraser. On her first day in school Nina was given a jotter to draw in. She drew a house and then joined a queue to see the teacher at her desk. At Mrs Fraser’s desk everyone was given an exercise book and Mrs Fraser had written a letter at the top of every page. She told the class this was their dictionary. Nina stepped up to the desk and Mrs Fraser wrote “My House” under Nina’s picture. She didn’t give Nina an exercise book to use as a dictionary. Nina went back to her desk and started to worry. So she joined the queue again so she could ask for a dictionary. Mrs Fraser said “I already gave you one. You have lost it.” Nina said she hadn’t. The teacher asked her what could have happened. Nina guessed, but couldn’t explain. There was another girl called Lisa who was the same height and had similar features to Nina, the only difference was Lisa had more freckles. Throughout the next ten years a handful of teachers would get Nina and Lisa mixed up. Nina missed the opportunity to join the netball team because when she put up my hand to volunteer another teacher put Lisa’s name down. Lisa luckily wanted to play netball. Every week without fail Nina would need to know how to spell a new word. But she’d join the queue for Mrs Fraser’s desk. Mrs Fraser would chastise her for losing the dictionary and tell her she wouldn’t help her until she found her dictionary. Nina didn’t learn any new words that year. She drew a house every day and wrote “My House.” Every now and again Mrs Fraser would make Nina search the school for her exercise book; she’d even have to look in the secretary’s office! Mrs Fraser told Nina’s Mum and Dad that Nina lost her dictionary. Nina tried to explain what had happened to her parents but they didn’t listen. They believed Mrs Fraser. Nina got so anxious she couldn’t eat at lunch, but people thought she was just misbehaving. After one lunchtime Mrs Fraser told Nina to stand up in front of the class and eat her lunch, because the dinner ladies had reported home that Nina wasn’t eating. www.edge-zine.com

The next year Nina had a new teacher, but she also had a reputation as a liar. She’d cry every Thursday because that was the day Mrs Fraser was on dinner duty. Although Nina was young her Mum thought she might have developed some sort of eating disorder. She took Nina to see her GP and he told Mum to let her eat whatever she wanted. Nina has eaten chocolate every day since then. Death Around that time Grandpa died. Nina walked downstairs one morning and saw Mum crying. Mum said “Grandpa has died this morning.” Nina said “Good.” Mum wailed. And Nina ran upstairs angrily. Nina still doesn’t know why she did that. A few days later she was back in school. Some classmates asked her why she was away. Nina replied, “Grandpa is dead.” One boy said, “He wasn’t your real Grandpa.” And it turned out that everyone else knew this, and nobody thought she had any reason to be sad. So she stopped being sad. In the playground some boys started pushing Nina around; they formed a circle around her and took turns pushing her. She knew that if she could stop feeling sad she could stop feeling afraid. She charged into the smallest boy of the group and broke out of the circle. She ran a victory lap around the playground. After that week she had recurring nightmares of having to put my Mum or Dad from a line-up of clones. She always picked the wrong one. It never made any difference. Time to talk Mum and Dad were told by the adoption agency to be honest about the adoption. At the time it must have been quite a radical idea because there are lots of stories from previous generations about adoptions being hidden so children can feel like they “fit in” better. There was a worry in the family for a few years that Nina was “playing up” because she was upset about being adopted. Nina did feel different but whenever she spoke about her feelings the responses to her were infuriating. The standard comment was that she should be grateful; she was fed, clothed and had a roof over her head. She had no reason to feel unhappy. She was so selfish because her parents sacrificed so much for her; they loved her and did everything for her. People wondered if they should have kept Nina in the dark about her background but it was too late now. She knew and they had to answer her questions. Except she didn’t have any. Her origins didn’t matter to her. They still don’t. But she felt like people wanted her to know the truth. So she listened. She listened in a fragmented and incomplete story. A teenage girl with two men in her life. The paper hardly had any information. Mum told Nina her biological grandmother had a hole in her heart, and she thinks it’s possible that a Greek boy was her biological father. Nina found out her previous name. And that she was born with four teeth – but she is not sure she believed it – she wondered if it is possible she was adopted later than she had originally been told because that would explain the June date on the adoption certificate. It was at this time Mum told Nina her biological mother wanted to keep her. Nina has no recall of being told that she was wanted until two decades later. Nina’s family asked her how she felt with this new information. She felt nothing. There was nothing remarkable or memorable about the document. Grandma said that Nina’s Dad’s family didn’t accept Nina as a real family member. Nina didn’t believe this; she could tell that Grandma was trying to cause drama. It was her new hobby. Nina’s friend at school didn’t believe anything Nina said about the adoption; she thought Nina was embarrassed by her family so she was pretending she wasn’t related to them. Nina never spoke about being an adoptee for the rest of the century. 88

