Probably Cursed

Homegrown Window Residency, 03/06-31/10/24

Stryx Community Cafe, 90 Vyse Street, Birmingham

Some objects make you wonder about the life they had before they met us. I have long worked with found objects, in particular personal ephemera (such things as photographs, obsolete coins and letters). These are the items that I always feel have started to develop their own personality.

Probably Cursed was a playful look at the notion of curses and the relationship we have with objects. Each piece begins with a found object which is then embellished literally and figuratively with it’s own mythology and ‘curse’ – an attribute relatable to the object which the owner may be affected by together with the probability of the curse happening.

By accepting the curse for what it is we can recognise it and counter it when it does manifest itself. To know a curse is to have agency over it, in the same manner as knowing a demons real name.

The Souling | 31/10/24 | 4-7pm

Closing event, Private View and Publication Launch.

Souling is one of the oldest traditions of Halloween, and one of the first to establish the giving of treats on this day. Historically children would go from door to door, offering prayers for the souls of the dead in return for cake and a coin.

The Souling also included joining Lucy Wright’s Dusking. All were invited to dance down the sun at 16:33, celebrating the arrival of the darkest months of the year.

Probably Cursed has been a residency that has challenged my physical making skills and has also led to a great deal of introspection, processing events of the past and being more aware of the person I am today. Ending the project with a celebration of the changing seasons and an acknowledgement of the passing of time seems oddly fitting.

The Souling is a point of contemplation and remembrance of that which has changed and those who are no longer with us. It is also a celebration, with cake, dancing and the inevitable turn of the year. The publication is readable on issue here (Part One) and here (Part Two)