Naomi Heath
I hate writing artist's statements. To be honest, I hate reading them too.
I'm a listening artist based in Wales. Over the years I've turned cattle feeders into a disco space on Ynys Enlli, polytunnels into a spa for women at lunch with Joanna Bond, and ended up in a bath with four performers on an organic veg farm. I've made work with farmers who panicked when I told them I didn't know what we'd make, co-creating touring exhibitions through Cymylau Tystion that reached across Europe. I've worked with children who ended up getting a letter from the Children's Commissioner. I've been an engagement producer with Marc Rees, a curator within Capital of Culture TOSTA, and a collaborator with Story Studios, Bro and Severn Wye. I work in schools, festivals, conservation, civic spaces. Always place-based, always collaborative, always asking: what can be made together here?
My method has stayed the same even as the work has moved through different forms. I listen. I run in joy and sit with grief. I witness stories and share them back into the world. When you truly listen, you learn the art of care.
Welsh sits underneath everything I do. It shapes how I see, how I connect, what I understand can and can't be said. I work bilingually, and that helps me understand how many different layers of perception exist alongside each other. I'm increasingly aware of all the things art can't say, and how much of any experience it just can't catch. So I'm drawn to multi-sensory, place-based, bilingual approaches that give us more chance to make sense of the world around us.
I use my role as a community artist to shift power back.
Art is a simple thing, in many ways. It's learning and growing and giving. Responding honestly, kindly and generously to people, places, their stories. Refusing to be trapped by preconceptions. And being willing to rebel.
Wele fi.
Lived Experience
What matters to me is place and culture, especially in rural settings, and a belief that art is a powerful way to listen. Stories shape the world/ I’m passionate about language: small languages, local stories, the names of fields and butterflies: because they hold the keys to identity and belonging. I bring my care of biodiversity and cultural diversity and place based understanding.
My approach is relational. I work with openness and joy, holding space for people to find their voice. I'm fearlessly caring and remind people that engagement is dialogue and we champion access, inclusion and sustainability especially when it is hard.
I don’t see projects as something that end when funding ends. I stay in relationship with communities, supporting reflection, growth, and shared ownership over time.
I have worked with thousands of people across Wales, community groups like metal detectorists, farmers, community hubs and so many more to co create work together. Sometimes in the street, sometimes in someone's house and even one time up a tree. We make together.
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