I have just finished up a fantastic fortnight of research and development with screendance artists Katrina McPherson and Simon Ellis.

I was invited by Katrina to collaborate on her new project Perceptions of Memory, supported by Creative Scotland and The Work Room. This is the second time we’ve all worked together, after the creation of our single-screen and installation film we record ourselves which also included moving image artist Owa Barua.

We began this new project exploring Katrina’s interest in ideas around perceptions of memory, archival practices, the relationship between what is remembered and what is documented and the screendance artist as performer/cinematographer/editor.

Our initial discussions quite quickly exposed a interest for us all in investigating ideas around the “female and male gaze”, the primacy and power of images, the currency of the live body and privilege, that is, who is seen/heard and by whom. Alongside discussion and reading, we used the first week together to practice and produce still and moving images through photographing, filming and editing. It wasn’t long before we had a substantial amount of materials to work with, as with most projects!

The second week took place at The Work Room as part of their residency programme, here we attempted to refine our materials and get to the root of our ideas through our practice as screendance artists. Less interested in working in the dance studio, we took over the kitchen and lounge area, converting the rooms into an installation space which included screen-based still and moving images, projected text, screendance and a subtle live performance element. We called this new work ‘and that is what you see us by‘.

We received a fantastic response at our sharing and are already thinking about ways we can develop and continue this project. Watch this space (or screen, we don’t know yet..)!