In 2022–2023, our sixth Fellowship cohort will work as part of the Near Now Studio, undertaking a tailored programme that will support them to research and create ambitious new work, reach new audiences and progress their careers.

In this talk, Birmingham/London-based artist Sophie Huckfield will give an introduction to their work, including screenings of short films, and share insights into the inspirations and ambitions behind the research and development activity supported by the Fellowship.

Through the Fellowship, Sophie is exploring the histories and futures of labour and technology in the East Midlands, drawing on research into local histories and stories relating to worker movements such as the Luddites and research related to the implementation of automation technologies.

Sophie’s Fellowship will culminate in a body of research and contribute to the development of new artworks to be exhibited in 2023.

Birmingham/London-based Sophie Huckfield (she/they) is an artist. Her practice draws on contemporary research and histories related to technology, labour, craft, social-class and industrialisation. She incorporates layering and cutting as a conceptual tool to reframe these complex socio-political histories, to develop multidisciplinary works which reimagine and reconfigure ‘production’ contexts and challenge the dominant narratives employed to frame specific stories, histories and experiences. Her practice aims to re-purpose the tools and technologies of production, both materially and culturally, to make space for redefining how we produce values, relations and traditions which are in turn embedded into the objects and stories we make.

sophiehuckfield.com

Banner image: Break the Frame (2020), Moving Image work by Sophie Huckfield

Broadway's Near Now Fellowship is supported using public funding by Arts Council England.