To begin with ...

PaP began as People + Place artist peer network at the end of 2019 , though with the onset of the pandemic it quicky evolved into a different format providing vital support for participating artist and we hope interesting activity shared with wider networks and communities. We had over 20 online meet-ups and managed to fit in a handful of covid compliant real life walks and gatherings, we co-convened a talk about mail art with art historian Michael Crane author of Correspondence Art (1984), made mail art for each other, temporarily renamed PaP to Place + Practice and collaborated on pages for the MTP publication Traversing Terrains. PaP artists 2021 were Liz Jones, Annabel Pettigrew, Harry Meadows, Gemma Gore, James Aldridge and Laura Eldret.

We are back, and looking back to move forward, so for now sharing the orginal PaP intentions:

PaP (People + Place) is a forum for artists exploring ideas and modes of contemporary art-making that exist at the intersection of people and place. Meet-ups happen in and around the Southampton / New Forest area. It is a framework to test and share ideas that inform participating artists’ practices. Supporting each other in the conceptualisation and development of unchartered territories in our practices.

"An artist should search, not re-search” – Joseph Albers

PaP seeks to explore new ways of thinking and working with people and places. How can we find new ways to inspire, approach and generate our work? Opportunities for working with people + place are often dictated by organisations, landowners, developers, etc. PaP seeks to explore these territories by starting from artists’ points of view. Providing a genuine space for developing, testing and generating new ideas through discussion, examination and peer critique.

PaP artists are motivated by interests in society, people, place and politics today. With a wide range of approaches including socially engaged, research, sculptural, film and video, documentary, site-specific and community-based practice. People + Place is an artists’ peer network intiated by artist Laura Eldret, in partnership with MTP (More Than Ponies), and supported by ‘a space’ arts.

Images: Michael Crane in conversation with PaP, walking in the rain, Traversing Terrains, view from Sandy Balls and zoom musical interlude provided by LIzzie.