Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts Residency

The Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts at the University of East Anglia, Norwich collaborated with St. Mary’s Works to offer graduate artists who have studied in East Anglia a unique residency scheme. Four graduates from Norwich University of the Arts (NUA) took part in the month long residency programme based at St. Mary’s Works, a redundant shoe factory in the centre of Norwich. The project gave recent graduates the opportunity to develop their creative practice, reach new audiences, build peer networks and gain support from professionals working in the arts in the region. The programme concluded with a public presentation of work. Coming off the back of working for the British Art Show 8 in Norwich, I took snippets of ideas, conversations and things that were just hanging on, to jump start my residency. Working in response to the vacancy of such a vast space I created sound and text works that narrated the relationship between anthropomorphic elements of the building i.e a chair would be a 'he', whereas a door is a 'she', but the house is an 'it'. My sculptural experimentations were punctured by projected and written text, classical music played by friends, and an anxiety questionnaire that come with no sheet to fill in.