Project Me

Why glitter: a response (not least for Elena)

Elena’s comment on my previous blog and responses from the artists’ statement writing peer support group have promoted me to examine my attraction to, and use of, glitter. Here are pretty much spontaneous thoughts and ideas around my relationship to my material of choice:

It is a material of the dis-enfranchised – children, drag-artistes, the poor

Reflects fractured image/multitude of images, collects images and light indiscriminately.
Does not attempt to collate, order images/light rather allows/celebrates individual aspects while simultaneously being a single surface – multi-facetted – literally.

celebratory
ritual
distracts/attracts the eye
showy, flashy, brash, camp, cheap, aspirational, referential (jewels)

apes/mimics nature:
water
stars
snow/ice
mica/crystal
heaven/earth

macro/micro

Ingenuity to produces something such as glitter – history

Glitter is a material of the poor and disenfranchised, despite occasional appearances as a seasonal trend, an ironic trace of kitch or a knowing nod to camp, its permanent home is amongst children, drag-artistes, second-rate cabaret venues, amateur dramatic groups.

It is the stuff that speaks to aspirations of glamour and riches in nameless suburban housing estates. Purchased in modest quantities in limited colours from newsagents, and since their demise supermarket chains and discount warehouses offering look-a-like brands at a fraction of the price.

It is the stuff of the slightly more expensive bargain boxes of fifty assorted Christmas cards whose envelopes have the quality of newspaper.

It is the stuff primary school teachers bring out to spread delight on rainy autumn afternoons.

It is the stuff left behind with tattered feathers of boas the morning after the excitement of Pride and hen-parties.

It is the stuff of ambition
… of resourcefulness
… of stoicism
… of desperate resistance to greyness
It defies adversity
It offers affordable hope
It gives relief from the tedious and the mundane

Glitter is the stars in the gutter* – it collapses distance and offers immediate, if fleeting, comfort to those of us who are too often denied it.

*We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars – Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere’s Fan.

[I wrote this post in early May but neglected to post it at the time as I was caught up in work, trips, and meetings … ]

I am faced with a moral dilemma: glitter, my material of choice, is ethically (and environmentally) unsustainable.

Immanent glitter ban

I love glitter but have become increasingly aware that it is at odds with my commitment to recycling, my preference for organic food, my using environmentally friendly cleaning products, my sourcing as much as possible from charity and second-hand shops. Glitter has been my guilty pleasure.

Now though I wonder if I can continue using the wonderfully sparkly pvc glitter jewels that feature in so much or my recent work. While I enjoy the discussions provoked by various interpretations of my installations and sculptures – indeed the interactions between me, my materials, and the audience are the artwork – I do not want actively damaging the environmental to be part of the conversation.

A little research has shown that while the current bio-glitter is perfect for cosmetics and even baking it fails to replicate traditional glitter’s visual allure and qualities that are essential to what I do with it.

It seems my glittery days are numbered …

It is the final weekend for M. On Monday morning I shall drive a hire van over to Uppsala and with the help of Henny, the Art Cube’s artistic leader, pack it up and bring it back to Enköping. It suddenly struck me that I could recreate it at Glitter Ball over the Easter weekend when we might be having Open House at the studios. That could be good fun and give people here the chance to see it (-thank you blog, without you I might not have made that connection)!

Being invited to show in the Art Cube has been great. Not only has it introduced me to a range of new people in Uppsala, it has also enabled me to try new materials and ways of working – some of which I will pursue and some of which I may not. The two days installing in the cube itself reminded me how much I enjoy working in specific spaces and creating things in conjunction with particular physical environments. This afternoon at the studio I continued sketching out ideas for a piece Östhammar this summer. I am one of five artists invited to make new work to be shown in a Victorian era community Hall in the coastal and summer resort in the north of the county. To call it a community hall is not quite right but there is no easy translation or term in English as the concept of the societetshus is peculiarly Swedish. It was a venue for afternoon tea, dining and dancing, as well as for playing games and sports. They were often build on the coast where there was bathing in the summer months, and the building themselves were usually financed and run by the town’s regular summer guests – those with summerhouses in the area. The building in Östhammar has recently returned to being run by an association of local residents after years of ownership (and neglect) by the council. We will be exhibiting there for three weeks from the being of September.

Through a process of sketching, looking at the photographs that I took there on a ’study visit’ and period photos, and thinking about M I am going to try out some more abstract installation ideas than I had initially thought of. Until today I had been thinking about making sculptural work to place on and around furniture in the glassed in veranda. The veranda is in desperate need of restoration, as are the two floors above it, however this will not happen before out show and it is therefore one of the rooms where we can fix things directly to the walls and ceiling. Having hung camouflage net from the ceiling of the Art Cube, and remembering Play, I am interested to explore possibilities of working on the ceiling at Källör.

