The Participants
Annie Wild
I am a social researcher and over the past seven years have worked in a university, a large research agency and on a freelance basis. Although I often bring creativity into my work here and there, contributing to Atlas Pandemica will be an exciting opportunity for me to approach the whole research process differently – less structured, more experimental and with a heightened commitment to collaboration.
Other aspects of my life right now that are relevant to this project are my activism (mainly with Extinction Rebellion) and being a parent of a two-year-old. I have always been inspired by the feminist idea of ‘the personal is political’ and plan to make this guiding principal of the research process.
See Annie’s Project Everything Needs Care
Emma Jayne Park
Emma Jayne Park works under the handle Cultured Mongrel as a dancer, theatre maker, collaborator and micro-activist. ‘High octane… energetic, witty and playful’ (The Skinny), She asks questions and is obsessed with asking better questions. From creating dance with young rural communities to working as a movement director in established mid-scale theatres, her politics always underline her practice with a focus on narrowing the gap between ideology and actions, questioning inherited working practices and developing collaborative structures. Since 2018 her creative research has concentrated upon failure from both individual and societal perspectives, developing a series of original performance works titled Epic Fail.
See Emma Jayne’s project The Geography of Power
Jenna Macrory
Jenna Macrory is a guitarist currently studying Folk & Traditional Music at Newcastle University. Through the use of samples she combines relevant and political material with music genres to create music which should be digested as stimuli for conversation rather than strictly musical material. Promoting traditional Scottish music through her band Reidhle, a large portion of her practice deals with promoting traditional music to a younger audience and analysing the identities we gain from music.
As a trans person who works as a touring musician Jenna has developed an interest in the variations of how she is treated from location to location. Experiences such as this have served as inspiration for her part Atlas Pandemica project, discussing LGBTQ+ issues.
See Jenna’s project LGBTQ Voices
JoAnne McKay
JoAnne McKay is a widely published poet who has appeared at literary festivals throughout the country. Born in Romford, Essex into a family of wholesale butchers and slaughterers, she had a police career in Bristol before moving to Scotland over two decades ago, working for the charity Arthritis Care. Her first pamphlet was The Fat Plant (2009) and her second, Venti (2010), was runner-up in the Callum Macdonald Award for Scottish Poetry Pamphlets. Further pamphlets followed: Grave with Lights (2012) and You Are Not Here (2016). In 2018 she performed her sonnet sequence, Hermetic, at the Theatre Royal, Dumfries as part of the Bunbury Banter Theatre Company’s “A Play, A Poem and A Pastry”. Her latest chapbook, with poet Maria Stadnicka, is If you find my mother, buy her flowers (The Poet’s Republic Press, 2019). Her recent project, We Fire the Dark, was a series of readings for the arts organisation Cample Line, exploring the catalogue of Dr Grierson’s Museum in Thornhill. JoAnne currently works at Dumfries Museum.
See JoAnne’s project What Remains?
Karen Campbell
Galloway-based Karen Campbell is the author of seven novels, and a graduate of Glasgow University’s Creative Writing Masters. She’s the recipient of an SAC New Writers Award and a Creative Scotland Artists Bursary. Her novels range from writing about the police, to refugee issues, politics and Italy in World War Two. More at www.karencampbell.co.uk.
Before becoming a writer, Karen was a police officer in Glasgow, and then a press officer with Glasgow City Council. During lockdown, she’s been volunteering with Dumfries and Galloway Council, helping them establish the Community bulletin, which has been a key source of information for people during the pandemic. It’s also given Karen an insight into how much work is going on behind the scenes, to keep people connected, make sure frontline services are maintained and vulnerable residents supported, as well as showing the resilience and grassroots decision-making that has been going on within our communities.
See Karen’s project Here Is Our Story
Katie Anderson
Elsewhere is curated by Katie Anderson, and includes the work of artists and Stove members, Éoghann MacColl, Helen Walsh, Andy Brooke and the Dumfries Signwriting Squad. Each artist initially took part in the Homegrown project during the lockdown and continue to develop these conversations as part of Elsewhere.
See Katie’s project Elsewhere
Mark Zygadlo
I graduated from Winchester School of Art, BA.hons. Fine Art, in 1975, worked as an artist in Manchester and London before moving to Dumfries and Galloway in 1980. Cabinetmaking, carving, boatbuilding, timber framing and writing supported a growing family and, since 2009, I have channelled these disciplines into the making of public artworks.
Our rivers and waters are my most consistent focus and works have developed into large scale, kinetic pieces using traditional cabinet-making, boatbuilding and millwright techniques mixed with electronics and engineering. They explore our relationship with water and rivers, using them as a platform and energy source for artworks but also enquiring into their private lives, their cultural and subconscious significance and their environmental importance.
See Mark’s project Landwatership
Peter Smith
I am an artist who works in fields of interactive art and wood based sculpture & design. My background comes from a combination of a lot of practical experience in running the Oven Arts for Midsteeple Quarter, a variety exhibitions and events in Scotland, England and Australia, studying BA Design for Interaction and Moving Image at the University of the Arts London, and residencies with Machines Room and the National Trust for Scotland.
See Peter’s project Beauty in the Broken
Phil Palios
1985: Born in Seattle, at home in my parents’ bathtub.
2000: Start working at a photo lab and take a liking to photography.
2008: Set down my camera and begin writing after eight years working as a freelance concert photographer, having shot hundreds of musicians for dozens of magazines and newspapers.
2016: Publish my first novel, Electric Love, followed by a chapbook (single) the following year.
2018: Receive a Fulbright award to study literature and the environment in Dumfries.
2019: Work with a dozen Dumfries writers to workshop and publish Rubble Riot Chaos Brain, a collection of poems and short stories.
2020: Putting the finishing touches on my second novel and serving as Bibliographer for Atlas Pandemica.
See Philip’s role as Bibliographer
Robbie Coleman and Jo Hodges
Robbie Coleman and Jo Hodges are multidisciplinary public artists based in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. Robbie Coleman is an artist and curator with a background in sculpture and live art. He project manages large-scale public arts projects and is Co-Director of the D-LUX light festival. Jo Hodges is an artist, curator and producer [www.johodges.co.uk] with a background in Human Ecology, community development and social justice.
Jointly their work investigates ecological and socio-cultural systems, processes, relationships and change. Their practice takes many forms and includes temporary and permanent works, site specific installations, socially engaged and participatory processes and explorations of new strategies for working in public space.
They are Director-Curators of Sanctuary Lab, a public art laboratory in the Galloway Forest Dark Skies Park.
See Jo and Robbie’s project Distance, Proximity and Loss
T S Beall
Dr T S Beall is a socially-engaged artist and researcher based in Dumfries and Glasgow, working with diverse communities on durational projects to recover marginalised histories. For the last decade she has developed creative heritage and socially-engaged art projects in post-industrial urban environments, collaborating with under-represented communities across Scotland and internationally. Her work spans a variety of media including performative events, printed matter, and creative interventions in the public realm.
She is the Lead Scottish Artist for Memory of Water (2018-2021), a project examining post-industrial waterfronts in six European cities, funded by Creative Europe. Ongoing projects in Scotland include Fair Glasgow (with Travelling Showpeople, co-devised with Dr. Mitch Miller), and Protests and Suffragettes: Strong Women of the Clydeside (recovering and highlighting women’s activism in Govan, both 2013-present). Her PhD with University of Glasgow (2017), collaborated with the Riverside Museum and Glasgow Museums. Her practice-led research developed engagement strategies for heritage institutions through co-curated events and participatory performance.
www.memoryofwater.eu/artists/tsbeall
See T S Beall’s project Fair | No Fair
