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rope bound with natural sheep's fleece

Kristina Veasey

Visual Artist

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Category: MDS – Hallway

Dirty Books, MDS - Hallway, My Dirty Secret, My Dirty Secret Virtual Experience

After the Curry

1 min read

Those lingering smells of last night’s curry are briefly reignited by hot water hitting encrusted pans. Removing them allows you to start afresh. It’s […]

Dirty Phone Calls, MDS - Hallway, My Dirty Secret, My Dirty Secret Virtual Experience

Hoarding genes

1 min read

My great aunt was a hoarder. When she sadly died, we moved more than two hundred and fifty black bags of papers out of […]

Dirty Phone Calls, MDS - Hallway, My Dirty Secret, My Dirty Secret Virtual Experience

Cultural differences

1 min read

I came from a different cultural environment. In our culture we don’t expect much help from men. Most of the household work is done by women and I used to have maids at home, so I had lots of help. Maids do the cooking, cleaning, washing and most of the […]

Dirty Phone Calls, MDS - Hallway, My Dirty Secret, My Dirty Secret Virtual Experience

Fear of judgement

2 mins read

This is a good time to ask me about housework because yesterday I had a rare day where I was actually doing some housework […]

Dirty Phone Calls, MDS - Hallway, My Dirty Secret, My Dirty Secret Virtual Experience

Two pairs of socks

1 min read

As a child I had to wash my socks each night. I only had two pairs, so I had one pair on and one pair drying over the bath each evening.

Dirty Phone Calls, MDS - Hallway, My Dirty Secret, My Dirty Secret Virtual Experience

Cleaner guilt

1 min read

My relationship with housework; I feel really guilty about not doing the housework, even though with chronic illness disability about half the time I actually can’t get to the front door, so I also know nobody is really expecting me to be hoovering, and we have the luxury of having cleaners.

Dirty Phone Calls, MDS - Hallway, My Dirty Secret, My Dirty Secret Virtual Experience

Winter Blues

1 min read

If I didn’t have a cleaner coming to me at 11:30 on a Wednesday morning, I probably would not tidy up. So, once a […]

Dirty Phone Calls, MDS - Hallway, My Dirty Secret, My Dirty Secret Virtual Experience

Wash Days

2 mins read

I was born in 1952 and from my childhood and teenage years I lived in various police houses. One of them was an extremely […]

Dirty Phone Calls, MDS - Hallway, My Dirty Secret, My Dirty Secret Virtual Experience

Hoarding House Fire

3 mins read

My mother’s sister had become an alcoholic. This was probably as a result of her husband’s poor business management and her miscarriages and losing […]

Dirty Phone Calls, MDS - Hallway, My Dirty Secret, My Dirty Secret Virtual Experience

Using PAs

1 min read

This is My Dirty Secret! Of course all my PAs do my housework, but I’m quite strict on saying where I want things. It’s […]

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Find out more about Walk the Line and other workshops Kristina has facilitated here.
Beyond the Torch Run workshop by Kristina Veasey

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kristinaveaseyartist

kristinaveaseyartist
Experimenting with movement. Creating an illusion Experimenting with movement. Creating an illusion of dance for a failing body. 

A snapshot of my process.

As a disabled person, I no longer have the good balance or capacity needed for sustained movement. But I feel the need to move, all the time. I rarely sit still. My Ehlers Danlos Syndrome means I am hyper flexible, which lends itself well to dance, if only my joints would stay in place, my heartrate would behave, and the pain and fatigue would give me a running chance.

I would like to add dance, or movement, to my work, particularly to my forest project. So I am exploring how to create an illusion of dance by editing together individual, separate, movements and speeding them up to produce one flowing narrative.
I take the time needed to carefully position myself, I use simple movements. I perch/lean on a tall stool, anchoring myself. I am able to create a series of 'dance moves' and poses, which I've filmed. During this session, I was thinking about plants growing in the Forest, shoots reaching out, branches stretching, flowers opening, ferns unfurling etc.

It's been interesting to feel one way on the inside, whilst making the movements, and then look at myself on film and see it from an outside viewpoint. What works in my head, doesn't necessarily work on film. It's interesting to experiment with different shapes, and repetitions,and how speeding them up adds a humorous, almost Buster Keaton vibe to the piece. I like that it is free form and spontaneous, rather than a preset routine.

When the weather is a little kinder, I will take my stool to the forest and merge in with the waving branches and emerging shoots, to create a new dance in situ.

#foresta #performance #artist #capturingtheforest #forestbathing #shinrinyoku #disabilityarts #dance #film #access #ruralarts
Music: Rush
Musician: Figure and Groove
No sooner had I finished and laid it out, then my No sooner had I finished and laid it out, then my cheeky puppy decided she would claim it as her own!

Raw wool rug, woven on a peg loom.

Experiments in forest crafts and materials.

This is wool taken from sheep in the Forest of Dean. There is an ancient right that says Foresters are allowed to let their sheep roam through the forest. Those who do this are known as Sheep Badgers. Weaving with raw wool, retains the lanolin that would ordinarily be washed out when prepping and 'scouring' the wool for weaving. I have removed any clumps of wool containing questionable matter, and have picked out thorns and small bits of twigs. But I like seeing the reminders that this was a free roaming sheep, so have not wanted to clean it properly.
Using thick swathes of the wool makes the final rug very soft and springy. It smells very sheepy, which I kind of like. As it gets used, it should start to naturally felt (if the puppy doesn't chew it to pieces first!) and be quite resilient. I've tried a few different ways to twist and wind the wool, seeing what works best and gives different affects. Looking forward to weaving the next one, and trying some new techniques. 

