Lockdown Journal: Dortmund Edition [Lou Hazelwood]
Lou Hazelwood has been a constant presence at BasementArtsProject over the last eighteen months. It was her ‘Landscapes of the (Un)known exhibition that was closed down halfway through its run due the first of many lockdowns, or was it one long continuous lockdown, I guess it depends upon which part of the UK you live in. Lou also supplied two entries for the Lockdown Journal across the year and we created a page documenting her exhibition with a filmed guided tour and a Zoom Lunchtime Conversation. Upon re-opening ‘The Basement’ to the ‘Real-World’ Lou returned with Chesterfield artist Chris Graham, and together they staged the ‘Trade Routes and Trauma Sites’ exhibition.
Here Lou has submitted another entry for the Lockdown Journal, this time for the Dortmund Edition.
Lou Hazelwood – Moving out
Moving out of lockdown, the world is opening up, a chasm to be filled by STEM courses at Universities where the arts are systematically destroyed in an attempt to keep the economy going.
It feels in some respect harder than lockdown when there was an optimism that change would be positive and supportive. To a reality where times are hard and surface tension is blatantly obvious. Not only are we contending with a still active pandemic but the ongoing legacy of half the nation voting for and succeeding with Brexit, in my opinion an utterly hideously stupid decision that is having immediate detrimental effects to the arts sector and many others. Opportunities to exhibit, travel have all been hugely curtailed and I feel angry!
So where does this anger and frustration lead, in reality for me to being tired.
Having recently exhibited with fellow artist Chris Graham at BasementArtsProject in a post lockdown environment where we showcased our interpretations of society, historical and contemporary, and capitalism in ‘Trade Routes & Trauma Sites’ to quote Chris is probably the best description, “the world is burning babe”.
How do I make work now is the question that has been haunting me and challenging me. I’ve spoken with other artists who are also battling with this, some are resting, some surviving, some hopeful, some just working through ideas and materials and following process. I am working with a film stock and the malleability of film, creating abstracted images. I have ideas of political redaction but I need to solely concentrate on the material because the immediate discussion of the enormity of political systems I find hard to manifest currently in to my practice. A subconscious process led approach will inevitably give me the answers and responses to these sets of circumstances we are all navigating.
Lou Hazelwood