The Deluge Collective is a diverse international collaboration of artists, musicians, and writers. We explore ways that expression moves between our individual artistic practices, to reveal deeper ideas of our shared humanity. Underpinning the creative process is the ambition to embed disability access as a central part of our aesthetic vision.
Criw cydweithiol amrywiol rhyngwladol o artistiaid, cerddorion ac ysgrifenwyr yw’r Deluge Collective. Ein nod yw archwilio ffyrdd y mae mynegiant yn symud rhwng ein hymarferion celfyddydol unigol, i ddatgelu syniadau dyfnach am ein cyd-ddynoliaeth. Yn sail i’r broses greadigol mae’r uchelgais i sicrhau bod mynediad i’r anabl yn rhan greiddiol o’n gweledigaeth esthetig.
“And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.”
“Ac unwaith y bydd y storm ar ben, fyddi di ddim yn cofio sut y doist ti drwyddi, sut y llwyddaist ti i oroesi. Fyddi di ddim hyd yn oed yn siŵr a yw’r storm ar ben go iawn … Pan ddoi di allan o’r storm, fyddi di ddim yr un person a gerddodd i mewn. Dyna hanfod y storm hon.”
Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore
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Rachel Gadsden believes the persuasive Murakami quote consciously expresses the emotional and physical disarticulation so many individuals and communities have experienced over the last year, as the Covid 19 virus swept around the world and overwhelmed everyone. Isolated in her studio in London since February 2020, Gadsden has been drawing and painting constantly.
The Storm Exhibition of new artworks captures personal and universal experiences, past and present, of a world in crisis. Notions of isolation and silence, survival and hope, are to be found here, underpinned by an authentic appreciation of how precious every breath has become for everyone.
For now, Gadsden remains isolated. She is unable to develop her own antibodies and so receives a weekly infusion instead. Her isolation will end when ‘herd immunity’ has been achieved, and those same infusions include a Covid 19 antibody component. Inspired by BayArt’s Butetown Artists group, Gadsden at the beginning of lockdown fulfilled an ambition to form an artistic Collective of UK and International disabled and non-disabled creatives. Working each within the confines of their own isolation but connected by social media platforms and having such freedoms as are afforded by contemporary technology. The Collective has created Deluge a multimedia film using drawing, painting, animation, live art, sound, and poetry to reflect upon the personal and collective physical and psychological experiences of the evolving Global Covid-19 pandemic: isolation, immunity, the necessity to remain hopeful.
The Deluge Collective are visual and performance artists Rachel Gadsden, UK, Jeremy Hawkes, Australia, Siu Fong Yeung, Hong Kong, composer and sound director Freddie Meyers, UK, violinist Emily Earl, UK, and spoken word poet Colin Hambrook, UK.
Mae Rachel Gadsden yn credu bod y dyfyniad argyhoeddiadol hwn o waith Murakami yn fynegiant ymwybodol o’r datgymalu emosiynol a chorfforol y mae cymaint o unigolion a chymunedau wedi’i brofi dros y flwyddyn ddiwethaf, wrth i feirws Covid 19 ledaenu dros y byd a llethu pawb. Wedi’i hynysu yn ei stiwdio yn Llundain ers Chwefror 2020, mae Gadsden wedi bod yn tynnu lluniau ac yn peintio yn gyson.
Mae Arddangosfa Storm yn cyflwyno gweithiau celf newydd sy’n cyfleu profiadau personol a chyffredinol, ddoe a heddiw, o fyd mewn argyfwng. Ceir yma syniadau am unigrwydd a distawrwydd, goroesiad a gobaith, wedi’u seilio ar werthfawrogiad dilys o ba mor werthfawr y mae pob anadl i bawb erbyn hyn.