#basketcase #capturingtheforest #wool #rawwool #weaving #pegloom #welshblack #sheep #forest #forestofdean #forestbathing #creativebathing #UnlimitedCommissions #IBT #crafts
Just trying out some raw wool weaving on a peg loo Just trying out some raw wool weaving on a peg loom. Such a quick process and so satisfying! Because the wool is unwashed the lanolin remains, leaving the wool water resistant and my hands super soft! Looking forward to some more playing around with this.

#welshmountainblack #raw #wool #sheep #weaving #pegloom #craft #forest #rural #forestofdean #sheepbadger #rug #capturingtheforest
Basket weaving is a very meditative activity. Ther Basket weaving is a very meditative activity. There is something reassuring about the regularity of winding and threading. And to raise a whole new solid form, from something as simple as old grass, feels very satisfying. In this one I've played with the decorative aspect, incorporating coloured patterns into the weave, and adding dried flowers. It is a mindful ritual, during which I channel thoughts of the subject I'm exploring at the time. On this occasion the subject is actually a person, and I've been thinking about them all the time I've been weaving. I like to think it drives how the design develops. A bit of their personality shining through. 🌟🌟🌟

#basketcase #UnlimitedCommissions #baskets #basketweaving #weaving #naturalfibres #raffiia #naturalfibres
Hope you're all keeping warm today? Today is a wor Hope you're all keeping warm today?
Today is a working from bed day and I'm connecting to the forest in alternative ways. Channeling wood grain, shoots, roots, earthy growths and undulating forest floors. Needle felting in Cotswold Long, Welsh Mountain Black, and Texel wools. These sheep have roamed about in the Forest of Dean. I have coloured some of their wool with natural dye made from dried Buddleia blossoms, found in the hedgerows. 

#forest #forestbathing #felting #texel #cotswold #welshmountainblack #needlefelt #naturaldyes #basketcase #craft #connecting
Happy #internationaldayofdisabledpersons Solidari Happy #internationaldayofdisabledpersons

Solidarity to all those who still have to wrap themselves in metaphorical padding in order to protect themselves when navigating everyday #ableism despite it being 2022.

With thanks to those warriors that went before us, and fought for the changes we appreciate today. To those who stand alongside us now, thankyou. And to the future generations, for whom I hope this battle will no longer be necessary, onwards and upwards! Be fabulous. Be unique. Be unexpected. Or just be ordinary. It's up to you. Having the choice and opportunity to be whatever you want to be, should come as standard, without the need for padding.

#disability #disabled #mentalhealth #chronicillness #artist #disabilityarts #neurodivergent #activism #disabilityrights #InternationalDisabilityDay
I have started overtly labeling my process a 'Slow I have started overtly labeling my process a 'Slow Art approach', in funding applications.
It stems from a need for periods of 'creative bathing' in my artistic practice (an idea formed out of the 'forest bathing' elements incorporated into my recent work around forests). 
Building in time for mulling and developing ideas, resting, and percolating, is how I work. I carry the creation and development of ideas alongside daily activities, nurturing them, taking influence, being mindful, and becoming fully immersed in the project. All my best projects and artworks develop this way. I live them and breathe them. And this time is unpaid. I'd price myself out of any work if I put my actual working hours on paper.
But going at this pace is also an access need. The two merge. And just as you can't seperate living with health conditions and experiencing barriers, from you as a person: your identity, your ways of responding to the world; it is also difficult to separate my creative approach, from my access needs. The two are not always distinct, separate things. Sometimes they are the result of finding a strategy that works, in the best way possible, because the alternative would be not working at all. They blur, especially when navigating fluctuating aspects like fatigue, pain, brain fog, and sudden flare ups.A more holistic approach to supporting access needs would work better.
At the moment, there are many things disabled people do, or modify, to get by, but that are not recognised as access needs. Time taken to find accessible hotels or train journeys can take days. Days of frustration, sometimes to no avail, and leading to ill health and feeling back in a place of discrimination and hopelessness. None of that time is paid or accounted for in project planning or commissions etc. The mere thought of dealing with it, can put me off even pursuing some pieces of work.
Taking more time actually a necessity in my work. And in my experience, living and breathing a project over time, is beneficial to the creation of a more considered and multi layered artwork. Slow Art is definitely the way forward. In fact it's the only way it can go forward.

#internationaldisabilityday
#REPOST in light of this week's @guardian article #REPOST in light of this week's @guardian article about fellow paralympian and former team mate Helene Raynsford being given no option to sign (or not) a DNR. Disabled people are not being consulted on this and it's open to abuse.

It echoes the issue I highlighted back in lockdown, where disabled covid patients were allocated DNR's without either their or their family's consent.

Weighing up the value of disabled people:

Non - consensual DNR's
Herd immunity collateral damage
Economic productivity? 
Useless eaters
Freak shows
Inspiration porn
Charity cases
Incarceration
Discrimination
Prejudice
Inequality
Scapegoats
etc
etc

Snapshot of footage from micro commission film for @weareunltd and @wellcomecollection 

#disability #disabled #mentalhealth #chronicillness #artist #digitalart #disabilityarts #artist #activist
#wheelchair #neurodivergent #value #history #archives #wellcomecollection #UnlimitedCommissions #repostandroid #repostw10 #DNR #heleneraynsford #paralympian
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