CuratorSpace Artist Bursary #24: Sarah Wood

Sarah Wood works with the found object, particularly the documentary image, to interrogate the relationship between the narrating of history and individual memory. Her recent work explores the meaning of the archive, in particular the politics of memory; why some objects are preserved while others are ignored. She also curates artists' film through Club des Femmes, a project co-founded with Selina Robertson.

"There are currently 56 conflicts being waged globally. The most since World War II. As a filmmaker it’s hard to admit that it is the image itself that is fuelling this. The situation shifts on the ground from to day to day – but the camera seems to seek out the same gestures of pain for nightly newsfeed spectacle. Peace Time will instead shift the focus to foreground the stories of people who work against conflict: the conscientious objectors who refuse to fight, the protesters who resist a nation's drive to violence and the activists who demonstrate alternative ways of inhabiting the world.

Peace Time is an experiment in sound design and film installation. It will feature newly recorded and archival voices from different parts of the world, speaking different languages. How do we enable an exchange of views even in conflict situations? The project aims to create a new formal strategy in the relationship between sound and image that is rooted in dialogue and invites renewing audience engagement. Scheduled to be shown in September 2025 to coincide with UN World Peace Day the project aims ultimately to consider the radical possibilities of peace and to ask the question: Can art model an alternative to the articulations of conflict?"

You can see more of Sarah's work at https://www.curatorspace.com/artists/SarahWoodWorld

 

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