Hope, Endurance, Time (2020)

The research project ‘Hope, Endurance, Time’ emerged from a three-month residency at Rupert, Lithuania in 2020. The project coincided with Rupert’s wider focus that year on themes of care, interdependence and disability rights/ justice. Developed during the pandemic, my research asked whether this the phenomena of global ‘suspension’ provided an opportunity to learn from those who had already endured interruption and already live(d) in alternative modalities of time?

Bringing these questions to the fore, I hosted the public event and screening of the same title that brought together the artists Milda Januševičiūtė, Miša Skalskis, Martin O’Brien, Sarah Lippett, psychoanalyst Lisa Baraitser and curator Yates Norton, whose work intersects with the same themes of the project and often within the context of chronic illness. You can watch the full recording online.

‘Hope, Endurance, Time’ was also featured in the first Rupert Journal with the commissioned text 'Small Signs of Hope: A Conversation on Relapse’ available in both English and Lithuanian. The text explores similar themes through a conversation about relapse with collaborator Sarah Lippett. In our work, we find ways of re-articulating the enduring nature of chronic illness as lifelong, as well as the role of creative practice in breaking down boundaries between patient and medic. Often we frame this through the perspective of the kinship we have formed through living through illness together and the candidness this offers to discuss these topics in a human light. This text was read as part of the Rupert Journal launch in early 2021.