d. (Y)our Stories: events, residency, exhibitions, artefacts, Denmark and UK (2016-17)

Through artistic intervention, this project explores how connections can be established between people through everyday ceramic objects. The focus is the in-between ground of three theories – bundling (Keane 2003), dispersed creativity (Leach 2004), and materialising the self (Tilley 2006). The notion of storytelling and collaborative authorship is tested through a series of experiments and narrative gathering exercises which results in a number of installation pieces that encourage storytelling and interaction as well as build connections between participants.

(Y)our Stories is an ongoing research project that considers the narrative potential of everyday ceramic objects gathered from charity shops and flea markets from various locations across Europe. The work builds on a range of projects, theoretical research and in particular, from an earlier piece - The Plate Experiment (2011) - where visitors were encouraged to create a visual narrative, using plates in combination with figures and doorways cut in silhouette from fluorescent orange card.
The Plate Experiment was exhibited as part of State of Play, RIBA Hub, Manchester, 2011 and Fresh Research, British Ceramics Biennial 2011, Stoke-On-Trent.

A four week residency in April 2016 at the International Centre for Research in Ceramics, Guldagergaard, Denmark formed a major part of the (Y)our Stories project, working with everyday ceramic objects and arduino technology to engage the public through narrative, culminating in a solo exhibition in The Apple House Gallery at ICRC in May 2016 that included the following works;

(Y)our Stories: The Reader
Twelve ceramic figurines stand around a green cutting mat, awaiting selection. Visitors were encouraged to participate by physically selecting 3 figurines and contributing a narrative.

(Y)our Stories: The Additions
3d printed ceramic additions for everyday ceramic figurines hold the objects still - framing, responding, hiding, presenting.

(Y)Our Stories: You Choose
A series of plates have had golden filled doorways applied to their surface. Visitors are encouraged to become participants by selecting their own journey through the worlds framed on these plates.

A second presentation of The Reader was at the British Ceramics Biennial 2017 as part of the Ceramic Values congress. Visitors to the exhibition were encouraged to participate in the work by selecting figurines and contributing narratives to the repository.