Jeremy Hawkes - Displaced

- the action or fact of going in or entering; the capacity or right of entrance.
- the unwanted introduction of water, foreign bodies, contaminants, etc.

In 2019 I was fortunate enough to travel overseas as part of a Create NSW Fellowship to attend a residency at the Berlin Art Institute. I had an incredible studio, a new cohort of visiting artists from all over the globe, access to the Berlin art world and, most importantly, 5 uninterrupted months of creative practice. I’ve never been so productive…

Returning to Australia later in the year, I was full of plans, ideas, dreams and schemes. I’d recently been awarded the Australia Council Disability Arts Mentoring Initiative to work with acclaimed UK artist Rachel Gadsden and we quickly formulated and planned a number of outcomes, including a trip to the UK in May 2020 to collaborate and exhibit.

The Corona 19 virus hit and the world changed. An invisible flood, a deluge of absence… I found myself somewhat stuck in Brisbane – safe indeed, but full of uncertainty. I found a gorgeous studio and kept working. What else could I do?

Under a microscope, the virus is beautiful.

My contribution to this exhibition is a sample of the work I have undertaken since. The body isolated and permeable, subject and object, site of potential disease and contamination. The body isolated – not a new experience for me as an artist with disability – contained and restricted by an architectural claustrophobia, and social agoraphobia. It’s a shared experience yet utterly unique and highly subjective.