UNKNOWN UNKNOWNS (2020) is a project bringing together patient ambassadors for Blood Cancer UK and stem cell researchers working at the Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre. Through a series of stop-motion animation workshops held via Zoom, participants developed hand-cut animation sequences exploring their experiences of ‘the unknown’ in relation to living with blood cancer, the challenges of research and the global uncertainties of Covid-19. Animation materials included paper, velvet and issues of National Geographic published in 1960, the year Blood Cancer UK officially became a charity.
Commissioned by the Wellcome - MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute as part of its Public Engagement programme, project outcomes include an animated film featuring participants’ stop-motion sequences (Futuramic Unknown, 2020) and an installation for the Jeffery Cheah Biomedical Center at Cambridge Biomedical Campus (The Night the Mountains Moved, 2020).
12:45 Pandemic
Digital video
15 minutes
Single channel, Colour, 16:9
2020
12:45 Pandemic (2020), video still
Filmed when the 2020 UK national lockdown was lifted, 12:45 Pandemic documents the first day the artist was permitted to return to her studio. Looped to play continuously, the film captures 15 minutes of the world as seen from the studio doorway. As with her other moving image works, 12:45 Pandemic uses real-time durational sequences, diegetic sound recordings and repetition to create a meditative work that explores how we experience time collectively and apart.