Artist statement: 

Ray and Rachel Attfield (father, daughter) collectively explore the transformational potential of natural materials, exploring how to give meaning to the ordinary, and revealing how people relate to nature particularly in urban environments.

Ray is an artist, architect and musician with an ongoing fascination with the relationship between urbanism and the natural world. Trees offer a sense of fascination, their life span, revealed in a cross-cut, or death expressed in discarded or burnt fragments. His recent exhibition at No 20 Arts shared a decade’s work where chosen raw materials became objects with their own physical identity and meaning awaiting to be interpreted by the viewer. 

Rachel works with natural fibres gathered near her home in Hackney, exploring traditional weaving crafts and their relationship with culture, identity and the natural world. A fascination with everyday movements, walking, gestures and touch have influenced her choreographic work, which has been presented as large-scale performances, soundscapes, photography and film. This established movement practice influences her work as a craft artist exploring how embodied memories connect with the crafts that are passed on in early life highlighting potential connections between generations and forgotten cultural traditions.

Outline of our proposal: 

Ray and Rachel’s practices find inspiration in locally foraged natural materials, which guide the outcomes of their art, using a combination of skills from traditional craft to architecture. The artwork, a series of wooden and woven structures, will respond to the physical potential and cultural significance of these different materials, exploring nature and urbanisation, and humankind’s need to formalise and civilise nature, exposing the contradictions as well as the supposed benefits.

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About the residency:

Arbeit Studios are delighted to announce the launch of the new residency programme, ReRooted Residency 23-24 located in Trowbridge Gardens, Hackney Wick (E9). All London creatives, either individuals and collectives, working in nature, ecology & sustainability, are invited to propose work that will be made and installed in the new north garden space, and spend 4 months working in Trowbridge Gardens.

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Meet the judges for the second residency:

Polly Mann: Polly is the Wick Award Community and Partnership Development Worker, who supports exciting projects across Hackney Wick, from providing more activities for young people, to creating new community facilities, to residents making their own decisions about what is best for their area. Polly also works closely with Hackney Wick Town Hall, supporting with planning each event.

Camila Barboza: Camila is part of Hackney Herbal, a social enterprise promoting wellbeing through herbs and nature-based activities, who also looks after the gardens in Trowbridge Road.

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This programme coincides with the opening of a third garden in Trowbridge Gardens. As Trowbridge Gardens Gallery is indoors, we would like to develop an outdoors experimental publicly accessible exhibition space dedicated to sustainable and ecological minded arts, providing audiences with new ways of experiencing art and design. Whilst being part of this programme, creatives are offered a workspace for the duration of the residency, artists fees and production costs paid.

Drawing by: @brownurbanism

Trowbridge Gardens: Trowbridge Gardens, 1 Trowbridge Road, London, E9 5LD

Trowbridge Gardens, launched in 2019 in partnership with Hackney Council is a mix-use creative workspace including 25 workspaces, a new podcast studio, a cafe and the Trowbridge Gardens Gallery.  

The Trowbridge Gardens Gallery offers a programme of exhibitions, workshops and events, free for all the community to attend. Offering green and creative spaces is fundamental to what Trowbridge Gardens has to offer. These newly installed artworks will form a new narrative to how the north space is enjoyed by the local community. As part of the residency, the creative/s will also be asked to host workshops for the local community and there will be the opportunity to have an exhibition at the end of the residency too.

If you have any questions, please contact the Gallery Curator: Hannah@arbeit.org.uk

Application requirements

• The residency programme will be based in Trowbridge Gardens (E9), in a studio container, which will be used to work on the proposed project/creative practice.

• This open call is seeking professional artists who reside in London, working in ecological minded arts in any creative field. Unfortunately we cannot accommodate artworks that require power / electricity such as video, sound, digital artwork, etc.

• If applying as a collective, please highlight how many members of the collective will be using the space.

• Applicants must be 18 years or older, where those who are over 40 years of age are
  particularly encouraged to apply

• At the end of the residency the creative should have a finished artwork that is suitable for installation to a public accessible garden. 

• Please highlight on the application which residency phase you are applying for, you may apply for one than one, and depending on application numbers received, there may be further call outs for later residency dates. 

If successful you will receive:

• Artist fee of £4,000 in total for the 4 month residency

• A free workspace for the duration of the residency (up to 4 months) 

• Production fee of £1,000 for the work

• Workshop fee of £150 per workshop (up to 3 workshops) 

What you are expected to:

• Use the workspace at least twice a week

• Host (or curate) a series of publicly facing workshops and activities

• Selected candidate are required to have their own contents and Public Liability Insurance 

• Report midway through the residency to show project progress

• The artwork is not permanent and must be removed after the duration of install. Arbeit is not responsible for maintenance or liability of the artwork. 

FAQ

Who can apply?

Although we welcome all eligible, the studio selected for the residency may not be suitable for all access needs. Please arrange a meeting in advance so we can discuss your individual access requirements on site.

Who is selecting the creative?

The proposals will be selected by Arbeit Staff alongside a panel of local judges.

What is the timeline?

• Open to submissions - Open Call for submissions has now closed for 2nd Residency Phase

• Judging stage - early November

• Notified if successful - mid-November

• Residency - December 23  - March 24

• Artwork installed & final exhibition - March - April 24 

How do I apply?

For those who need large text formats, we can send a large text format of the application to your email address and you can return the form in handwritten as a PDF returned. For those who need support completing the form online, please send your answers as spoken word via email in a WAV. format.