RURALities

RURALities

Online and in three county museums

Meadow Arts’ first digital commissioning programme, RURALities explored the multiplicity of rural experiences. The ‘rural’ often conjures up images of rolling hills, idyllic views of farmland and hedges, but within that landscape live many people with vastly different experiences and complex relationships with the land, as well as to one another. Though not usually associated with the rural experience, the digital dimension has been used by artists in this programme as a formidable critical tool to reflect on rural narratives.

RURALities brought together four specially selected artists committed to investigating the rural in their practices, though they come from different places and backgrounds within the rural West Midlands and beyond. The artists were given access to the collections of three regional Museums (Shrewsbury, Worcester and Hereford), to investigate rural narratives lying dormant within their collections. They also embarked on specific investigations by travelling in the physical landscape, meeting groups and individuals who were best placed to speak of the culture, history and resonance of these landscapes.

These works culminated in desktop performances, inter-dimensional reporting, re-animating gendered folklore traditions and the mirroring of the past and the present through the re-drawing of historical rural sites. Through a newly-formed partnership, Vivid Projects played a key role in mentoring the four artists in 1-2-1 and group sessions, introducing them to the digital practices and methods necessary for expanding their practice and supporting their ambitions.

The artworks were exhibited in Hereford Museum & Art Gallery, Worcestershire County Museum at Hartlebury Castle and Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery, ensuring that they were more accessible to people who don’t use the internet and also connecting to objects from each museum’s collection that have inspired the artworks.

The artworks can be viewed below.

Image: Lucy Wright, Plough Witches. Meadow Arts digital commission 2021.