Artists that write

Whether artist statements and application forms, or a core part of our artistic practice, writing is a part of most artist's lives. In this roundtable we hear from three artists—Roo Dhissou, Madinah Farhannah Thompson and Roy Claire Potter—whose writing is an integral aspect of their creative process and output. 

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Artist/researcher Roo Dhissou works with communities, diasporas and her own histories. Using community engaged practice, craft, cooking, performance and installation she explores how communal and individual identities are formed. Roo has worked with BMAG, New Art Gallery Walsall, Niru Ratnam, The Bluecoat, Tate Liverpool, Primary and internationally in Spain, Canada and Poland.

Roo is currently working on a practice based PhD and has work in permanent collections including Arts Council Collection. She is interested in DIY culture, care and ethics both in and outside of institutions.

Influenced by linguistics and performance theory, Roy Claire Potter is an artist writer who performs, publishes and exhibits. They often collaborate with musicians and sound artists to make audio for music festivals and radio. Roy has recently presented solo and collaborative work with Book Works, Cafe OTO, Serpentine, Camden Arts Centre (2024); Bergen Centre for Electronic Arts (2023); Counterflows, Cafe OTO, PRIMARY (2022); Reduced Listening for BBC Radio 3, A plus A (2021); and Tate Britain with Tate Publishing (2019). Their debut novel The Wastes is published by Book Works and shorter works are published with Ma Bibliotheque, Dostoyevsky Wannabe, Hotel Partisan, Tate Publishing, MOSTYN and CCA Derry-Londonderry. Live and studio recorded audio works are released with Cafe OTO’s OTOROKU and TAKUROKU labels, London; Sub Rosa, Belgium; Chocolate Monk, Brighton; and Fort Evil Fruit, Dublin. They are a Senior Lecturer of Fine Art at Liverpool John Moores University.

Madinah Farhannah Thompson is a Norfolk-based visual artist and writer whose work challenges the pervasive misrepresentation of Black female bodies within Western societies. She aims to disrupt and deconstruct harmful stereotypes that uphold white supremacy, using her art to navigate these limiting narratives. Thompson received a Distinction in MA Performance Making at Goldsmiths, University of London and graduated with first class honours in BA Fine Art from The Cass School of Art (London Metropolitan University). Thompson has exhibited and performed at venues such as The Mall Galleries, The Royal Academy and The Southbank Centre, with her film Saliva & Tears/Underneath You receiving The Ingram Prize in 2020.

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