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Leaving Nina dated a man for three months and decided to move in with him. She applied for a job in the town where her biological mother lived, was accepted and moved out the next week. She saw her Dad cry and she realised that she hadn’t spent much time with him, or valued him as much as she should have because Mum monopolised all her time. In the years leading up to Nina moving, she had felt Mum was doing everything possible to keep Nina close by. Nina’s steps towards independence; opening a bank account, booking a GP appointment by herself, having an allergy test, voting in elections, going to pubs were met with derision. Adult Nina knows that Mum felt afraid because Nina didn’t need her as much as she used to, and rather than accept it she fought back against it. During the last year of the century a teacher told Nina that her mock exam results were better than expected and she should think about university. Nina felt elated; she saw a future full of adventure and excitement. She told her parents and they replied that she “did well but university is not for the likes of us.” And she “wouldn’t manage.” In a minute, Nina’s ticket out of small town life blew out of her grasp. She looked at her parents and thought happiness was a myth. She saw Mum’s frustrated face; an unhappy woman in an unhappy marriage not wanting her first bundle of joy to be taken away from her. And she thought this was the way everybody lived. Today Lots of time has been skipped over in this story. Nina didn’t speak about her adoptee experiences until now. She felt ashamed to talk about them because she doesn’t want to hurt anyone, or for anyone to feel sad that she felt thirty years of her life suppressing her opinions. Being an adoptee felt too much for Nina as a child. Even before she fully formed her words she felt that her existence was to make other people feel happy, fulfilled, needed and loved. She was supposed to be an eternal child. The baby at the hospital with a dirty nappy. The toddler who named her sister because it is a cute story. The student who others stereotype because she doesn’t live with her real family. A teenage rebellion or mental illness that doesn’t get investigated because the only possibility is adoptee loss or grief. An adult who is now processing these feelings because it now is safe to say them out loud. Waiting a lifetime to be heard. And then feeling afraid to speak.

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Identity By Patricia Howe

he Pandemic has given me much time and opportunity for soul searching. My creative process is difficult to label as I am more interested in the process than the results, which are very eclectic. For this reason I changed from Photography to Creative Arts and found more creative possibilities in printmaking and its many variations. I have submitted here a photograph, a sketch edited in photoshop and and monoprints though my work at the moment is in cyanotype. My photographic image called 'Boots' was taken in Bahrain when I was visiting a small ceramics factory in a Shia village that had a yard full of chickens attached. I found myself wondering about the identity of their wearer and what he had on his feet now. I did not spot any of the Bahraini workers barefooted. The second, called Mask is a sketch of myself with a mask made and embroidered in the Middle East. It was inspired by what was then the novelty of part hidden identity, wearing face coverings in the Pandemic. I have sketched my face, edited it in Photoshop to invert the black and white to present the feeling of being turned inside out and added it to a monotype background. Splashes of white are added to further degrade the image. The next, called 2, is a monotype and collage of how I felt that my identity was being sapped and changed in a strange way and I seemed to be two people, one before the Pandemic and another one. Jan is a sketched monotype with Sennelier crayon of a gentleman in a pub for whom life continues without much change. His identity is that of a free spirit. The photograph I used as a reference was more challenging as the lighting was difficult. A pint of beer was all he needed to pose and change position to address the background composition and the lighting. There are few challenges in my method of photography as I respond to anything that stirs some passion, and therefore they are necessarily mostly spontaneous reactions. The biggest challenge is in which camera I happen to have with me. Sketching is more challenging and obviously takes time and monoprinting is only challenging in the choice of method I use, which is usually subtractive. 90

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So what is he wearing now? And why are th between a small chicken enclosure and a S

Where did he go and what is he doing? Perh prayer, though shoes are allowed outside

It’s very hot in Bahrain, so perhaps he wa and prefers the coolness and the freedom. now because we will never know where he i whether he came back to his shoes! But I still wonder.

hese shoes left here Shiite family pottery?

haps he is a Muslim at of a mosque.

as brought up barefooted . Well he has freedom is or what he is doing or

Traces of Identity By Roger Rowley

ackground and research Produced during assignment 4 of Drawing 2, the premise of this project was to respond to the natural environment and create a site-specific artwork. I therefore felt it important that the site bore a personal significance. Crosby beach is part of the Merseyside coastline north of Liverpool. It is best known for the installation ‘Another Place’, by Anthony Gormley, consisting of 100 cast-iron figures that stretch the coastline and almost a mile out to sea. North of ‘Another Place’ the coastline is protected by housing rubble that was cleared from the city of Liverpool during the aftermath of WW2 bombings. Having researched the historical context, it revealed the loss of human life, displacement, and social and economic hardship. Having witnessed such events first-hand whilst serving with the British Army it evoked personal memories, emotions, a dialogue between the past and present and issues of identity. Site visit – Crosby Beach When insisting this area of Crosby beach, the first thing that hits you is the intensity of the red coloured bricks. It initially reminded me of Gormley’s clay works Pile I and Pile II (2017) which as the title suggests are loose assemblages of body parts, head, shoulder, chest and limbs. It was easy to imagine thousands of such clay works rising from the rubble, soften by the sea, primal and vulnerable in their composition. Influenced by the recollection of lost lives and displaced people that would have once lived, worked and socialised in the remnants of these once post war buildings I decided to extend the idea of Gormley’s figures by creating a human presence amidst the building rubble. The initial plan was to use materials that were already in situ. However, after conducting a small experiment on site, I identified issues that would need to be resolved before I could proceed. Notably, the once square edges of manmade bricks had been rounded by the lapping waves of the Irish Sea resulting in their instability when stacked on top of one another. Furthermore, the construction would be top-heavy. Both of these issues would make it difficult to construct and had raised some health and safety concerns that would potentially mean having to dismantle once photographed.

