Make Do and Mend hits Brighton

 I performed Make Do and Mend for the third time with Katherine Johnson on Saturday night at The Basement in Brighton.  We were one of the many acts performing at the "Supper Cub" night which included art performance, music and poetry.  Our slot was for an hour and a half where we frantically tried to fix the mess the audience had made-the Brighton audience certainly did not hold back on the map destroying!  Our washing line of wet maps were at the top of the amphitheater which took a lot of exertion to climb up to the top and do our duty.  The line of destroyed maps started to look like rows of frayed bunting, quite apt in the run up to the Royal Wedding but also another layer of meaning that runs through the piece of damage and repair.  All in all a good night, excellent venue for our work and a great platform for artists or anyone involved in the creative scene.  We  even managed to enjoy the weather and have a little paddle in the sea!

Make Do and Mend Art Performance

Last night Katherine Johnson and I performed our Make Do and Mend performance at the opening of the reduction exhibition at Broadcasting House. The exhibition was organised by the Young Curators, a project based at Leeds Met Gallery and Studio Theatre that gives young people a practical introduction to curating art exhibitions. The performance was as we wanted it to be, very hectic! We invited members of the audience to destroy maps of Britain and our task was to attempt to put them back together showing a literal cycle of damage and repair. The exhibition was based on cuts within the arts and the performance was based on the idea of "Broken Britain" and how the ever-mounting problems in society are never fixed properly but smoothed over and inherent to our culture. We were dressed as land girls referencing the idea of the wartime community spirit and the idea of the home and hard work to bring people together in more desperate times. We had some very good feedback during the performance and are both looking forward to performing it again at the Home from Home exhibition at 153 Woodhouse Lane, Leeds on 12th March from 12pm. More information about the reduction exhibition can be found here.