Is It To Feel Each Limb Grow Stiffer, Is It To Feel The full Potential Of A Life?

Abstract

A drawing practice based on conversation with others is, by its very nature, a constantly evolving one and one that follows the changing nature of conversations as they unfold. At the time of the original ‘Drawing Matters’ symposium, conversations about migration, immigration, and related stories were central to the author’s practice, these issues of course still continue and drawings completed by the author continue to reflect on these difficult global events. In fact, one of the artist’s animations that responds to these issues was selected for the 2018 Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize.

However, as an individual, the artist is getting older and, as this very natural process becomes more noticeable –– more aches and pains, a growing awareness of mortality and, of course, more conversations with people of a similar age –– their drawings, artwork, and community engagements have reflected these things. In particular, their recent work has begun to embody issues that have emerged from their research into aging and memory, both as practice-based drawing research and as research undertaken as part of a community group that has been looking at how to manage the aging process.