Magic Boxes & Living Relics: a pinhole camera workshop with riel bellow and FIELDNOTES

During this four-hour workshop participants will be taught how to build their own pinhole cameras. There will be time and guidance to capture and print images as well. As participants construct their cameras, artist and writer riel bellow will be giving a presentation on the work of Carlos Jurado and Kimowan Metchewais.

Kimowan Metchewais (Cold Lake First Nation) is a beloved and brilliant Cree photographer known for his mixed media work, use of the polaroid, and illuminated writings. Carlos Jurado was a Mexican photographer and muralist with cult fame surrounding his elaborate hand-built pinhole cameras and a seminal text on pinhole photography, El Arte de la Aprehensión de las Imágenes y el Unicornio. Both of these photographers' practices are embedded with a hand-to-hand signature that plays and confounds the history of photography as a method of surveillance and classification. These artists allow us insight into the ways an image can be an aberration or redirection of power as we make our own magic boxes.  

Participants will take home their pinhole cameras, prints and a small reader.

This workshop is hosted in collaboration with FIELDNOTES & not/nowhere.

Find works by riel bellow in the most recent print issue of FIELDNOTES. 

We welcome participants of all levels of experience, from all backgrounds and across all disciplines. 

Places are limited!

ACCESS

The not/nowhere studio is located on the ground floor. They are custodians of heavy machines that are hard to move, so they work around them. They encourage everyone in the space to be mindful and aware of the objects, avoid handling them, and take care of each other when in the space. Unfortunately, their toilet is not wheelchair accessible. They welcome personal assistants. 

Please get in touch with any further queries about access requirements: info@fieldnotes.site 

TICKET PRICES

This workshop is offered on a Pay What You Can basis. You are welcome to decide what fee you are able to pay but we offer the following tiers for guidance. There are no tangible ‘perks’ on offer at the top tier price but we ask you to consider the level that feels appropriate to your situation. Tiers are on a self-assessment basis – it's entirely up to you which you select. Fieldnotes is a registered charity, all income goes towards supporting our work, covering our running costs, allowing us to offer fair pay to those involved and enabling us to keep our programmes low cost and accessible.

The tier prices are as follows:

£45 Solidarity
If you are financially secure, you are comfortably able to afford modest luxuries like overseas holidays or to set money aside in savings.

£35 Standard
If you have a reliable source of income that more than covers your basic financial needs, you don't have to worry about the costs of nights out.

£25 Low Income
If you work for minimum wage or below the living wage. Please email us at info@fieldnotes.site to access this level of pricing.

FREE – Unwaged
For those without a reliable source of income who struggle to cover their basic monthly living costs. This is not a student discount! Please email us at info@fieldnotes.site to access this level of pricing. 

ABOUT

riel bellow is a multidisciplinary artist, educator, writer, and radio-host. They grew up moving around with the seasons, and running around markets between Santa Fe, New Mexico, San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, and Edmonton, Alberta. Riel has published work in Canada Art, ẹwà journal, Gender Fail, Poetry Project, Vera List Center for Art and Politics and elsewhere. Riel holds a BA from Pitzer College, an MFA from Bard College’s Milton Avery Graduate School, and has recently taught at Pomona College and Scripps College.

FIELDNOTES is an artist-run publishing project based in Newham in east London. We produce an annual print journal alongside a public programme of workshops, mentoring opportunities, radio broadcasts, screenings and readings. Founded in 2020, FIELDNOTES aims to promote and support non-conforming creative practices that pioneer new cultural forms. We seek to challenge the systemic inequalities that limit opportunities in the arts by working with individuals and communities who may not find support elsewhere. Our purpose is to provide a test site for poetic innovation, a place for new voices and collaborations, a venue for experimental modes and fresh departures between disciplines. We are interested in the third thing between two known things; we are looking for the spaces between translations and transitions.

www.fieldnotes.site

not/nowhere is an artist workers’ cooperative that programmes workshops, screenings, exhibitions and other events.

www.not-nowhere.org