Am nawr, mae Gadsden yn dal wedi’i hynysu. Nid yw’n gallu datblygu ei gwrthgyrff ei hun ac felly mae’n cael trwythiad wythnosol. Daw ei hynysiad i ben pan fydd ‘imiwnedd torfol’ wedi’i sicrhau, a bydd yr un trwythiadau hynny’n cynnwys cydran gwrthgorffyn Covid 19. Wedi’i hysbrydoli gan grŵp Artistiaid Butetown BayArt, ar ddechrau’r cyfnod clo cyflawnodd Gadsden uchelgais o ffurfio Cydweithfa Gelfyddydol o bobl greadigol anabl a heb anabledd drwy Brydain ac yn Rhyngwladol. Gan weithio bob un o fewn cyfyngiadau eu sefyllfa ynysig eu hunain ond wedi’u cysylltu trwy lwyfannau cyfryngau cymdeithasol a chyda’r rhyddid a gynigir gan dechnoleg gyfoes, mae’r Gydweithfa wedi creu Deluge, ffilm amlgyfrwng sy’n defnyddio lluniadu, peintio, animeiddio, celf fyw, sain a barddoniaeth i fyfyrio ar brofiadau corfforol a seicolegol personol a thorfol pandemig byd-eang esblygol Covid-19: ynysiad, imiwnedd, a’r rheidrwydd i ddal i obeithio.
Aelodau’r Deluge Collective yw’r artistiaid gweledol a pherfformiadol Rachel Gadsden, DU, Jeremy Hawkes, Awstralia a Siu Fong Yeung, Hong Kong, y cyfansoddwr a’r cyfarwyddwr sain Freddie Meyers, DU, y feiolinydd Emily Earl, DU, a’r bardd llafar Colin Hambrook, DU.
Deluge
DELUGE
Using performance, visual art, digital animation, poetry, and sound, the artists, performers, musician, and composer have narratively considered how the Covid-19 pandemic has fractured and shifted all of our lives on one level or another. Through the metaphorical ravishes of the pandemic, we all feel psychologically displaced to some degree or another, as we learn to exist and live our lives differently, in our newfound Covid World.
An evolving experimental performance artwork, Deluge is presented as a digital work where an atmospheric emotive sound scope inhabits the performance emotionally echoing the visual elements of the piece.
The Deluge Collective is a diverse international collaboration of artists, musicians, and writers who explore ways that expression moves between our individual artistic practices, to reveal deeper ideas of shared humanity. Underpinning the creative process is the ambition to embed disability access as a central part of our aesthetic vision.
Graphic Scores
GRAPHIC SCORE I
Jeremy Hawkes – Drawing
Emily Earl – Violin
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GRAPHIC SCORE II
Siu Fong Yeung – Painting
Emily Earl – Violin & Viola
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GRAPHIC SCORE III
Rachel Gadsden – Drawing
Emily Earl – Violin
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Storm
Rachel Gadsden
Rachel Gadsden (UK) is a disabled and visually impaired artist and director. Expressionist in approach, she creates solo exhibitions, performances and collaborative social engagement art projects with disabled, vulnerable and mainstream communities nationally and internationally, through painting, performance, digital film, with the object of developing cross-cultural dialogues considering universal notions of humanity.
Mae Rachel Gadsden (y DU) yn artist a chyfarwyddwr a chanddi anabledd a nam ar y golwg. Yn fynegiannol ei harddull, mae’n creu arddangosfeydd unigol, perfformiadau a phrosiectau ymgysylltu cymdeithasol cydweithiol gyda chymunedau anabl, bregus a phrif-ffrwd ym Mhrydain a thramor, trwy waith peintio, perfformiad, a ffilmio digidol, gyda’r nod o ddatblygu deialogau trawsddiwylliannol sy’n ystyried syniadau hollgyffredinol am ddynoliaeth.
Emily Earl
Emily Earl (Wales) is a violinist who’s practice is varied and diverse. She won the Beares London Bow Prize from the Royal Academy of Music and her playing encompass both newly commissioned works and period instrument performance. Emily conceptualises music around the concepts of expression and communication and the Deluge collective provides an intriguing space, where concepts of chamber music can be extended to the wider arts.
