Now and here and there together began in Faggala, Cairo and found its form in Cable Depot, an artspace in Woolwich, London, throughout May and June 2023. As summer settled in, objects, captured images and live-streamed sounds from around my studio in Faggala became part of this room’s own rhythms of light, shadow and human activity. The project was a collaboration between myself, audiovisual technologist Neil Cheshire, choreographer Olive Hardy, martial artist Mercedes Melchor, curator Iavor Lubomirov. After months of conversation, writers Agnieszka Szczotka, Derek Horton, Farida Youssef and Niamh Riordan each distilled their insight and experience of the project into a text. You will find them here, along with a link to the project’s comprehensive archive on the Cable Depot website.
An angled mirror brought the tree over the fence in through a hole in the wall.
Binaural microphones on my balcony and Molly listening to the livestream.
With thanks to Arts Council England for the Developing Your Creative Practice grant that made these months of adventure and dialogue possible.
Thank you also to:
All the collaborators.
Mr Sayeed, Abdallah Sayeed, Mohamed Yayha and Theodore Amgad for their enthusiastic technical assistance in Faggala.
Liz, Jason, Sam and Luna for their hospitality in Woolwich - and especially to Jason for his sensitively captured photographs.