Brighton Loops
Collaboration: Stuart Waters
We made: 26 Photographic Portraits
Three channel Video installation
Single channel video installation
Partners: Arts Council England,the Ledward Centre, Towner Eastbourne, South East Dance, Brighton Festival, The Place, The Kithouse, Wired Sussex
A project celebrating queer joy and strength in the LGBTQIA + community.
We worked in coalition with queer dance artist/activist Stuart Waters to make Brighton Loops, one element of a large scale project called A Queer Collision. Stuart works across the UK with queer communities in a range of different spaces including theatres and galleries.
Thmes of community, collision and storytelling that ran through A Queer Collision led to the making of a film of portraits. These photographs were made with a community cast.
Excerpt from Brighton Loops single channel for The Towner Gallery in Eastbourne.
Stuart has a core commitment to access in his work. An audio description track added another dimension to the installation and the film as a soundtrack.
A mixture of open call and people from Stuart’s own community would produce the best cast
Participants would be free to embody queer joy and strength in whatever way felt right to them.
The photographs would speak to queer histories in portraiture in painting and photography
The making of portraits should allow the participants to have both a sense of ownership and authorship of their image
It was vital that the process be welcoming, enjoyable and accessible for everyone in a diverse cast
The principle of community was central to the design of the edit and the installation.
Principles that shaped this project
Method
We worked with Stuart to design a stepped process that would produce an open and ‘safe’ space for collaboration:
Before any images were made participants met with Stuart alone
We ensured that crew were cast as carefully as participants
Each person had an individual shoot in a queer-friendly and fully accessible venue.
The making of the portraits had to be unhurried with time for talking, listening, exchanging ideas and looking together at the image that was being made.
The participants all received copies of their portrait.