Go Make! - Hidden Battles

During the summer of 2008, Dada-South and English Heritage worked together to offer an artist the opportunity to create work in response to Fort Brockhurst in Gosport.

After an open submission process, Caroline Cardus was offered the commission and worked with local disability groups and disabled and Deaf people to create new work at the Fort.

Caroline Cardus is a visual artist who uses her own experiences of disability to produce work that investigates the practical, emotional and human rights issues with regard to disability experience.

During this residency Caroline worked with local people to explore the everyday battles and barriers that disabled people face and the impact this has on the individual. Fort Brockhurst offered a dynamic and innovative setting to examine the issues of exclusion, defence and barriers.

Hidden Battles was jointly commissioned by Dada-South and English Heritage.  Hidden Battles was part of Heritage Open Days.

For a full interview with Caroline about the residency, please visit  DisabilityArtsOnline www.disabilityartsonline.org/?location_id=357

 

Here's what Colin Hambrook had to say about Hidden battles in October 2008's Blog:

 

Hidden Battles and weird spaces

Dada-South's latest GoMake! was the most successful to date, in terms of the numbers of people who came to see the work. During the weekend of 11- 14 September over 1300 visitors came to Open Heritage days at Fort Brockhurst in Gosport. As part of their experience they encountered what was the culmination of a three month residency at the fort, with GoMake artist Caroline Cardus. During that time Caroline worked with a group of disabled people to make work themed around the personal battles they have in their daily lives. The final installation showed a range of art work made with coated wire and black paper. The idea was to get the group working with simple, accessible materials that were easy to shape, tactile, safe to use; and that would cast a shadow well.

To find the figures and objects the audience had to walk through a narrow passageway, which led around a corner into a cold damp room in the heart of the fort. The building lent itself to conveying an overwhelming sense of smallness and vulnerability, which was perfect for one of the first pieces on show, a small figure surrounded by an overwhelming crowd of people; made by a member of the group who wanted to express something about his fear of crowds.

As the audience moved towards the installation, a sound piece slowly came into hearing. It was punctuated with short sentences like 'I hate crowds' setting the tone of the artwork to come. The installation itself consisted of a complex set of imagery; giant spiders, an assortment of figures, pound signs and briefcase - all denoting an aspect of what it is to have an area of your life, which is in some sense, not allowed.

The installation was starkly lit to create large, clear, shadows on the wall, to add to the eerie quality of thespace; and to give it the feel of being an all-encompassing experience. There was an unsettling, but inspiring, beauty to the work - made more intense by the quality of the stories people were expressing. For example an image of a glass with bubbles in it, was made by someone who said their sense of balance was easily upset and it felt like they were walking round with a glass of water in their head. Too much movement made the liquid splash around and upset the glass. So they had to move about very carefully not to upset it.

Project manager Esther Appleyard said "the audience received Caroline Cardus' work very well. The weekend was a fantastic opportunity to engage with a new audience. Heritage Open Day visitors probably had quite a fixed view about what they expected out of a Heritage Site and so this was something very different for them to consider. I got the impression that people found it a powerful experience. When we lead the creative session and I explained that we were encouraging people to add their own pieces to the work in the Keep, they were pleased to have a chance to contribute. Everyone I spoke to, who had seen the piece was very enthusiastic.

From my perspective, working on behalf of Dada-South, I was pleased that we were successful in developing a strong working relationship with English Heritage. They were very happy with the outcome and I feel we laid a foundation for further opportunities to happen over the next three years. One of our goals was to create quality engagement with the local community. One of the groups attending the workshops prior to the event requested a further workshop as they had found it so enjoyable.

I also wanted to ensure that Caroline's work and profile was raised as much as possible. Again this was successful in that the audience numbers were very good and Caroline now has the experience of working very closely with a large organisation like English Heritage."