Happening in the New Forest, online and at Lower Hewood Farm (Dorset) Rural Facets has been initiated by Laura Eldret in response to Visual Arts Southwest open call. The project is part of More Than Ponies and will be co-hosted by PaC (James Aldridge, Gemma Gore, Alys Scott-Hawkins and Melanie Rose) in June and September 2024.
This series of gatherings is intended as a forum for critically engaged artists who identify with the / as rural or any of it’s many facets. It is intended to forge new connections, create a forum of support and celebrate contemporary rural relevancies, criticality and artistic practice. To create a community of sharing and caring. Alongside the gatherings we will co-create and distribute a Rural Facets poster edition – a mapping of our creative ruralities, as an act of advocacy for rural practice and provision, a raising of artist voices that often are isolated.
Rural creative contexts are so often defined as lacking. The government define rural areas as having less people, sparse and isolated. Perpetuated rural creative practices are often distancing e.g landscapes (places faraway, over there), folk forms (from long ago). And with mainstream negative narratives of the hyper modernisation of rural places with robot run farms and trampling trespassers, Rural Facets responds to Visual Arts Southwest’s prompt ‘How can I stay?’ by accounting for and addressing: Why those who stay stay? Why those who return return; and Why those who draw from it (the rural) do? It will be celebrating our creative rural realms and finding ways to thrive.
Together we will explore ideas that readdress narratives of the rural as lesser, lacking and defined in opposition to urban places. Positioning rural concerns and practices as critical for all society, together we will be sharing, caring and accounting for contemporary narratives of rural contexts of contemporary making, radical thinking, roaming, resistance and collaboration.
What exactly will we be doing?
Rural Facets will be a series of three events, accompanying resources and a collaborative output.
On Friday 21 June (10am – 1pm) we will meet to walk/ roam/ traverse together in New Forest, Hampshire. Readings and activities on ruralities will be shared by PaC artists and refreshments served. Exact location details will be released to participants at a later date.
On Saturday 29 June (10am – 12midday) we will gather online in a facilitated event that will include a series of short presentations with guest speakers and mapping exercises for all participants to share their rural narratives and practice. This content will form the basis of the Rural Facets poster edition.
On Saturday 7 September we will gather at Lower Hewood Farm in Chard, Dorset. This will be the launch of the Rural Facets poster edition (and exact details tbc) with a chance for participants to exhibit their own artworks and research. Lunch will be served, farm-based activities possible and potentially additional guests invited.
We want to allow for genuine time for participants who are invited to contribute thinking to think, share their practices and navigate this expansive area of discussion (Ruralities). We do hope that the above allows that to happen. Rural focused reading/ watching/listening material will be shared, engagement with these is in no ways a requirement though!
We recognise that experiences of the rural are informed by individual needs and identities, and the intersectional nature of these. We are keen to include a diverse range of voices at these events. If you are facing barriers to attending, financially or otherwise, please do get in touch.