Matt Shilcock – jenny sealey residency

I am because you are . . .

3rd day, Gaele Comments Off

Apr 202017

Jenny Sealey spoke about why she places great importance on us as artists creating and controlling the description of our own physicality.

While the residency focused on Sarah Kane’s 4.48 Psychosis, it was this concept of creating and controlling our descriptions that threaded through, and informed all our actions, processes, outcomes.

We took time out to study ourselves, to think, to feel, to articulate. We worked individually and we worked together, exploring various tools of description, drawing portraits of each other, making body maps, writing, devising and performing work.

We listened, we spoke, bounced ideas off each other, improvised. There was no time to polish. No place for self-conscious dithering. We were drawing on a huge range of impressive experience and talent. We were figuring out how to respect each other’s descriptions, carry them, translate and interpret them to ensure we were interconnecting.

It was raw and emotional, vulnerable, powerful. It was human. There is a saying from Botswana which applies to how this wonderful residency has made me feel – Motho ke motho ka batho meaning a person is a person because of people – I am because you are.

Matt | Break

3rd day, Matt Comments Off

Mar 052017

I’ve been really excited to be in that place where I’m putting accessibility at the forefront and as part of the creative process rather than an afterthought. As disabled artists we really need to think about how we make work that’s accessible because if we’re not thinking about it there’s no reason for mainstream to consider it.

I’m a ‘learn through doing’ kind of person so doing these workshops has been really beneficial and I’m sure it’s really going to influence the way I make work in the future, which is what I wanted to get out of it.

I’m constantly thinking about everybody’s experience of the artwork I’m making and how can I make that experience more accessible?

I’m also thinking about how different tools for accessibility can change the experience of the work. It’s been really fascinating to experience how audio description could make a work more powerful or less impactful or it can really change how we relate to what we’re seeing.

And it’s been really interesting to work with AUSLAN outside the usual what’s happening on stage and an interpreter thing. It’s been exciting to explore other ways to incorporate sign language into the work.

What is the beauty of you?
I haven’t really had a feeling of beauty in my body for as long as I remember but I’ve always thought of myself in a functional sense but I’ve always asked how can I make this or that and that’s where I derive my pride in myself. Continue reading »