Writing Workshops for Women
Inspired by Controversial Photographer
Starting Monday, 27 May, 2002 - St. James Cavalier
Inizjamed,
in collaboration with The British Council, will be holding a series of four
workshops in creative writing for women at St. James Cavalier. The workshops
will be held on consecutive Mondays as from next Monday, 27 May, 2002, between
6.30pm and 8.00pm. The fourth and last session is on 17 June.
These
workshops will seek to unite the different mediums of poetry and photography
into one activity that draws on both. The photographs that will provide the
“inspirational springboard” for these writing sessions are self-portraits by
controversial British photographer, Sarah Lucas. Some workshops will focus more
on the art and technique of photography whereas others will focus more on
writing itself. Women attending the workshops will be encouraged to discuss the
portraits exhibited, to write down their reactions and eventually to process
their writing within the group.
On
29 June, 2002, The British Council will launch an exhibition of these
provocative self-portraits by Sarah Lucas at St. James Cavalier Centre for
Creativity in Valletta.
Sarah
Lucas was born in London in 1962. She studied at the London College of Printing,
and Goldsmiths College, London. Lucas works with a variety of materials and
media, including photographs, sculpture and installations. According to art
critic Lara Grieve, Lucas has achieved a notorious name for herself as the bad
girl of Britart. This reputation stems partly from the seemingly aggressive
stance that she has adopted in a series of self-portrait photographs produced
since 1990.
Her
work often features images of herself in a confrontational stance. She turns
against the art-historical tradition of the female seductress or muse, and
presents herself in unisex clothing like jeans and T-shirts. These images also
raise questions about the role and appearance of the modern artist. Instead of
the stereotype of the artist as unique individual, posing in the creative
environment of the studio, Lucas shows herself as an ordinary person in
emphatically ordinary surroundings.
Recent
exhibitions by Sarah Lucas include “The Old In Out”, Barbara Gladstone
Gallery, New York (1998), “Real Life: New British Art”, Tochigi, Prefectural
Museum of Fine Arts, Japan and tour (1999), and “The Fag Show”, Sadie Coles
HQ, London (2000), and Naples (2001).
Due
to the nature of the workshops, the group will have to be a fairly small one to
function effectively. Those women who are interested in attending are to write
to the organizers immediately (Clare Azzopardi at clareazz@maltanet.net
or Karen Vella at karin@maltanet.net).
No previous writing experience is required. The workshops will be in Maltese and
are open for women who are eighteen years and over.
Foreign Guests for This Summer
Apart
from these workshops, Inizjamed will be organising a number of activities in the coming
months. On June 7, Belgian environmental activist Eric Van Monckhoven will
be the main speaker in a public forum at Bay Street on reusing discarded
materials and links between environmentalism and cultural initiatives. This
forum is part of a project by Inizjamed called "Re-Creation" which
is being held in collaboration with Bay Street and the
EU's Youth Programme.
Between
15 and 21 July, leading Welsh female writer, Menna
Elfyn, will be in Malta to
give writing workshops and performances and to take part in a public
forum with local NGOs. Her visit is being organised by Inizjamed in
collaboration with The British Council.
And in
the last week of August, writer Miro Villar
(in picture) and critic Rosa Salgueiro
Salgueiro from Galicia in Spain will be in
Malta to give workshops and take part
in artistic events at Bay Street and in Vittoriosa with local writers and
artists. Their visit is being organised by Inizjamed in collaboration with the
Parliamentary Secretariat in the Ministry of Education and Bay Street.
Clare Azzopardi
20.5.02
