Jade Montserrat
Nora Heidorn
Ellen Mara De Wachter
Jerwood Arts, London
11 November 2019
Ellen Mara De Wachter, writer and author of Co-Art (Phaidon, 2016), invited curator Nora Heidorn and visual artist Jade Montserrat to consider and discuss self-care and mutual care within collaborative and creative practices.
Over the past few years, Audre Lorde’s maxim that self-care is ‘an act of political warfare’ has been invoked in a range of different contexts and for a surprising array of purposes. Some might say Lorde’s concept of ‘self-care’ has been co-opted by the wellness industry, while others argue that the demands of contemporary life and the cultural industries leave us with no choice but to retreat and look after ourselves. What effect is this having on social and collaborative processes and outputs?
This discussion was programmed alongside Jerwood Collaborate!. It drew on recent exhibitions by curator Nora Heidorn (‘Sick & Desiring’, Bergen Assembly, Bergen, 2019) and artist Jade Montserrat (‘Instituting Care’, Bluecoat, Liverpool, 2019) to explore a range of creative responses to social, economic and industry pressures, such as doing less, doing nothing, and balancing engagement with abstention and refusal.
An audio recording of the event is available here.
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