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Developing concepts From the comfort

I experimented with different media and techn explore ways and means of overcoming these work. However, despite having explored sever ing and building a model using match boxes, I During the process of developing a piece of w This evolved into producing several plaster ca the form of my body with strips of plaster felt li become sculptural whilst simultaneously main lines. A hasty frame was made of wire to asse to use local materials when in situ. Creating a Arriving at Crosby Beach at 0630 hours prese high tide and predicted rain showers. In truth, railed my efforts to create a site-specific artwo with materials found in situ, but the strong win to the wire frame. Shingle was used to cover a clips held the separate elements together. The layers of plaster strips to leave frayed edges. T of ephemeral memories becoming an afterma the artwork to be viewed from the path/emban shore wind dictated the orientation of the struc might be viewed both from the embankment a the concept of creating a site-specific artwork materials already in situ. This led to experimen materials found in situ, as inspired by Gormley

Con

Prim spo had abs and on pro to e pro as a as t had Bou tha pre was this sho and

t of my studio -

niques, manmade and natural materials to e issues and to create a site-specific artral options, which included a life-size drawI was unable to find a workable solution. work I had experimented with plaster strips. asts of my arms, legs and feet. Following ike I was drawing, but once set firm it had ntaining its spatial integrity through extended emble and view in the studio, but I planned a site-specific artwork – proving the concept ented a small window of opportunity before it was the onshore wind that almost deork. The intent had been to merge the figure nds meant that the figure had to be secured and secure the wooden base and bulldog e wind soon took hold, peeling away the This unforeseen effect cemented the notion ath within a space. It had been intended for nkment and the beach. However, the oncture which in turn restricted how the piece and the beach. However, having proved I reoriented the figure to emphasise those nting with different viewpoints and using y’s Pile, I and II.

nclusion -

marily, this project was an emotional reonse to my research of historic events. It d been propelled with my fascination of sent presence of human form, memories d identity as we transit through life, a canof my current practice. This project also oved fruitful in developing ideas from which explore materials and media that led to oducing other pieces of work. It also served a means to challenge my own perspective to what constitutes a drawing, something I d questioned during my analysis of Louise urgeois, Spider sculpture. There is no doubt at I had taken a risk by exploiting the interetation of this assignment – but the journey s one of sheer delight. The full account of s project is available at my Learning Log. A ort video has been uploaded to You Tube d can be viewed at this LINK.

...with strips of plaster felt like I was drawing...

By Sarah

y practice connection woodland, wea and tales toget often we overlo as our thoughts tioning the why the medium of and responding the added satis come is a piece

Using intricatel textiles to explo escapism and ing and emotio to find our plac

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h Baxter

has strong connections of place and identity, with a strong n to weaving. I see weaving as meandering down paths in the aving our way to our destination or weaving our past stories ther to form new work. We all live in different environments ook the aspects of the world directly surrounding us, as well s and feelings. With this said, noticing the finer details, quesy. Put another way it’s about thinking with my hands through textiles and textile-related practices. Engaging body and mind g to the sensory and tactile nature of the making process, with sfaction of making something from scratch, whether the oute of textile art or a functional accessory.

ly sculptured textiles, I harness the narrative potential of ore elation, expression and empathy; to tell a tale, encourage fan flames of the fantastical. My undercurrent of self-questiononal openness touches our need to be at one with ourselves, ce, to connect, to create, to feel free.

For my final level one course ‘Ideas and Processes’, our son was a great source of inspiration throughout. Our son can be identified by his chromosome disorder. His strength and resilience is just so inspiring...

Reflectin realised t connectio and p

Our hands t story of w without m couldn my w

ng on this I that I am the on to my art place.

tell a unique who we are, my hands I n’t create work.

Looking to find a voice By Stella Therond

inking textiles with other materials expressing textures and emotions with purpose was the initial glimmer of this work done in response but not for my textiles course. It became itself independently but manifests contentedly as a part of my growth for which I thank it! Clay and glazes not so much planned as finding their way in the dark towards that silver lining, discovering how the materials react and transform. The process took me upon a journey of molding and remodelling, letting the 'animal' become what it is from the expression of my fingers and the feel of the clay. I think sometimes not knowing where something goes allows one to find a direction of exploration most welcome as did this little beastie. The patterns and textures achieved are a stepping stone to inquiry into further adaptations and method using different mixed medias.

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Identity

By Terence Brick

Identity, or the lack thereof, should be evident in all three submissions.

ome poems arrive fully fledged, others not so. The former are those which come out of nowhere, grab you by the shoulders and demand to be written … immediately. The latter are those you would like to write. These have to be coaxed onto the page and sometimes they evolve into well-crafted polished pieces. Other times they reach the waste bin. ‘Cathedral Builders : 1385’ is in the first category. It is centralized on the page to emphasise that its subject is Covid: seemingly all-embracing. Thirteen eighty five, in addition to being the year Chaucer commenced Canterbury Tales, where all identities were present, was a plague year. This poem may appear to be in free form but it is rhymed. However, it does not follow a traditional rhyme scheme. But every line-end has a consonantal or assonantal rhyme with at least one other, not all as obvious as ‘rage’ and ‘huge’ or ‘dream’ and ‘thumb’.

James Stephens wrote the 1903 novel Deirdre. ‘Deirdre Revisited’ is the conclusion of a sequence of poems written over a number of years concerning the plight of this legendary character. The rhyme of this poem is consonantal as was frequently the case in Early Irish verse. I have found Early Irish literature to be a rich source for my own poetry and translations. Many of our modern issues can be found there. they trudged through bleak fens with their women folk, following the acorn dream of the cathedral thinkers, the cathedral builders.

