An evening presentation of recent moving image work by artists based in the South West – Samuel Bestwick, Georgia Gendall and Jo Lathwood. The films run for a total of 45 minutes and will be introduced by the artists. Each work focuses on a place in Cornwall or Devon and examines human relationships with nature and the effects of large scale industry.
Georgia Gendall’s film Why did the Scarecrow win an Award? (13 mins, 2024) was filmed solely on motion sensor cameras over the course of a growing season. The film explores the farm as a theatrical space where the relationship between local ecosystems and global food production, queer rurality and land access plays out through the eyes of the protagonists – a scarecrow and a crop of wheat.
Jo Lathwood’s film The Belief in Things Disappearing (17 mins, 2023) weaves together sleight of hand magic tricks, a visit to an energy from waste plant, research into chemical experiments, alchemical symbols, forgotten magicians and stories of old and new artworks. The film, shot with a range of cameras, attempts to reveal unknowns that are part of our everyday and asks questions about value and permanence, whilst Lathwood’s retelling of forgotten scientific theories aims to remind viewers how quickly we can change and adapt our understanding of the world.
Samuel Bestwick’s film Dowr Tamar / Great Water (15 mins, 2023) follows the evolution of the Tamar River’s landscape through time, cataloguing humanity’s technological development, commercial expansion and environmental exploitation through the changing character of the 22 bridges that cross the river.
Why did the Scarecrow win an Award? was an Artist Moving Image Commission for Exeter Phoenix Gallery 2023/2024.
The Belief in Things Disappearing was developed as part of Jo Lathwood’s solo show at Mirror Gallery, Plymouth in 2023.
Dowr Tamar includes archive footage provided by The SWFTA Collection at The Box, Plymouth. It was supported by and first shown at Grays Wharf, Penryn in 2023.
Samuel Bestwick is an artist and filmmaker based in Cornwall. Primarily employing the use of moving image, his practice explores narrative in conjunction with place and social history, re-contextualising these ideas within a modern context. His work is often concerned with the act of looking and, by extension, philosophies surrounding the camera itself.
Georgia Gendall’s practice is rooted in the rural landscape of Cornwall – where she grew up and now lives and works – Georgia uses event structures, sculptures, performance, video and social practice to bring people together through multi-sensory encounters that focus on how the art intervention can draw attention to, subvert, celebrate or disrupt a context to embody queerness and unravel preconceptions of the rural as idyll. She runs The Allotment Club: a project and residency space on an allotment in Penryn, Cornwall, which hosts local and national artists, and a programme of workshops and events. She is the artist instigator and organiser of the annual Falmouth Worm Charming Championships.
Jo Lathwood is an artist whose practice includes drawing, sculptural works and large installations, made for both gallery settings and the public realm. The starting point for many of her works is a response to a particular site, event, material or process. This is underpinned by an interdisciplinary approach to research, which incorporates science, technology, craft and art.
Jo has developed an open manifesto to create sustainable artworks, making biodegradable sculptures and researching new ways to approach the production of public artworks. This includes the recent construction of a meandering recycled timber staircase that travelled across three storeys to allow an audience to touch the roof of a church.