Please tell us who you are and what you’ve been working on recently.
Our practice focuses predominantly on creating visual spaces which act as fictional attempts to explore daily peculiarities and contradictions. From particular domestic details to universals like gender, relationship and political structures, we investigate the personal through a combination of digital and hand-drawn environments, often annotated with narratives. Aiming to challenge the discrepancies caused by the rampant logic of capitalistic structures, through our art, we want to offer a radical perspective; a visual regurgitation of circumstance and consequence.
Recently we’ve worked on ‘Courtyard’ – a physically interactive, sculptural piece, featuring a series of flaps that lift to let the viewer ‘look out the window’. The main board, fabricated with trellis and printed leatherette, was accompanied by a book-style signpost that stood to narrate each view. This was designed and built through a commission by Bitch Palace for Liverpool’s 2021 Sound City at The Bombed Out Church. On the 19th of November we also launched our show Floor Plan, as part of Birkenhead-based Convenience Gallery’s In Cahoots programme. This is currently running until the 3rd of December and invites the viewer to spend time exploring an immersive, semi-interactive, installation borne from fictionalized versions of how weekends were spent as a child.
What drew you to each other’s practice?
We began working together three years ago, meeting at a point where the way forward for our creative ideas was still uncertain and we were both experimenting with what direction to follow it in. Finding each other’s ideas intriguing through conversation we began to explore and develop them into tangible things – Reece initially assisted in Ellie’s then installation-based practice, contributing narratives here and there, before taking on a more visual-oriented role. What drew us most into a creative life together was that we felt our ideas complemented, challenged and enhanced the others – pushing our imaginative capabilities further.
How will you use the 1:1 FUND?
This is the first considerable funding that we have received as artists, we have sustained ourselves so far on Universal Credit and part-time/temporary work – so it will be beneficial to relieve some of the stresses of general working life and provide ourselves with a wage with this fund. It will also go of course on materials – a lot of our work is digital so is often low-cost until it comes to installations.
Why did you choose the idea you will be working on?
Our interests over this year have expanded substantially into a number of areas, but one of the most significant things that has stuck around for us is the importance of using art to engage with and create actual positive concrete changes for communities. Inspired by our recent attendance of a workshop led by Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, our own experiences of transgenderism, alternative relationship styles and sexuality, and an interest in revolutionary working-class politics and how it can be used to change the lives of those most affected by it – going forward we are looking to explore how and what we can actually do to energise and educate people on how creativity can be something which is both conscious and liberating.