‘Resurgam’ arose (no pun intended) from ‘Cathedral Builders : 1385’ and is largely a strophic poem. I hoped this would generate an emphatic approach to the inevitability of its barren conclusion. Deirdre is the passive heroin of The Exile of the Sons of Uislui, an 8th - 9th century pre-tale of Ireland’s Iliad, Táin Bó Cúailnge. Despite Lady Gregory’s rejection of Deirdre as a character acceptable to her founding of a national drama, George Russell (AE) produced in 1902 a play Deirdre and seven years later John Millington Synge left the unfinished verse drama Deirdre of the Sorrows. A generation later the poet www.edge-zine.com

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Cathedral Builders : 1385 (1385) Whan that Aprille with his shoures sote They arrived, the artisans: master masons with chiseled jaws, don’t-mess-with-me carpenters, bluff roofers who didn’t give a toss, tilers with missing fingers, misty eyed foundry workers, sharp eyed makers of stained glass. They arrived with faith & confidence but in the thirtieth year the spire fell; high wind, unseasoned wood. The plague arrived in a silent rage from somewhere … It brought with it insects, black & huge, maggots, green & thick as a brewer’s thumb. Work stopped. Silence. They arrived, new generation artisans, smelling of wet leather & linseed oil, the toothless & one eyed, those who’d lost their ears for some trivial crime; they trudged through bleak fens with their women folk, following the acorn dream of the cathedral thinkers, the cathedral builders. They toasted their achievements at last in good red ale

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Resurgam When the waters have subsided beyond polder or dyke every tenth woman will carry a bag of seeds for her own & nine other’s needs. One man in ten will fashion clay adorned, perhaps, given time. Every tenth woman will own a hand loom & make the shuttlecocks fly. One man in ten will smelt iron, he’ll be robust, ruddy, raw. Every tenth woman will sew leather, skin of roe deer, hide of ox. One man in ten will cleave elm, swing an adze. Every tenth woman will produce candles. One man in ten will work a pole-lathe, send wood chippings to a covered floor. Every tenth woman will fashion paper.

Deirdre Revisited I Dappled deer move in the Dorian mode, quiet as snow. The blue hare runs mad. Ptarmigan and capercaillie dance on covered hills to evening moorland tunes. In the savage womb a child cries. I think less about the scent of gorse and more about that girl, her future road, as the creakings of the royal house subside. If only she could spread her broken wings. II The hazel’s sweet as her lover’s offering but she is Deirdre ‘the woman of suffering’, standing tall with a sadness now alone, apart from crannog, bracken, rowan, Bare trees are laced against a sky, grim as the tops are white. The loch becomes a stream, the stream a trickle and the track a route of mossy footprints and the path a rut. If only she could spread her broken wings.

One man in ten will make ink for a record & a testament. One in a thousand will reach thirty. They will need poetry, song & laughter into the smoky night.

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Quintessentially H

ow do we make sense of the scale of the universe, from clusters of galaxies to sub-atomic particles? As an astronomer and microscopist, I am fascinated by these extremes of scale and how they can mirror each other. A petri dish can look like the view at the telescope eyepiece. It can be difficult to relate to this huge range of scale as a human. We are challenged to find our significance within the vastness. In my third-year project, I have been trying to express my wonder at the natural world (in the largest sense) and convey my fascination with how matter behaves. Through experimenting with my media in order to allow it to express it inherent nature, I make a connection with the large and small scale forces all around us. I use carbon-based materials; graphite, lamp black, charcoal etc. as a connection to the fundamental element of life, recycled through our bodies and through space by supernovae. I struggled to express what I wanted until I started to use my own body within the work. By envisioning the human body as unbounded, constantly exchanging atoms with its surroundings, I hope to allow the viewer to connect to these ideas. The hand has assumed an important place in my work. It represents my identity as an individual but is also a signifier of humanity and it is my principal tool. ‘What is it about a hand that seems quintessentially human? The answer must, at some level, be that the hand is a visible connection between us; it is a signature for who we are and what we can attain. Our ability to grasp, to build, and to make our thoughts real lies inside this complex of bones, nerves and vessels.’ (Shubin, 2008:29).

Reference Shubin, N. (2008) Your Inner Fish. London: Allen Lane. 106

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Human

By Steve Cussons

Textiles and the Coch Implant Journey

By Susan Green

“My current practice explores the human experience of sound, the li being profoundly hard of hearing and the hope of better hearing tha transition period following cochlear implant surgery”.

s I write this, in the distance, I hear a teacher talking to her pupils in a school playground reminding me of working in school and my childhood. A light aircraft flies overhead taking me back to seeing the joy and raw emotion on my father’s face as he watched a Spitfire flight display the year before he passed away. I could listen to and sing along to music without thought; stand on a train platform responding correctly to a tannoy announcement or watch TV without having to read the subtitles therefore missing some of the visuals in the programme. I am truly privileged to have good hearing. Sound is intrinsic in our lives and for the deaf and hard of hearing, the impact causes missing and misheard conversations adding to confusion, frustration and misunderstanding, disconnected and isolation from the outside world. Hearing loss impacts the individual and those around them as, often this is a hidden disability – no-one including the hard of hearing know whether they have heard correctly or not. Living with someone who is profoundly hard of hearing, with my husband we constantly look for ways to overcome these difficulties. Last March, my husband had a cochlear implant fitted to support his severe hearing loss. I can only begin to understand the overwhelming and exhausting process he lives through as his brain perceives and processes sounds and tones it has not heard ever before. He describes his hearing before the implant as dull, flat and grey. Now after implant switch on, perceiving a wider range of pitches could be seen as bright and colourful, full of texture, sharp and soft sounds, high and low pitches. This body of work explores the transition from being profoundly hard of hearing to improved hearing during the Cochlear Implant 108

