Amy Lawrence was one of our residency artists in 2021, here she shares some moments from her time spent in Leeds.
My time in Leeds with compass was a research and development moment as I develop a new project navigating how we hold, platform and commemorate Black Matriarchal figures and their traces both personal and historical – building upon recent works exploring space for ownership, tribute and ghostliness.
I used movement, conversation, and eating to interrogate the memories I have of my Nanna as a starting point – giving space to nuanced experience of learnt knowledge and storytelling through Black Matriarchal lines.
I left the potential for me to change and make up my mind and make no decision about anything whilst considering what processing grief means for me and those I have met.
I hosted a meal ‘SHARING PLATTER’ (Union 105 : Chapeltown) as a space for Women, Non Binary and Gender Fluid people of Black Heritage, over Maureens’ Caribbean food we discussed how we share, connect and disconnect to sensations of traces and ancestry, how our Grandmothers shape our understanding of our heritage and what this means for our sense of self. Thanks so much to everybody who has supported my time on this residency.
