A Record of Undying

‘A RECORD OF UNDYING’ was first exhibited at Vivid Projects, Birmingham, 3 October – 15 November 2014 and curated by Yasmeen Baig-Clifford, exhibition curator and Honorary Research Associate in Digital Humanities, University of Birmingham.“The collaboration with Saxon’s late partner D. John Briscoe (1949-2013), addresses the phenomenon of the last taboo: dying and death. Rooted in lived experience, this exhibition presents a large-scale installation of photographs and moving image alongside Blissfully Gunned Down (1980 – 2013), a live durational 16mm performance, which reworks footage of D. John Briscoe’s ‘acted’ death in 1980 (first shown at N.O.WHERE, London, October 2013). With Briscoe as subject, Saxon developed intimate photographs and films shot during the period leading up to and including his partner’s death, incorporating the current historical presence of his own, sometimes fragile body as material alongside that of his late partner; the emotional and creative repercussions of this collaboration”. -YBC.This exhibition reveals the very private and intimate relationship forged in the ordinariness and complexity of dying and facilitating end of life care. It is an examination of the collisions between dying, death and associated rituals; bringing into question audience perceptions of viewing death and dying and its wider dissemination. The moving image and photographic works expand into an environment incorporating visual and material signifiers alluding to the institutional and domestic space occupied by Briscoe in his last weeks of life.An essay was commissioned for the exhibition brochure ‘Love’s Revival’, from Dr. Michelle Aaron (University of Birmingham) author of ‘Death and the Moving Image: Ideology, Iconography and I and Envisaging Death’.
A Record of Undying gratefully acknowledges support from Ron Lane, George Saxon, Arts Council England, The Henry Moore Foundation, Invacare and Coventry University.
Audience responses to ‘A Record of Undying’: “A remarkable heart aching and beautiful experience”"A masterpiece" “The performance was amazing, the anger & frantic energy”http://www.vividprojects.org.uk/progra…/a-record-of-undying/https://www.scribd.com/document/240262990/Vivid-Projects-presents-A-Record-Of-UndyingADDITIONAL Material:Brochure for Exhibition:http://keithdodds.com/2015/09/11/a-record-of-undying/https://www.artrabbit.com/events/a-record-of-undyinghttp://polaroidsandpolarbears.co.uk/close-record-undying-vivid-projects/http://www.picbod.co.uk/category/guest-speakers/https://twitter.com/emulambert/status/710478795145347073