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rehabilitation process and celebrati behind the technology. Colour and t as they represent the low and high volumes of everyday sounds. Dull g were chosen representing living wit bright, strong colours and materials wide range of pitches and sheer joy again because of the implant, and p settings previously unavailable. My of stepping-stones - sampling, revie often with a bit of happenchance in learned in textile workshops, interne reflecting on sampling in earlier uni in understanding was made whilst p outdoor environment. Early sample of settings which are challenging to As I wandered around the local are felt quite protective of and connecte they represented those with hearing understanding and compassion in s quite small so further photographs w and the kitchen timer (small aspect

From these samples, the following together any and every sampling im research which might inspire the fin

I found this a concise method to ca rationalizing a diverse range of idea form the final three samples.

hlear

ifestyle impact of at is given during the

ing the scientific breakthroughs texture are intrinsic in this work frequencies, quiet and loud grey knitting and beige fabrics th almost no hearing. By contrast, s were chosen representing the y of being able to hear sounds possibly being able to enjoy y creative process follows a series ewing and developing ideas, n the middle. I draw on techniques et research, working through and its. One unexpected leap forward photographing the samples in the es were photographed in a series o those with severe hearing loss. ea with the samples in my hand, I ed with the samples, almost that g loss who I believe need greater society. The samples showed as were taken at home, by the phone ts but quite impactful).

mind map was produced bringing mage and artist nal body of work.

apture all ideas, connecting and as which were brought together to

Sample Tw Sample one – Freestyle Machine Embroidery Reviewing the mindmap image above, the first piece was produced using freestyle machine embroidery. The words were selected portraying the environmental settings where severe hearing loss is a significant problem. Two materials were chosen for this sample, soft beige linen for the background, representing the dull flat sound perception of hearing loss and primary and secondary coloured organza representing the wide tonal ranges perceived by the hearing. The lettering for the words were machine stitched into layered primary and secondary coloured organza and once stitched, the letters forming these words were cut out and stitched onto beige linen with further stitching connecting the words to draw the viewer’s eye around the piece. The inspiration for lettering in this format was inspired by Mel Bochner’s work titled ‘Blah, Blah, Blah’. The composition has been developed portraying poor hearing loss at the top and slowly improving hearing perception as the eye is taken down through the sample representing a passage of time over which the hearing improves following the cochlear implant. Viewing this sample from top to bottom, the density of stitching both in the organza and the background increases and the background is cut away increasingly until just the stitched organza hangs off the lower edge.

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I had intended the cochlear im the mathematic resulting in the finished, I note folds of the bra attached in the the primary and mixing as perc outcome not be result is a sam the original ide

Conclusio

As I look at th painting or sc I felt a real co rehabilitation overwhelming

wo – Knitting

to knit a sound cone in grey with coloured wools representing mplant processor switch on. As the sampling developed, cal patterns in the increases grew far more than expected e sample image above. Although not intentional, once ed that the soft folds of the knitting formed the anatomical ain. The primary and secondary coloured tapestry wools e middle of the sample, represent the implant electrodes, d secondary colours forming the wide range of tonal pitches ceived by the fully hearing. I guess this is evidence of the eing as originally intended but, by working intuitively, the mple which gives a more graphic depiction of my thoughts than ea.

Sample Three – Wrapping I had not intended to make the wrapping at all, the sample was worked entirely intuitively with no preconceived idea of the outcome. Thinking about the physical electrodes and wires which form the Cochlear Implant, I explored three weights of fuse wire, wrapping the coloured tapestry wool around the wires in the three primary and secondary colours, twisting them and connecting them centrally. As the coloured wires flowed together, I realized that this was the representation of the fully hearing, with no restraint, all intermingled, high and low pitch, quiet and loud sounds.

his small body of work, I wonder if this representation could be achieved in another medium such as culpture. Textiles provide such a wide range of textures and fluid movement. It was at this point that onnection to textiles as an art medium, with two powerful vibrant messages – the cochlear implant journey can be transformative, opening so many opportunities for the profoundly hard of hearing and an g awe for the science community who have developed this life changing equipment.

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In-betwee

nspiration for my making can come from brambles, a fallen branch, discarded muslin, a damaged polystyrene wig head, a forgotten shoe-tree…..natural and manufactured materials from my surroundings. Instinctively I’m attracted to the sensory experience of sculpting in a painterly way. Intuitively I follow the rhythm of these diverse materials as they merge, repel and absorb one another. Benign and malign forms and non- forms harbouring memories eventually emerge transforming the discarded and everyday. Brambles as armatures often pierce and cling to my skin. Netting, paper, wipes, wool and muslin are essential sculpting materials but resist one another. Mud, debris, paint, charcoal, glue, dough, grit and plaster are my medium. These materials have become part of a rich palette and tool kit for my making.

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By Wendy Healey

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Identity lost in Stories and Woven in Abstraction By Paul Butterworth

Through my work I seek to narrate stories woven in abstraction, unseen worlds come into view and ours fades into the distance. Those seconds, minutes and hours in which we lose ourselves in a story are the moments I seek capture in my art.

Working intuitively I use oil paints, repeatedly layering, covering, masking, and revealing to make meaningful surfaces. It may take days or weeks to achieve this, I must be patient and let the canvas evolve into what it wants to be, my role is to merely assist it. Learning about my medium is a lifetimes' research as the marks depend on how dry or wet the canvas is and how viscous the new layer, the angle and pressure on the squeegee, and how the paint has been applied to the squeegee.

Intellectually my biggest problem was working out what I was painting. For a long time I thought I was painting beauty and nature but after my progression interview with my programme leader, who pointed out that I saw everything in stories, I suddenly realised that my intuition was not for beauty, but for story, and what I was actually painting was my inner experience of story.

