Rewind + Reuse: Gary Stewart & Adam Lewis Jacob in conversation

It has often been said that there are parallels between the 1980s and the times we’re living through now. The archives of that era have become a rich source of inspiration for artists working today - in particular the flourishing of different voices that emerged through community video and the independent workshop movement. This discussion will focus on two recent projects which reimagine that material and draw out resonances with today.

Born in Birmingham, brought up in Balsall Heath and now London-based, Gary Stewart is a multidisciplinary artist known for his work reworking archives and collections with Trevor Mathison as Dubmorphology. Over the past year he has been working with Vivid Projects on We Did It Together, building an archival collage from a series of conversations in community libraries across the city.

Adam Lewis Jacob is an artist and filmmaker based in Glasgow. His film Idrish was developed after a 2019 co-commission with Vivid Projects and Animate Projects during which he worked with the VIVID and TURC archives. Filmed in Bangladesh and Birmingham during 2020 and using footage from the TURC archive, Idrish (ইদ্রিস) is an urgent and timely reflection on the anti-deportation movement and anti-racist community action refracted through the story of veteran anti-deportation campaigner Muhammad Idrish.

The conversation will be hosted by Yasmeen Baig Clifford, director of Vivid Projects and a commissioner of projects with both artists. It will be followed by a full screening of Idrish (ইদ্রিস) (2021, 32 mins).

This event is presented in collaboration with BFI National Archive as part of a long-term project to illuminate and restore the films of the workshop movement.

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