Archive: I Am Not Static - Jemima Hoadley

I AM NOT STATIC: AN ARCHIVE

I Am Not Static is an exhibition from Jemima Hoadley, in collaboration with Camilla Greenwell, as part of Artist Archive at Siobhan Davies Studios.

I Am Not Static is an intimate exploration of falling and recovery, using movement, conversation, photography, and video as storytelling.

Jemima began this project at home in June 2020 during worldwide lockdown, shooting footage on her iPhone, as an experiment and way to capture her falling form.

Later that year Jemima entered a collaboration with photographer Camilla Greenwell, who at the time was beginning to explore the moving image as an art form and was curious about capturing movement that is somewhere between reality and performance.

At a time when theatres, dance studios and performance spaces were closed, collaborating gave Jemima and Camilla an opportunity to delve deeper, exploring their practice through new disciplines, and create a body of experimental materials.

Presenting I Am Not Static, as part of Artist Archive, gives Jemima and Camilla an opportunity to share some of their creative exploration and unfinished work together.

This is a time capsule of 2020-2021, of being cut-off from community and a reflection on the process of ageing, as a woman.

Through the archive Jemima is in dialogue with her body (entering menopause), with time, moving with her 10-year-old daughter (on the cusp of puberty) and in conversation with a childhood friend.

At a time of being physically static – during global lockdown – time was not standing still…………a cycle of falling and rising, from ashes, to ashes.

Nothing is permanent. You Are Not Static.

Please feel free to explore the exhibition installation, as you wish.

As part of this process we pondered the question “If the year was a lifetime, what month are you, at the moment, in your life?” You are invited to ask this question of yourself and share your thoughts on the chalk wall on the 1st floor balcony.

Please click below to hear a spoken word introduction to this online archive.

I AM NOT STATIC

I AM NOT STATIC (2)

These videos were shot by Jemima Hoadley on an iPhone SE during Covid-19 worldwide lockdown in 2020, at Sionhan Davies Dance Studios.

I am Not Static features Jemima, in various state of dress and undress, falling repeatedly, in slow motion, onto the floor and onto polythene bags. The sound, in slow motion, is reminiscent of waves crashing on the shore.

In I Am Not Static 2, is a study of flight and descent, featuring Jemima. Wearing only underpants, shot against a white brick wall, she tosses, in slow motion, white polythene bags into the air, and is smothered by and snatches them from the air as they fall.

FALLING, 2020

This video was recorded during Covid-19 worldwide lockdown 2020. It was shot and edited by Jemima Hoadley using an iPhone 5 and features Jemima falling in slow motion onto her son’s bed, both whilst he was in the room attending school sessions online and also once he was allowed to go back to his school.

The film is narrated by Jemima talking about the process of falling and her fascination with the collapse and rebound of her sometimes seemingly lifeless form.

LEANING INTO COMPULSION

This video was shot during Covid-19 worldwide lockdown 2020. It was shot and edited by Jemima Hoadley using an iPhone 5 and features Jemima’s hand, burnt badly in an accident when she was 4 years old.

Jemima narrates the video with the story of her relationship with her damaged hand.

THE FIRST FILM

Directed and shot by Camilla Greenwell, in 2020, in collaboration with Jemima Hoadley.

I AM NOT STATIC (3)

Directed and shot by Camilla Greenwell, in 2021, in collaboration with Jemima Hoadley. This film features Jemima and her daughter Blaise, aged 10 years

Narration taken from excerpts of a conversation between Jemima and her childhood friend and sometimes collaborator Jennifer Bell.

AGAINST A BLUE SKY

Directed and shot by Camilla Greenwell, in 2021, in collaboration with Jemima Hoadley.

JEMIMA AND BLAISE CLIP 3

JEMIMA AND BLAISE CLIP 5

Feature Jemima and her 12 year old Blaise, in February 2023. They are shot side by side, against a forest scene, wearing pants and vests, moving together.

In the first clip Jemima & Blaise move together, in contact. In the second clip Blaise stares ahead into camera, whilst Jemima flails her arms and torso erratically.

Directed and shot by Camilla Greenwell, 2023.