A recording of Richard Whitby in conversation with independent film and moving image curator, writer and researcher, Karen Alexander, discussing his latest moving image work The Lost Ones, commissioned for Jerwood/FVU Awards 2019: Going, Gone. Richard Whitby created a sound work and video to accompany the talk, the video features portraits of the creature from The Lost Ones, drawn in black ink on every page of a visa application form.
The Lost Ones follows a disparate group of individuals who are waiting to have their residency status assessed. They are people in limbo – whose personal circumstances or economic situations have been suddenly re-evaluated and whose future status now seems conditional on a test that they need to pass.
Richard Whitby is a video and performance artist, who lives and works in London. He often working with collaborators producing music, costumes and objects. Whitby studied at Wimbledon College of Art, Slade School of Art and took part in the LUX Associate Artists Programme 2012- 2013, completing a PhD in Humanities and Cultural Studies from the London Consortium in 2016. Recent presentations include GIVE GOOD, Twentyone, Southend (2018), The Jump Room, The Old Waterworks, Southend (2017), Jerwood Staging Series, Jerwood Arts, London (2017), Corrupt Blood Incident, South Kiosk, London. His book The Jump Room was published by The Old Waterworks in 2018. He is a member of the National Executive Committee for Artists’ Union England.
Karen Alexander is an independent film and moving image curator, writer and researcher. She has worked with and for the BFI, the Royal College of Art and a consultant for a diverse range of cinemas, galleries and arts organisations. Karen works across media, arts and culture, programming and running courses on black British representation, independent cinema, national identity and collective memory. Recent projects include Curating Conversations (2014 & 2015) Whip it Good: Spinning from History’s Filthy Mind(Autograph 2015) Black Star (BFI 2016) Black Atlantic Cinema Club(Autograph Watershed 2016) Philomela’s Chorus (2017) and Dream Time: We All have Stories for Nuit Blanche (Toronto 2018). Currently, Karen works as a tutor at the University of the Arts, London and is a consultant with Cinema Rediscovered in Bristol.
This talk was programmed as part of the Jerwood/FVU Awards 2019: Going, Gone exhibition, featuring two new moving-image commissions by Webb-Ellis and Richard Whitby.