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“Sorry... No Call for Submissions” At the present time, we have decided not to give a call for submissions to the next issue as the team needs some time to consider the future direction of the zine.

We’ll be back to you as soon as possible with news on our progress.

In the meantime we send our best wishes to you all for a creative and successful 2022

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Abby Bathurst I’m currently studying the Creative Writing degree pathway, with the aspiration of being an author. Having already gotten my own poetry anthology published on Amazon, I’m is one step closer to my dream of being published. Alongside my degree, I am a journalist, for many digital publications, and is a copy writer and blogger. My blog is called WriteWatchWork, and focuses on all things books, TV, writing and work. My interests include reading, movies, music, Formula 1 and NFL. OCA has given me confidence in my writing and pushed me to broaden my horizons and believe I can do it.

https://www.writewatchwork.com/ https://www.instagram.com/writewatchwork/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/abby-bathurst0a45241a9/

Alan Bulley Alan is a Scottish-born photographer living near Ottawa. Recently retired from a career with the Government of Canada, he makes pictures of things that interest him and writes on subjects he cares about. He thinks that books, ideas, conversation and art are some of the greatest gifts we can enjoy.

@alanbulley www.alanbulley.com

Bethany Gale

Amano Amano Tracy, an. OCA student since 2007, who works as a nature photographer as well as addressing other themes largely through the portal of OCA studies.

https://www.instagram.com/amanophotography/ https://amanostudy.wordpress.com/

I am a mixed media artist who loves collage, ink sketching and 3D paper sculpture. I love exploring new medias and processes whenever I get the chance. My passion is illustration but I chose to study a BA in Visual Communications because I believe that illustration and graphic design go hand in hand. Experience in both helps me create more unique solutions in my creative practice. I started my level 2 this year with the OCA and am really enjoying the course. It has really helped me build my portfolio and learn more about my practice.

https://illustrativebee.wordpress.com

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Alison McCoy Glasgow-born artist and painter, Alison McCoy, now living and working in Devon, began her formal artistic journey after having a successful career in business. Alison has been studying with the Open College of the Arts since 2013 and hopes to obtain her BA (Hons) in Painting in 2022. The subject of memory and the tricks it plays on us informs her work. This is evidenced by the subjects chosen and the manipulation of the oil paint across the surface of the painting. In 2019 she participated in “Inside”, a collaboration of artistic practitioners for Edge-zine magazine.

https://ocamajorproject.wordpress.com/

Katie Lewis I am a Textiles Level 3 student and my practice covers very personal issues and how I translate these in to art. I am extremely interested in conveying messages and narratives through art and how they speak to others. I dye, draw, paint and stitch in to fabrics to create narrative pieces about the symptoms of the menopause. I use a bold limited colour palette to challenge myself to create stronger more experimental pieces. Many of my studies are about how I react to life and what I select to show of myself to the world.

https://katslewis.wixsite.com/textileartist www.instagram.com/katielewistextileart/ 122

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Allan O’Neill I’am currently studying ‘Self and the Other’ for Photography level 2 and I am also an OCA Student Representative for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. Whilst still developing, my photographic work tends to explore culture as a socially constructed concept, with particular reference to personal histories, identity, race and representation.

https://allanoneill.com https://twitter.com/allanoneill2011

Chas Bedford For 45 years, I introduced myself as a chartered building surveyor but I retired in 2018 and, after a short period of adjustment, I am now taking my turn at being a long-haired layabout arts student. Who says we have to do stuff in a conventional order? https://chasbedfordocablogcn.wordpress. com/2017/10/24/assignment-3-some-first-drafts/ https://chasbedfordocablogcn.wordpress. com/2017/10/26/assignment-3-more-first-drafts/ https://chasbedfordocablogcn.wordpress. com/2017/10/27/assignment-3-another-role/ https://chasbedfordocablogcn.wordpress. com/2017/12/02/self-portrait-exercise-submissionand-reflection/

Helen Rosemier

Chelsea Bodley My name is Chelsea. I am 33. I am a Northerner. I am an Art School drop out. I love tea. I hate hate.

Helen Rosemier is a London-based visual artist, interested in temporality and flux and the marks we leave on the world. Her recent work has been exploring self-identity, family mythologies and the ghosts that surround us.

https://helenrosemier.blog/ https://www.instagram.com/helen.rosemier/

https://www.instagram.com/yetanotherunknownartist/

Jasmine Wilkinson When I think “identity” I don’t think of one person, style or any one race. I think of a collective of people; strange, wild and colourful. These photographs are a mix of individuals I have the pleasure of knowing and people I have never spoken to. You will see images of contrasting people, completely different faces, hair and attire. Although to me it’s not about the exterior, it’s about the interior. How someone is, what they love, who they are beneath the skin. I want you to look past what you see, and think about what inspires them.

Juni Sakala I’m based in Ogawa town in Japan. Decades after getting BA in history of costume in Japan, which was only theoretical study, I’m excited to have got into practice of making at OCA, manipulating materials with my own hands. Currently taking Mixed Media for Textiles at Textiles Level 1.

https://spaces.oca.ac.uk/ junisakalaatmixedmediafortextiles/

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To announce my presence sometimes I wear loud clothes, but it is a defence. Ivan Radman Ivan Radman (b.1978) is a Croatian photographic artist based in Luxembourg. After studying photography at the School of Applied Arts and Design in Zagreb, Croatia, he worked in desk-top publishing and then as a graphic designer. He taught an Electronic Media Course in his former secondary school before deciding to become a freelance photographer and graphic designer, working on various projects, such as advertising photography, events. In 2010 he moved to Luxembourg, where he continued working as a photographer on commercial projects: artistic events, musical concerts, dance workshops, competitions, etc.

