My kickstarter project was launched six days ago and is an initiative that will send me, as an artist, to the Amazon basin in Bolivia to a crucial sanctuary that cares for indigenous animals that have been trafficked or captured. My aim is to push my artistic boundaries, transporting my studio into the wild.
The work I produce on the residency will be a response to this unique and magical environment and will culminate in two exhibitions: one in Bolivia and one, on my return to the UK, in Brighton. To fund the project I need to cover the costs of travel, transporting the artwork and buying the materials necessary to create it, and arranging the exhibitions – and this is where I’m asking for help.
I’ve been offered a place on the artist in residence program at Communidad Inti Wara Yassi for this coming Autumn. I will transport myself, and my studio into the Bolivian jungle for a period of two months.
The exhibitions will be a platform for exchanging different cultural perspectives on art and environment. My work will explore among other things how art and conservation exert influence over each other. Currently my work examines ideas surrounding our relationship to the natural world and place within it.
The exhibition in Brighton will be hosted by the ONCA gallery, and will include several other artists. The work will be a response to the live animal trade. ONCA Gallery is a permanent space that hosts unique exhibitions, events, workshops and arts based educational programs themed around environmental issues. http://onca.org.uk/
I first became aware of C.I.W.Y nearly 10 years ago when I was travelling through Latin America and Bolivia. I volunteered at the sanctuary for several weeks. Living in the jungle with a group of capuchin monkeys, I realised that never could an experience be at once so removed from my life in the city and yet so familiar. It was a return to an initial childhood wonder at the natural world.
Being based at C.I.W.Y will enable and challenge me to explore experientially critical themes in my work in an environment that challenges and supports them.
In return for backers support I am offering up unique artwork. The rewards for pledges range from hand-drawn postcards sent from Bolivia to photographic wildlife portraits and commissioned paintings.
I am a professional artist based in London and examples of my artwork can be seen on my website, www.jenniferhooper.co.uk.
This venture will be demanding and challenging in a number of ways, I am pushing many boundaries, personal, creative, physical, and emotional.
I have considered the practicalities of having a temporary studio based in the jungle, how to store and transport artwork and how to change the way I work accordingly. This challenge is one of the main reasons I am going and will inform the work.
The risks are nothing I am not able or willing to solve or endure. They will go towards creating a story, forming ideas and fuelling my inspiration.
But it would be wonderful to know that I have backing and support whilst I am there.
