I like to think of !GWAK as a playground, a space to invite creative experimentation and collaboration, so during and since our online residency I've been working on a 'collaboration chain'. The idea of the collaboration chain is that creative pieces can be shared by different artists for others to respond to with more art, of any medium. I tried to keep the prompts simple and time-bound to incite impulsive responses and invite artists to do something low-commitment, as a lot of collaboration projects can be demanding and long-term. In this blog piece, I'm documenting what we've done so far and sharing the work. I hope you enjoy it, and if you feel inclined to respond and continue the chain, or start your own please do! There aren't really any rules other than keeping a record of the pieces in order to credit the artist whose work you're sharing - something incredibly important to always do!
Be sure to tag us if you create anything in response to this experiment so that we can share your response on Instagram with @gwak.co or email us at contact.gwak@gmail.com. We hope to do more of these in the future and feedback is always welcome!
I began the chain with an image from Roksana Budych, I found this photograph oddly compelling and mysterious, so it seemed like a good starting point to encourage responses:
Roksana Budych
I shared it in the residency group and asked everyone to respond to it with words or phrases that sprang to mind. The response rate was great; we had so many words, that I decided to make a word cloud to send around. What I want to explore first, though, is the re-contextualisation of work and interesting interpretations of pieces when they are shared without context. Here's Roksana's description of her own piece:
This photo was taken when I was at work. I am BTS photographer for the band The Puppini Sisters and it was a typical day at work when I took it, ha! At first, I thought that the framing, light, the position of one of the singers (Kate) and the painting above her head is just a pretty composition. However, after a few edits and sort of analysing the photo, I started to think about how we use different symbols - and I am not only talking about the religious ones, but also about cultural ones. The deeper context of this photo is to show the contrast between the passive attitude people carry (which Kate obviously was not aware of), when it comes to different types of cultural or religious traditions or symbols, like in this case.
It seems the artists on the residency really picked up on those religious symbols. Here are the words they used - any repeated ones appear larger:
I shared this writing prompt on our social media, allowing anyone who wanted to respond to it with whatever medium they liked. Here are the responses we received:
viviano.illustrates@gmail.com @vivianoliviart
Oil painting of a torso layered with drawings.
'Narcissus' - A poem written by Barnaby Hill
(with the support of UEA Creative Writing Society - thanks guys! https://www.instagram.com/ueacws/)
It is so interesting to see the relationship between these works - existing completely or partially because of one another.
Another chain that was created during the residency was a photography exclusive one, inviting photographers to respond to the previous image with another image. Thanks to Holly Hanson and Hester Yang, our photography correspondents, for organising this one!
Holly Hanson @hh_photography_videos
Meredithe Ettrich @mereditheettrich
Chioma Ejimofo @shotbychioma
Hester Yang @_retseh
Shak Abbjol Ali @ak.studios_
Stella Kajombo @skajombo
Many of these stills are from previous work, but have new meaning as part of this series. There's a clear colour theme of green, which is vibrant and key in the majority of the images, but there are subtler elements and themes emerging too. Something present in all of the photos is natural elements: leaves, algae, twigs, trees - these are often pigmented with the vibrant green from the chlorophyll in foliage. Other things that reoccur are mist and dreamlike fogginess, as well as layered compositions.
The sketchbooks we've been posting around the UK are another example of collaboration chains. The books are sent from one artist to the next, and contributors are allowed to create anything they like and develop upon existing pieces in the books. I really like the happenstance style of collaboration where everything is a canvas, much like street art - it can be ruthless, i.e. covering or working into another artists piece, but it is also very freeing and can inspire new directions. By setting out our own spaces for this style of collaboration, nobody has sole ownership of the work, and they know that their contribution may be adapted by others. I really recommend this type of collaboration for other artists and if you're interested in starting your own sketchbook chain, please get in touch with us! We'd love to see more happening across the world, as we had to keep this one UK-based in order to keep postage costs accessible and keep waiting times to a minimum. Here are a few images from the sketchbooks in progress, I particularly like the conversations being sparked by artists throughout the process - here's Elena Lo Presti's response to my statement 'This is your playground' : 'Am I actually allowed to play? It's weird.'
In the books, artists have also encouraged the next participants to respond to their own prompts: 'Let's fill this page with faces' or 'What does my plate look like?' as pictured below.
We can't wait to see more of these sketchbooks when they finally (hopefully) make it back to us! But we don't really mind if they don't - these pieces are mainly about the experience of making and getting involved. Scans above courtesy of Elena Lo Presti, with more footage of the sketchbooks available here: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CK6YTk5BG1A/.
I really hope to do more things like this in the future as we're beginning to be able to do !GWAK events in person again. As part of the 'Draw + release' exhibition that we hosted just before the UK lockdown, I encouraged viewers to participate in mindful drawing in an installation entitled 'The Meditative Drawing Space'. Unfortunately, the documentation of this isn't fantastic (it was very last minute when we realised the show would be shut down!) but you can get a glimpse of what that was like via the website here: https://ambergwak.wixsite.com/drawandrelease (scroll to the end of the page).
Now that I've shared more of these projects, I'd love to encourage others to devise their own collaboration chain ideas or community projects that we can support through the !GWAK community. As always, just drop us a message with your ideas!
Thank you so much for coming along this journey with me. I can't wait for the next chapter!
Amber Bardell, !GWAK Director
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