Jane Edmonds When I was 10 my family went to live in New Zealand for 3 years with my father’s job in the Navy. As a wife and young mother I have lived abroad in Malta and Hong Kong. These experiences widened my experience of life, as did my career as a nurse and health visitor. Since I retired I have tested myself with the arts in painting, textiles - specifically quilt making - and now Creative Writing. I am just coming to the end of Level 2, Poetry with OCA, having completed Short Fiction earlier. I have until 2027 to finish the degree, by which time I shall be 88.

After enrolling in the Open College of the Arts, he changed focus to topics such as human relations, non-linear narrative, projects that pose questions rather than provide answers.

http://iradman.com/

Kinga Owczennikow A native of Poland currently based in London, Kinga Owczennikow is a photography student and an emerging art photographer, who considers her practice as a place with no borders and no names. A wanderer winded up by her intuition and a city explorer, who shoots both analogue and digital with an insatiable curiosity for the underlying melancholy of things. A former contributor to the HK Magazine, F-Stop Magazine and SnappedAway, a fine art photography blog. Kinga also regularly takes part in a variety of group shows curated by the PH21 Gallery in Budapest, Hungary. A finalist of the competition titled “Mediterranean Spirit” at the PhotoMed Awards 2016. A finalist of the AOP Student Awards 2019 in the category “Places” (single photo) and AOP Student Awards 2020 in the category “Things” (series). Her photographs were exhibited both nationally and internationally.

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Lilia Vinnikova My name is Lilia Vinnikova, I live in Germany and am currently studying at the OCA for BA Fine Art. I have just finished the Painting 1: Understanding Painting Media course.

Liz Smith Liz Smith is currently on Level 2 of the BA (Hons) Photography degree pathway. She is Chair of a local camera club, Reflex Photographic Club, and currently runs the monthly OCA South East Regional Group (‘SERG’) meetings via Zoom.

The Self and the Other blog: https://liz515728sato. wordpress.com/ Instagram: @misselisabethuk Website: www.misselisabeth.co.uk

Manar Kari OCA Visual Communication student

Natalya Griffin Mini Arora Mini Arora is an alumna of the OCA, graduating with a degree in Creative Arts. She works with mixed media and found objects and a recent exploration of natural pigments. Being concerned about the environment and our contribution to the landfill, she aims to build a more sustainable practice and lessen her carbon footprint.

https://www.instagram.com/miniarora.art https://www.facebook.com/miniarorastudio

Born in Azerbaijan, then Part of USSR, now an independent country. Since 1999 have travelled and lived in England, India, Georgia; Travelled across each country as well as Turkey, Wales, Scotland. For the last 11 Years we live in the UK, currently in Staffordshire. My Identity has been challenged and shaped due to various factors - experiencing war, change of governments; being a woman in male ruled places; change of environment and culture, language, and mentality, all combined made me who I am today. My work is about colour, life and connections - a mosaic of many places and encounters, they are my painted windows and doors between past, present, and future.

Watercolour on rough, 30

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I can iden=fy with these people they live with the land as custodians, we could learn much from them if we stop and listen to their way of life. One thing I learnt is they get vitamin C from the seal meat they eat and not from fruit and vegetables as I do.

Michele Usher

Michael Green Michael works as a photography and dive guide who travels to the Arctic and Antarctic. In his spare time, he enjoys walking, photography, and travelling.

Since late 2014 I have been working towards a degree in Photography and about to enter the final module ‘Sustaining your Practice’. Spending the last two years working on a major project ‘Inside the Shell’. A visual exploration of rural life within New Zealand and the effects of isolation and how the community is held together by the people. This project resulted in one of the images winning a Silver Distinction at the 2020 NZIPP Iris Awards. I work in both analogue and digital formats and currently enjoying my own darkroom and exploring alternative printing methods such as Platinum and Palladium and carbon printing. My website is: http://mcuphotography.co.nz My blog site is: https://wordpress.com/view/ michele512879level3.photo.blog

Neil Cramond Negood Baggash I grew up in the Uk and moved to Canada six years ago. By profession I am a pharmaceutical scientist, but have been a stay home mum since moving to Canada. 126

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Forty five year old HFV driver who never fulfilled my passion fir art at a young age, but returning to it now. Have a deep love for oil paints and am developing portraiture skills. Facebook Art by Neil

The past year had been a whirlwind of paperwork, and assessments, and constant letter writing. Watching nieces and nephews grow up, get married and start their own families. Feeling frozen in a moment in time. Waiting.

Nina Vallard Nina Vallard is a writer based in Kent, she writes about her experiences growing up as an adoptee in the Westcountry.

Nuala Mahon I am in my final year of my photography degree with OCA. I live on a small island in the south west of Ireland. I work mostly with alternative photographic techniques including pinhole, monogram, chemigram and chlorophyll. I am passionate about nature and the environment. I created my body of work on Ocean plastic that gets washed up on our beautiful beaches.

https://www.instagram.com/nualamahon/

https://spaces.oca.ac.uk/nina

Roger Rowley Studying for a painting degree with the Open College of the Arts. After retiring from the British Army after nearly forty-years service, my paintings and drawings are inspired by an interest in the absent presence of human form, memories and identity.

