I am thrilled that my film Flow|Llif was chosen to be one of three films from Wales to be included in the first ever Ecosinema Programme of WOW Wales One World Film Festival this Autumn. The programme theme Reflecting on Water also included potent films from the Amazon, Lebanon and Iceland.

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Flow|Llif was made possible through the Arts Council of Wales Stabilisation Fund, helping artists to sustain their practice during the pandemic. I collaborated with Siôn Marshall-Waters, Acouchristo (Chris Young) and Rufus Mufasa, creating an artistic response to my experiences of child loss. I have been performing my solo theatre piece Alarch over the last few years, most recently in Japan and Siberia and have exhibited the accompanying land art series in the UK. I always hold a Q&A after (with translators, when necessary), to open up dialogue about child loss and the performance itself. It continues to be a very important opportunity for sharing responses to a life experience that affects so many of us. The performance is non verbal, but filled with song. Each performance changes, in response to environment and audience. Making Flow|Llif enabled me to share my creative response online, through film.

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This autumn also heralds my first exhibition in Japan. Roots and Air from the series Alarch were chosen to be part of an international exhibition of paper art at the Obara Paper Museum in Toyota, Japan. Sadly, the International Association of Hand Papermakers and Paper Artists (IAPMA) Congress had to be online only, so I wasn't able to join my work in Japan this time. 

 

My collaboration with Japanese paper artist, Keiichi Hibino, has been postponed for the time being. I am excited at the possibility of exploring this new performance project, the seeds of which were planted in 2019, during the Welsh Government Trade Mission to Japan. I was delighted to be one of four artists to be chosen to represent Wales in Japan. 

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March 2020 saw the abrupt culmination of an eight month project with the diverse ability theatre group Blodeuo, at The Melville Centre for the Arts in Abergavenny. We were sadly unable to perform the devised piece Haraka Baraka, a weaving of personal stories, site responsive theatre and established Welsh stories. This was generously supported by the Arts Council of Wales and there is a permanent exhibition of photographs from the project at The Melville Centre. We have just applied for another grant to restart this much needed group and hope 2022 brings the fruition of this. 

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2020 began with so many exciting projects and future ones yet to be realised, some remaining on the shelf until 2022: creating performances at Bryn Celli Ddu (Anglesey) with Cadw, teaching in the Altai mountains (Siberia), collaborating, exhibiting and performing in Japan. The year was welcomed in with a group exhibition at Nevill Hall Hospital, Abergavenny, showing a selection of my photographs from The Herd of Winds project in Siberia, following the creation of over 300 life-sized horses galloping across frozen Lake Baikal. In Spring, together with a diverse group of artists, I exhibited photographs from the series Alarch and gave a presentation of my artistic practice of paper land art, for PLACEing Objects at spudWORKS in the New Forest, England. 

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The Spring Equinox was heralded in with the creation of an ice labyrinth in the middle of Lake Baikal. I continued my collaboration with LabirintLab in Siberia during March, creating, performing and photographing the process. I hope that I may be able to return in 2022.

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I was invited to be an artist in residence with Cadw at Bryn Celli Ddu, a neolithic burial chamber on Anglesey, in June 2020, which was cancelled. I used the 2-week period to research, write and create a paper costume, in preparation for my return to Môn Mam Cymru (Mon, Mother of Wales). I am very happy to be returning to work on this beautiful island, after my residency with National Theatre Wales in 2013. 

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My practice can be read about in detail in the publication 

"Staging Loss: Performance as Commemoration" edited by Michael Pinchbeck and Andrew Westerside, published by Palgrave Macmillan. Ebooks: Google and Springer Nature.

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I have also written for FUTURE, the bulletin for the International Association of Hand Papermakers and Paper Artists (IAPMA) 2019 (https://iapma.info)  

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Currently, I cannot continue to facilitate workshops internationally. I have just recommenced weekly visits to one children's hospital in the UK. We are exploring digital platforms for alternative experiences in these areas.

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