It is been on my mind to re-engage with my blog for the last few weeks (months?) however I have simply been too busy, or too in need of time doing something relaxing (sitting in front of a computer, even a nice one, is not my idea of a relaxing time) that I simply have not gotten around to it.

The is something (or more specifically two things) that I realise are causing me an uncomfortable level of anxiety, my hope is that expressing that here might enable me a little respite -though the resolution of the situation(s) is far from my authority.

In mid-December I was finally invited to submitted my passport and a stack of supporting documents to the Swedish Immigration Office so that they can assess my application for Swedish citizenship. The documents cover the last five years (I have lived here over seven now), they include all my employment contracts, the certificate showing when I registered as freelance/self-employed, my annual income/tax declarations for my freelance work, all the periods of study, any/all other sources of income including money transferred from or earned overseas, and in addition details of all travel outside of Sweden. This amounted to a hefty pile as I have had several short-term employment contracts – some for as little as a day (certain education institutions issue contracts rather than accepting invoices from us self-employed even if it is just for a one lecture) – and I have taken several short courses. The Immigration service now investigate my application with the primary aim of making sure that I can support myself. They can easily run a credit-check and see that I am not in debt. My concern is that they have a ’template’ or formula by which they judge whether or not someone can, and will continue to be able to, support themself. I have a consistently low income as do many artists and am well used to living simply and sometimes beyond the cash/visible economy – swapping skills and labour with friends and their networks. The problem with this way of living is that it is not documented. For the two and a half years that I lived with a friend of a friend I took care of her children in lieu of rent – a good deal for both of us but not for demonstrating a sustainable livelihood. Although (Swedish) friends and colleagues say that I should not worry and that as I have been here so long that there should not be any problem. I am however all too aware that an established family living on the same estate as me were denied right to remain despite both parents having jobs, them owning their flat, and having committed no crime nor drawn on unemployment or other benefits. The reason they were turned down was that a previous employer had underpaid the equivalent of national insurance contributions for a few months (a mistake which the employer admits to), this error however meant that during the assessment of their application they were deemed to have failed to fulfill the employment criteria. The family were forced to return ’home’ to a country that they no longer know or have any connection with*. The Immigration Office agreed that their regulations are unfair (punishing an employee for an employers mistake) at the same time as saying that they are not able to change them – only politicians can do that and that process has not begun. So I do not feel that I can take my application being approved for granted.

This alone would concern me. I want to be a full citizen in the country where I live. However in the light of the Britain leaving the European Union in a number of weeks the issue takes on a far greater significance. In the best case scenario I receive my citizenship papers on Monday allowing me to remain in Sweden no matter the outcome of how Britain leaves the European Union. The worst case scenario is that I am denied citizenship and the UK crashes out of the EU, this would necessitate me moving back to Britain where I would have to start over again. Between these best and worst scenarios are a plethora of variations, a myriad of complications and frustrations none of which I can steer. As nothing is certain my future is a tangle of ’ifs’ and ’buts’. If the time it takes to assess my citizenship application goes beyond March 29 and the UK either crashes out or even leaves on the current withdrawal proposal I could be in trouble. This is because current negotiations have secured some rights for employees but not for freelancers (this was recently reported in the Guardian). I am registered with all the Swedish authorities as a freelancer (freelancers in Sweden have the right to also accept contracted employment – PAYE work) as I suddenly non-EU freelancer I might not be able to stay here. I do not know how much time I might be given to pack up and leave. Should I follow France’s lead and prepare for a no-deal situation? That would be easy if I had my citizenship – I swap my Uk driving license for a Swedish one, make sure that I do not have outstanding British invoices, and brace myself for more expensive trips to see family and friends. Without it I truly do not know what to do … as I said in the worst case scenario I could be looking at having to give up my life here in ten weeks – sell my flat, leave the studio, cancel the shows at Glitter Ball, pull out of the exhibitions booked here for the summer and autumn … say good-bye to my friends …

Perhaps aware of the necessity to be distracted I have totally over committed myself to projects this January and February. On Thursday I spent a very happy day at the studio glittering over one hundred fake roses (and there are at least one hundred more still to be glittered) for an upcoming installation. I was not especially thinking about English roses when I choose them for the work, I choose them because I wanted to evoke cultivated species of formal and historic pleasure gardens. I am very excited about this work, it is a public piece that I was invited to make by Uppsala county. They approached me about the commission – I had been selected from a short-list that I did not know that I was on. It felt as though I had suddenly and unexpectedly reached another level as an artist. I hope that it does not become my Swedish swansong.

* The family were non-European and require a right to remain as well as citizenship.