Mae Emily Earl (Cymru) yn feiolinydd amrywiol ac amrywiaethol ei hymarfer. Enillodd wobr Bow Prize Beares London gan y Royal Academy of Music ac mae ei repertoire yn cynnwys gweithiau newydd eu comisiynu a pherfformiadau ar offerynnau o’r oes o’r blaen. Mae Emily yn amgyffred cerddoriaeth o amgylch cysyniadau mynegiant a chyfathrebu, ac mae’r Deluge Collective yn cynnig gofod hynod ddifyr lle gellir ymestyn cysyniadau cerddoriaeth siambr i’r celfyddydau ehangach.
Colin Hambrook
Colin Hambrook (UK) is an artist, poet, performer, writer, and editor of Disability Arts Online. He makes drawings, paintings, and mixed media artworks alongside an extensive practice of published writing, which reflects his status as a disabled artist. “Knitting Time” – a research and development project, reflected on ‘loss’ as a trigger for psychosis, including the production of a beautiful book of poems and drawings.
Mae Colin Hambrook (y DU) yn artist, bardd, perfformiwr, sgrifennwr a golygydd Disability Arts Online. Mae’n creu lluniadau, paentiadau a gweithiau celf cyfrwng cymysg ochr yn ochr â’i waith ysgrifennu helaeth sydd wedi’i gyhoeddi, a hwnnw’n adlewyrchu ei statws fel artist anabl. Roedd ei brosiect “Knitting Time” – prosiect ymchwil a datblygu – yn fyfyrdod ar ‘golled’ fel ysgogydd seicosis, ac yn cynnwys llyfr hardd o gerddi a lluniadau.
Jeremy Hawkes
Jeremy Hawkes (Australia) is a disabled practicing artist, arts worker, writer, and sometimes performer. He has exhibited extensively in Australia and overseas for over 20 years, most recently at the Berlin Art Institute as part of a Create NSW Fellowship, the Lone Goat Gallery in Byron Bay, and a solo exhibition at the Lismore Regional Gallery.
Mae Jeremy Hawkes (Awstralia) yn artist anabl, yn weithiwr yn y celfyddydau, yn awdur ac weithiau’n berfformiwr. Mae wedi arddangos ei waith yn helaeth yn Awstralia a thros y môr ers 20 mlynedd a mwy, yn fwyaf diweddar yn Sefydliad Celf Berlin fel rhan o Gymrodoriaeth Create NSW, y Lone Goat Gallery yn Byron Bay, ac arddangosfa un dyn yn Oriel Ranbarthol Lismore.
Freddie Meyers
Freddie Meyers (UK) is a composer, trumpet player, and musical director of @bandwidthensemble which explores the temporality of live music in the online environment. His music explores the way that disparate elements can sit together to create new and exciting sonorities. Part of his practice has focused on collaborations with levantine musicians, navigating ways that different musical cultures can exist as one.
Mae Freddie Meyers (y DU) yn gyfansoddwr, trwmpedwr a chyfarwyddwr cerdd gyda @bandwidthensemble sy’n archwilio byrhoedledd cerddoriaeth fyw yn yr amgylchfyd ar-lein. Mae ei gerddoriaeth yn archwilio’r ffordd y gall elfennau cwbl wahanol gydeistedd i greu seiniau newydd a chyffrous. Mae rhan o’i ymarfer wedi canolbwyntio ar gydweithio gyda cherddorion Lefantaidd, gan ymchwilio i ffyrdd y gall gwahanol ddiwylliannau cerddorol gydfodoli fel un.
Siu Fong Yeung
Siu Fong Yeung (Hong Kong) is a disabled visual and performance artist. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Fine Art) from RMIT University and Hong Kong Art School. Yeung has extensive experience in performance, video, installation and painting and has exhibited her work in Hong Kong and Internationally.
Mae Siu Fong Yeung (Hong Kong) yn artist gweledol a pherfformiadol anabl. Enillodd radd Baglor y Celfyddydau (Celfyddyd Gain) ym Mhrifysgol RMIT ac Ysgol Gelf Hong Kong. Mae gan Yeung brofiad helaeth ym maes perfformiad, fideo, gosodwaith a pheintio ac mae wedi arddangos ei gwaith yn Hong Kong a thros y byd.


