New Work: Ping Pong, Breaking The Spell, Student Work, Poetry

Here is a handy list of some of my recent work: Film-Music and Visuals for a History video, Ping Pong Reprise, Student Work and even Poetry! At some point, I hope to create a separate page for individual projects, but for now, the links will take you to a page with multiple projects. If the planets are in alignment and my cup of tea is still drinkable, the project referred to here will be the first project on the page.

Bird La Bird in Breaking The Spell of the Armada Portraits — Bird La Bird in *Breaking The Spell of the Armada Portraits*

SERIOUSLY FUNNY… Breaking The Spell of the Armada Portraits (2020) - by Bird la Bird with The Mollusc Dimension
An excellently informative and entertaining piece history lesson based on real sources from the Royal Museum of Greenwich. Bird did all the historical, art and fashion research.. while I…

Composed, performed and recorded all the music for both of these accessible videos. One is shorter (6 minutes, 16 seconds) and the other is a longer, audio-described version (20 minutes and 26 seconds). I look forward to sharing about the hidden symbolism behind my music compositions. I referenced music from Orlando and Mendelsohh’s Midsummer Night’s Dream. “Pavane” from Orlando is from Thoinot Arbeau’s “Belle Qui Tiens Ma Vie” (from the French Renaissance). Intertextuality & use of hidden symbols have long been devices used by such groups as queers, POC and intersectional feminists.

I also made quite a few of the visuals for Bird and came up with the idea of using the Instagram filters on the queen. Merging imagery associated with authority and also popular culture feels disruptive /punk and also fits with the theme of self-image and social status. Although I have issues about the corporate takeover of Pride, I thought a way of reclaiming this would be to juxtapose two of the figures in the Armada portraits with a LGBTQI+ symbol. Therefore, I used the beautiful Progress Pride flag by Daniel Quasar, because it includes black, brown and trans pride colours. Black trans lives matter!

Content notes: I would say this is intended for an adult audience, as it contains references to various monarchical violences and also sexual humour. Rest assured, though.. there are intentions for the music to be released separately for all ages to enjoy!

Check out the clip I made of some of my favourite moments from the Ping Pong Concert, back in January 2019, at the South Bank Centre.

I added subtitles to my comedic monologue, My Family. The humour is quite deadpan. All these visits to Grandma’s place and I never once thought of channelling Wong Kar Wei while wearing her tablecloth…

I was hugely inspired by hearing poets read last month and was up almost every day at 5am scribbling poetry - of which just a few pieces are here. I know my efforts are a bit clunky - as I decided to try writing sonnets. What’s emerged is that poetry is brilliant for thought-organisation, emotion-expression and also general focusing. I would be going on walks with the dog, feeling rather anxious about going outside, but the rhythm of words gave me an uplifting focus.

Writer / poet friends, you’ll be pleased to hear that I have gone through the poems on this site and removed all the very uncool commas at the ends of the lines. My boyfriend is studying creative writing so he said NO.. Phew!

Work by My Students - is a new section on this website. I have been encouraging my students to think audio-visually. I’m motivated by the desire to cultivate an aspiration to create content, rather than consume, and beyond that, the ability to make media, to tell stories.. is an ability to re-make the world.

In my previous post, I was thinking about the awareness of Creative Careers and how important it is to at least try to share the visions / possibilities of the real prospect of art as “real work” because this affects choices at GCSE and A-Level as well as Further/ Higher Education.

It still feels a bit nerve-wracking for me to connect the different parts of my artistic practice - and I understand that it may not be for everyone, but I’ve been really inspired by people who’ve worked with very different audiences - notably poets and musicians. After all, literature can convey difficult themes in slightly mysterious ways, and likewise with music. In my case, most of my work (at the moment) IS suitable for younger people and particularly the comedic / silly animations have amused them.

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composing, creativity, performanceThe Mollusc Dimension27 June 2020music