Associates 2020

Zish Alexander
For the past decade, Zish has spent time behind commercial lines, developing a practice akin to a double agent; where capitalist tools are appropriated into artistic instruments. Now free from the creative underworld, he will utilise the year in witness protection to continue exploration into collective influence over the individual. How an individual’s Identity determines which doors can open, which ceilings are made of glass and what aspirational Icons are achievable and how these oppressive narratives can be resisted.

Camille Biddell
Camille Biddell works primarily in sculpture and performance. Her main interests are community, collaboration and clay – and how they intersect. She is interested in the potency of craft skills in an increasingly technology driven society, and explores their currency within contemporary art and their potential as a socially engaged tool. She is one third of Chlamydia The Band, a musical performance project. She studied Fine Art at Edinburgh College of Art.

Jenny Boat
Jenny Boat is a self taught artist and storyteller based in London whose work focuses on personal and social narratives. Working primarily by hand in pen and ink, Jenny’s work is dedicated to celebrating and recording queer histories, relationships and the diverse inner worlds we all inhabit.

Jess Frankland
Jess Frankland is a multi-disciplinary artist living and working in Kent. She makes paintings, performance, film, photography and music. She sees her art work as expressions. She explores political resistance, personal and social justice, humour and play. She has a collaborative film performance project with artist Ted Rogers entitled ‘Risky Business’. @riskyriskybiz

Frances Heap
Fran works with costume, textiles, performance and video. Through collaborative practice she creates alternate worlds, narratives and representations to generate spaces for play, interaction and exchange.
She is interested in inclusive art practices and sharing knowledge through making. She was recently one of six artists participating in the Conversations Series residency with Venture Arts, in partnership with Castlefield Gallery and the Whitworth, which brought together a range artists with and without learning difficulties to develop creative exchanges. Alongside and interchangeably she works as a costume designer and maker, creating concept led costumes for dance and live art events.

Hannan Jones
Hannan (b. Perth, Australia) is an interdisciplinary artist of Algerian and Welsh descent. 2020 marks ten years since relocating to the UK, in approaching this year she is keen to learn and unlearn ways of practising – holding open arms towards experimental collaborations and cross-disciplinary approaches. Hannan explores themes surrounding language, rhythm, cultural and social migration using installation, score, video, live performance and music. She is interested in creating collaborative and community projects that enable space for expanding our perspectives and reflecting ourselves in our surroundings, as an attempt to find moments for ‘togetherness’, if only temporary.
Hannan is a graduate of Glasgow School of Art’s Sculpture and Environmental Art department. She has exhibited and performed in galleries, basements, libraries and clubs including Uniqlo Tate Lates, The Tate Modern, Sound Thought, CCA Glasgow, and Rhythm Machine, Edinburgh. Her collaborative music projects have been released on Optimo Music and Weaponise Your Sound. Hannan’s first term at OSE is supported by the Western Australian Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries.

Molly Lester
Molly Lester (b.1995 UK) is an artist working with film, collaborative performance and book making. With a degree in Illustration, she is particularly interested in how we communicate visually in a digital age and how these images affect how we view the world. Using studio sets, animation and costume Molly produces intricate tableaux that draw inspiration from her own poems and the writings of others. Her current work explores the ways in which food can evoke feelings of disgust and highlight our disconnection with the physical world.

Katarzyna Lukasik
Katarzyna Lukasik is a Polish born and raised artist and designer based in Margate and London. After graduating from Goldsmiths University in BA Design she continued developing her research-led approach to investigating sounds, auditory perception; modes of listening and use of voice in cultural and religious contexts. Through use of different media including video, 3D renders and writing, she explores listening as a sensory practice and the immaterial and mystical nature of sound.

Alexander Middleton
Alexander Middleton is a visual artist and cook from Peterborough. A graduate of the University of Brighton’s Painting BA and the Royal Drawing School’s postgraduate Drawing Year, his practice is centered around the creation of images and an ambitious approach to the power of imagery and aesthetics, he uses spontaneous and playful methods within the context of traditional media such as painting, drawing, print and relief. Alex’s recent work has focused on a vision of art and food as related devotional activities and aesthetic tools which for both producer and consumer, can spark and nurture a love and respect for the natural world and the reality of our place within it.

Ted Rogers
Ted Rogers is a Margate based performance artist and choreographer who has worked professionally across film, TV, live shows, performance art and music videos. As an associate at Open School East, Ted has been exploring the role of “entertainment” in fine art as well as taking a critical look at the performance industry as a whole.

Shamica Ruddock
Shamica Ruddock is a visual artist and arts educator working between sound, text and moving image. With a background in cultural heritage, specifically archive, collections and community engagement, much of this experience has guided their artistic practice. Situated at an intersection between art and heritage, Shamica is interested in interrogating memory, the legacies we inherit and grassroot tools for cultural preservation. She runs a collaborative project with artist and collaborator Anna Merryfield using food as a method through which to explore personal archives and shared histories, and is also interested in how communities exist and persist through sound, including notions of sonic autobiographies – both the collective and personal.
Shamica has previously been commissioned by South London Gallery, exhibited work with the Barbican and was the 2019 CFCCA Artist-in-Residence based at Taipei Artist Village.
@JacquiAllTrades

Sid Smith
Sid Smith (b. Chelmsford 1995) works predominantly with moving image. Her work has been screened at the British Film Institute, CCA Glasgow, Deptford Cinema, Fabrica Gallery, Modern Art Oxford, Nottingham Contemporary, Spike Island and Whitechapel Gallery. Her films often return to violent figures, seeking vantage points in slurred voices and sicknesses. In 2010 her parents accidentally and indirectly knocked down her house; this was formative.