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Artist and wordsmith, whose work engages with issues of access, from acknowledged physical needs to perceived symbolic exclusions. After being selected as one of DAO's New Voices in 2011, Gini's online presence has become an integral part of her arts practice

The Creative Case for... NDACA
20 August 2012

Blog

Close-up photo of a whole walnut, probably the first whole nut I've ever cracked, with layer adjustments, that give it a warm translucent glow and some moody blue-greens

When it comes to fancy dress I think I make a pretty good Borg Queen. And if the conversation dries, I can always announce: 'Resistance is futile, you will be assimilated' - which brings me neatly to the question of integration and, whilst I'm stitching sculptures, my current concern: 'Will Integration kill Disability Arts?' Are we only here for the interim between barbarian past and enlightened future? Will the real or imagined possibility of being embraced and valued fragment any hopes...

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Commissioned conversations, another Con.Text
18 August 2012

Blog

Portrait of the soft sculpture figure where Photoshop has enabled rich green, purple-pink, blue and yellow colours and a quirky misalignment of layers

 I am totally looking forward to making an official start on my DAO Diverse Perspectives Commission conversations! After sitting in residence at Salisbury Arts Centre last year and creating my first conversation/ text work they were keen to see me develop the possibilities. Initial talks with the then Director of Salisbury Arts Centre focused on a visual presention and People Like You, the exhibition, began to take shape. I have already started on the preliminary writing, but it is...

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Earthbowl 4 - Homo Sapiens Sapiens.
28 June 2012

Blog

An image of the earth from space, set against a black background with partly visible words, the earth orb has its top third removed to create the image od a bowl, and contained within the bowl is the fourth, close up image of Sue in her wheelchair, underw

This is the last in the series. The timing is deliberate - this is my contingency bowl. In case time and tide conspired against 'Creating the Spectacle!' In case the event was cancelled; in case the worst case scenario swallowed up the adventure and the underwater wheelchair disappeared into oblivion. But actually it also makes a rather splendid trophy to present, with a fanfare, to all the successful participants of the most carefully prepared and choreographed adventure - the journey across...

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Earthbowl 3, Fleet Lagoon
27 June 2012

Blog

An image of the earth from space, set against a black background with partly visible words, the earth orb has its top third removed to create the image od a bowl, and contained within the bowl is a third image of Sue in her wheelchair, underwater with hai

I could hardly sleep a wink last night. I might have been a little busy this week, but today has had big, bold, red pencil marks all over it for a while now. Depending on the weather, the tides, fate...Today is the day! Today, in filming for 'Creating the Spectacle!' the underwater wheelchair takes what anyone could only describe as the absolute scariest part of it's journey. I'm heading for Portland to be witness and part of the audience for this stage of the project. I shall be...

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Earthbowl 2; hinting at things to come?
26 June 2012

Blog

An image of the earth from space, set against a black background with partly visible words, the earth orb has its top third removed to create the image od a bowl, and contained within the bowl is Sue in her wheelchair, underwater with hair flowing freely.

The eagle eyed DAO reader just might have noticed that the image used (yesterday) in Earthbowl 1 was not actually from 'Creating the Spectacle!' 'Portal' (2008), that iconic picture of Sue Austin under water in a wheelchair, was however our first hint of things to come - watch this space! The Earthbowl series continues with an image from the early development stages of the project when the chair was still being refined and Sue was still learning how to control it. Earthbowl 2 contains an image...

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Relay
25 June 2012

Blog

An image of the earth from space, set against a black background with partly visible words, the earth orb has its top third removed to create the image od a bowl, and contained within the bowl is Sue in her wheelchair, underwater with hair flowing freely.

Exhibition, 21 June - 14 July 2012, Salisbury Arts Centre.     Relay: handing the baton of inspiration through time and across disciplines, has produced this exhibition at Salisbury Arts Centre. I should, at the outset, declare my involvement, both as an artist and wordsmith and also as member of LUAN (LinkUpArtists Network) whose work, together with images from LUAN member Sue Austin's 'Creating the Spectacle!' represents LinkUpArts' presence as one of Salisbury Arts Centre's...

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Tokyo. One day
17 May 2012

Blog

Long thin roots, in mullti-colour dark shades reaching down into a grey-green space.

I'm back. Tokyo called and here I am. Sumida, rocking and rolling, reflects my excitement. This time the cherry blossom is over and Tokyo is greening -  punctuated by bright splashes of pink azalea; while Sumida, the river, is followed by a ribbon garden borrowed from an English country cottage. Sky Tree stretches high into warm city air, awaiting it's grand opening on the 22nd May; it is visible for miles and miles, looking down on the 53 floors of the Mori Building  and the red...

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My very own one-woman Shape Open Fringe.
4 May 2012

Blog

pale, fine lines curling, floating on a turquoise background

I once heard Anish Kapoor say something along the lines of "my art works because I have nothing to say" which struck me as very odd. Triptychos Boxed is a glance at the aspirations of faith and mythology from a wheelborne perspective. A collection of previously loved small boxes containing references to aspects of faith, they also focus on the 'get up and go' that, chairborne, I both long for and reject as irrelevant. This is my first conscious attempt to make work that 'has nothing...

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Return to digital.
6 February 2012

Blog

Skull of a small bird on a black background

It has been my aim to get Con.text online, not as a downloadable PDF (although that is good too), but as an instantly visible artwork and this week I have been happily distracted from my drawing by the chance to work on putting Con.text on DAO. Actually I do enjoy working with the computer, and taking a break between words, I do not resist Photoshop for long. My retreat from the digital doesn't last. I might dither, I might hide, actually I might be addicted; I do wish I could do more. With...

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