[Of something] on hold or temporarily suspended
Backburner Journal is an ongoing project by Anna Taylor. My work explores in between states and transitional space. Writing and photography, material play and social gatherings form part of an accumulative process which is shared as events, in print and online.
In 2016 it began as an experimental platform for writing and photography - a means to continue making work in an informal, open ended way when, with motherhood and work there seemed to be no time to commit to my practice. Doing a little regularly often meant with the children, and sharing in a social environment and through online letters offered markers in time. It also seemed more achievable to me than seeking whole days in a studio and to work in an ongoing way rather than towards a particular end.
A neighbour loaned the garage behind our house, and I invited people to join us for socials on this back street. We met around work in progress curated around a theme, with accompanying self-published booklets and materials inviting responsive interaction. This play has resulted in the creation of temporary objects in flour, kinetic sand and play dough which I have kept, although fragile, as to me they visualise the intangible in my work. I have gone on to play in the same way when writing as a way of entering or thinking.
My family and our friends have all participated in different ways - my children with exploratory play, friends collaborating and my husband, Simon, providing food and home brewed drinks. Conversations in this shared, experimental environment have taken the work forward steadily. So far it has been like a longterm residency in the place where we live and with those people, and an acknowledgement of the shared experience and connections within the artistic process.
Alongside this, I have also been working on projects which are connected to this mode of making by continuing to explore the relationship between writing and photography, the individual and the group, transitional space and immersion. A Line Against Firs a story in two parts, which was exhibited at the end of a residency at TRACE and more recently, The Listening Room, which takes as its starting point George Fox, founder of the Quakers who had a vision on Pendle Hill in 1652. I will also be bringing together writing, imagery and documentation to create work from the accumulated archive, which exists in various forms and locations and which I think of as the Journal.
If you would like to get in touch / anna@backburner.org.uk
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