Annis Joslin

In March we undertook a Making Spaces residency at Fabrica, in Brighton, entitled The Light & The Load. The aim of this intensive 5-day programme was to re-present and explore the work we made during Messy Business commissioned by People United with the members of Joining Hands, Joining Hearts. The residency was generously supported by People United and gave us a chance to reframe the work and think about ways to extend its reach.

In collaboration with artist Sarah Cole we have been awarded the Self Identity commission by People United in association with Joining Hands Joining Hearts (a support group for victims and survivors of sexual and domestic abuse).

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Between May - November 2018  we will be working with women who attend Joining Hands, Joining Hearts to explore self-identity; what that means for those who are victims and survivors of domestic abuse; and how their experiences might encourage and contribute to a positive sense of self in others. The project will culminate in an artwork that can be shared digitally with a diverse and large number of people in the wider community and beyond.

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To find out more read out Blog on the People United Website. 

If Hope could speak was a poetry and film project at Chalkhill Education Centre, the school within Chalkhill hospital for young people with acute mental health challenges. The project was kicked off by poet Rachel Rooney who generated some poetry around the theme of Hope and Uncertainty. This material was responded to using objects, projections and animations exploring what hope and uncertainty meant for the young people involved. Rachel Rooney developed the material generated and edited by the young people to form a group poem which was combined with the visual material and soundtrack created by the participants in collaboration with Annis.

Artist in residence at Chalkhill Education Centre at Chalkhill Mental Health Hospital. Working with young people between 12 and18 years old exploring video art, animation and photography.

Collaboration with artist Sarah Cole commissioned by PAVILION – a visual arts commissioning organisation in Leeds to work with mothers and carers and their children in Berkhamsted.

The project resulted in the creation of a video work ( which is where our collaboration began) at Ashridge Estate in Hertfordshire. Ashridge’s Golden Valley was designed by Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown and this project is part of an ongoing contemporary art programme through which Pavilion is exploring the history and politics of Brown’s work. The project forms part of the Capability Brown Festival 2016, managed by the Landscape Institute and funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

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Screen at The Tetley in January 2017:

"Pavilion presents Breath Taking, a new work by artist Sarah Cole and filmmaker Annis Joslin with a group of women and their children. Set in the Golden Valley, Ashridge Estate designed by Capability Brown, the 6-minute film brings poetic play into the natural landscape. Referred to posthumously as ’the omnipotent magician’, Capability Brown’s tropes of distraction, deception and sleight of hand are evidenced in the film: a card shuffle, stem of broccoli and Mylar fabric serve to trick the eye".

Working with Project Art Works and FACT, Liverpool. A three day project utilising FACT's cinema box to create an immersive environment, in response to a forest visit, for series of encounter workshops working with FACT staff and adults with complex needs.  (The project was a research encounter/pre-cursor to the up coming Explorers programme) 

A nine month project finally culminated in the launch of the Giddy Brighton app and exhibition launched as part of Brighton Festival - an opportunity to walk vicariously down memory lane, featuring the personal stories of Brighton & Hove locals who loved, lost and rebelled as teenagers during the 1940-60s. I was lead artist working with pupils from Longhill School, Brighton to help them develop ideas for the app, explore and curate archive photographs and film footage as well as train them to interview and record the lived experience of older people. 

A permanent exhibition for the learning spaces across Sussex Partnerships commissioned by Make Your Mark, the arts and health programme for Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.  Engaging with staff, service users and carers, the project involved over 50 participants and culminated in a permanent exhibition of digital photographic print work.

Commissioned to create a permanent exhibition for the reception area and communal areas on each of the five wards of the care home.

The Lindridge is a seventy six bed nursing home offering nursing home and care services to both older and younger adults with dementia including those with acute and challenging needs as well as adults with general care needs.

The project was delivered in partnership with Brighton and Hove’s Royal Pavilion and Museums and drew inspiration from works within their collection. Integral to the project was engaging with and working creatively in collaboration with service users, staff and carers to create the exhibition. Two large lightboxes and a number of digital photographic print works were produced.

Commissioned by Sussex Partnership NHS Trust to create a permanent exhibition for Caburn Ward's shared spaces and corridors at Mill View Hospital, Hove. 

Working in collaboration with mental health service users, staff and carers, drop in workshops took place on the ward followed by a series of sessions with a core group of women (who had at somepoint accessed mental health services), to develop the work of the exhibition.

The project was inspired by the assemblages and boxes of artist Joseph Cornell and particpants were asked to think about “What makes you feel positive and strong.” Participants made use of  a range of found objects and materials to create their own and collaborative boxes.  

Over one hundred ‘boxes’ were made which were then photographed, assembled, 

collaged and processed digitally by Annis to create the final digital printed work, 

Commissioned by Brighton and Hove Royal Pavilions and Museums to work with residents of Portslade and West Hove neighbourhoods to develop and create a series of photographic and and collage based work  exhibited as part of the exhibition "Downs to Sea - A Slice of Life' which the group curated by choosing art work from the Arts Council Collection. The exhibition ran at Brighton Museum from April 5 - June 15 2014.

Commissioned by Sussex Partnerships NHS Trust and Brighton and Hove Royal Pavilion and Museums to create a permanent exhibition for Mill View Hospital's foyer and corridor. The project took place at Brighon Museum and used J M W Turners watercolour painting by J M W Turner called ‘Brighthelmstone, Sussex’ painted in 1824 as it's starting point to explore the city photographically. The group also explored and created new collaged images from the Royal Pavilion and Museum's phtotographic archive. The project involved a creative collaboration with service users, staff and carers and was funded by Friends of Brighton and Hove Hospitals.