Is he on the line...?
JEZ DOLAN
ICELAND & UK
Jez Dolan, UK based artist was invited by Einkofi Productions to take part in a residency supported by the NATUR project, working with archives and institutions to uncover shared LGBTQI+ stories and histories which link and connect Iceland and the UK. Jez’s practice works with queerness, language, text, and identity to explore ‘what we don’t say’, often using archival material and people’s personal archives as a starting point in the creation of new work. Through his residency he created a new artwork by unfolding queer culture - asking the question of how cultural heritage has left out queer culture and stories, and how this has affected the construction of gay identities in Iceland, the UK and across Europe.
RESIDENCY
During his time in Iceland Jez researched Icelandic LGBTQ Histories and their connections with the UK, starting with the drastic social changes instigated by the British Invasion of 1940. Icelandic LGBTQ histories and archives only surface from around 1970 with many diaries, letters and original sources destroyed to protect the men and women who corresponded in less accepting times. While in Reykjavik Jez met with some key figures involved in the discussion of Icelandic Queer history, these included Þorvaldur Kristinsson, Hörður Torfason, and Íris Ellenberger.
THE PROJECT
Based on Jez’s research and residencies in Iceland, NATUR and we were proud to introduce a new music theatre piece that premiered in Hull at the end of March 2019 as part of Heads Up Festival. Is He On The Line…? takes us on a journey that explores the suppression of sexuality, concealment, hidden secrets, the avoidance of language, and the importance of ‘what we don’t say’. Working in collaboration with Icelandic composer Ingibjörg Yr, Is He On The Line…? asks what it means to be a people without a history.
Four male voice singers work with original and verbatim English and Icelandic texts set against a projected environment created live using overhead projectors, using low-tech equipment combining drawing and light, playing with colour and form and generating theatrical images in direct response to the live music. “What struck me the most about the landscape is the time periods which you see everywhere. From the shortest, most minuscule time to the vast ages which are impossible to sense in any other way than from eternity to eternity.” - Jez Dolan
SUPPORTED BY
Image Credit: Dan Walmsley
Jez Dolan
Jez Dolan's practice explores queerness and identity through the codification of language with a specific focus on: the things we don't say / things that remain unsaid / secrecy and hiddenness, whilst utilising text and language as both form and content, visual presence and mode of communication. Jez Dolan's practice is interdisciplinary, project-based and research-driven. He employs a range of media according to the specific needs, demands and context of each project.
Working with printmaking, drawing, performance, installation and curating, often creating new works from an exploration of archival materials and sources, through which we recall and revisit individual and shared memories and histories. He is interested in researching queer identity; histories, heritage and personal archives, and how we place these, and ourselves in the wider world. Events and experiences always leave behind them a trace, or residual mark of their occurrence, and it is these traces, marks and events which Jez is interested in exploring, expressing these ideas through a process which is performative, collaborative, and celebrates the physical act of making.
Jez's practice has emerged from his previous twenty - year history as a practitioner in socially engaged arts practice and education, and continues to evolve with each new body of work which is created. He has recently completed an MA in Queer Studies in Visual Art & Culture (with distinction) at Birmingham School of Art / Birmingham Institute of Art & Design.
Jez has recently shown work at: The Leslie Lohman Museum, New York City, Bury Art Museum, The People's History Museum, Manchester, The UK Paliament Art Collection & Archives and The Britten-Pears Foundation. Recent live work has included The Britten-Pears Foundation, HOME Manchester and The Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Forthcoming exhibitions include Birmingham City Art Gallery, The Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, Coventry and HOME, Manchester.
Ingibjörg Ýr
Ingibjörg Ýr is a composer from Iceland. She studied at the Iceland Academy of the Arts with Hróðmar I. Sigurbjörnsson and Anna Thorvaldsdottir and graduated with a BA in 2016. She then did an internship with Anna Thorvaldsdottir in Britain the following winter. Ingibjörg Ýr has worked with various stage groups, dancers, chamber ensembles, choirs and filmmakers. Recently her works have been premiered by the Iceland Symphony Orchestra (as part of the YRKJA project) and the Reykjavík Chamber Orchestra. She has received grants from the RÚVComposers Fund and The Icelandic Centre for Research’s Music Recording Fund.