Sarah Baxter Based in rural North West Leicestershire, my current body of work is heavily connected to my surroundings - The National Forest, living a stones throw from the stunning ruins of Grace Dieu Abbey. I come from a family of lace-makers and framework knitters thus heritage crafts are a big part of my work.

Instagram: @roger514643 www.edge-zine.com

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Paul Butterworth Ever since I can remember I’ve lived inside stories. The youngest in a family of seven I escaped into the Yorkshire countryside from dawn till dusk, with just my imagination and a bag of sugar for the rhubarb stalks Drama school in London followed filling my life with more stories. Then a career in TV and film... and the life chapter that is fatherhood. In stories and life inciting incidents spur new adventures and when my son went to university I enrolled on BA (Hons) Painting.

Patricia Howe https://spaces.oca.ac.uk/patriciahoweprint2/

And, hey presto, I’ve found a whole new way of living in stories.

www.paulbutterworthartist.com

Susan Green I am an aspiring textile artist ending the first academic year studying for a BA Hons Textiles. I learned to knit before starting primary school, closely followed by embroidery, crochet and any other form of creative textiles I could get my hands on. For me, the textiles process soothes the soul, calms the mind, and brings clarity to ideas – a unique medium in the textures and that result. I retired in June 2021 to focus on textiles, enabling me to have a far deeper understanding of the media and processes behind my work. I am a member of the Herts Stitch group (previously Embroiderer’s Guild) and the Eastern Region Textiles Forum and exhibited as part of this group in Cambridge. 128

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Terence Brick My poems and translations have appeared in a variety of little magazines and anthologies: Orbis, Outposts, The Interpreter’s House & Southern Arts, Arts Council and Salmon Poetry anthologies. After gaining a Diploma in English from University of London I continued my studies with OCA and was awarded BA (Hons) in Creative Writing by UCA in 2020.

Stella Therond Working towards finding a voice - my voice

https://spaces.oca.ac.uk/textiles1ideasandprocesses/ https://spaces.oca.ac.uk/stellatherondmixedmediafortextiles/ https://spaces.oca.ac.uk/stellatherondcontemporarycontext/ https://stellatherond.wordpress.com/

Steve Cussons I am on the Creative Arts pathway and have just completed my Body of Work and Research modules. My practice extends through drawing and printmaking to digital image and explores possible intersections of art and science. I have retired from working, motorcycling and caving. I have not retired from learning, walking, making stuff or playing loud music.

https://www.instagram.com/stevecussons/

Wendy Healey

Wendy’s artwork explores beginnings, endings, our bodies, our minds- what makes us who we are-humanness. Imaginings of her birth in Vancouver Canada- nestled between the ocean and mountains and memories of a childhood in the Midlands countryside permeates her making. Living and working in Herefordshire she intuitively brings everyday surroundings into her sculptural paintings by following the sensory rhythm of found natural and manufactured materials. Through a process of metamorphosis debris, mud, brambles, muslin, plastic, dough, baby wipes….merge, repel and absorb one-another. Benign and malign forms/non-forms emerge transforming the discarded and everyday. Harbouring memory these pieces emit an energy and life. As a Child Psychotherapist Wendy is intrigued by the conscious and unconscious interplay between our internal and external worlds. Her artwork reveals what is often hidden and taboo: an ‘in-between’ place. Wendy’s raw, fragile yet resilient non-binary sculptural artworks reflect the dichotomy of being human and what shapes our identity. Simultaneously they can attract and repel, evoke beauty and disgust. Creating surprising juxtapositions, uncomfortable tensions, intriguing connections Wendy encourages the audience to be part of a dynamic interactive process, exploring humanity in our uncertain and changing world.

http://www.wendystudio.co.uk Instagram @wendyhealeystudio

Kuljit Bhogal I am studying for a combined degree in painting and illustration. I am drawn to work that has a story or asks a question of the viewer and strive to make work that is complex but accessible.

Team...

Michael Green

Sophie Edwards

Michael works as a photography and dive guide who travels to the Arctic and Antarctic. In his spare time, he enjoys walking, photography, and travelling.

Sophie is a British author ising in works for young ad lives in the UK with her husb four home-schooled childre she is not studying, you can gazing out over the moun working on her eighth nov ally with a child on each kn

y ambition is for our magazine to M develop so it becomes a vital part of the OCA’s communication with students and tutors. I would like it to be a place where all can showcase their work, all while helping us learn

Your

how they achieved the result

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My motivation stems from that comes with touching and changing lives through ty and talents. Everyone ha thing to share. Everyone h own abilities, and I want share those gifts with the want to be a part of the cha only creatives can give.

Catherine Banks

Amy-Sarah Opitz

specialdults and band and en. When n find her ntains or vel—usunee.

Catherine was born and raised in Sheffield, eventually moving on to leafy Surrey. Prior to retirement, she worked first as a probation officer, then a mental health social worker and became involved in NVQ and post-qualification training for social care managers.

m the joy g hearts h creativias somehas their to help world. I ange that

My ambition is for edge-zine to be recognised as a collaborative, multimedia publication that other artists seek to be included in, and to gain funding for it to appear in print as well as online.

Amy-Sarah worked as a graphic designer, small business advisor on demographics and targeting before giving it up to work as an artist and illustrator, promoting normalisation of mental health issues. In her free time, she enjoys working on her VW Camper, named Matilda, playing the saxophone, and walking the dogs. I like developing an idea and taking it to the end product. As one having bipolar and living with more than one non-neurotypical person in our household, I never know what the morning will bring. But for edgezine, I would like it to evolve beyond the pages.

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