Three Salford artists are among 60 creatives to receive a £500 commission to create an archive of responses to the Coronavirus.
The commission, awarded by Greater Manchester Combined Authority, aims to provide paid work to creatives as well as documenting life during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Adina Nelu
Adina Nelu, a University of Salford graduate turned teacher, is a composer and multi-instrumentalist.
Whilst currently working on music for her second feature film, Nelu is one of the 60 artists commissioned by GMCA.
“As an emerging composer, I’m honoured to have my work featured as part of an archive of Greater Manchester’s artistic response to such a significant historical event.”
“For this commission, I will be creating an instrumental piece conveying the family-related worries, as well as the feelings of powerlessness that most of us are experiencing under lockdown.
“Facing one’s mortality is something that shouldn’t normally happen until later in life, however, the pandemic is now making us all realise how fragile human life is, regardless of our age.”
Nelu added that: “Art doesn’t save lives, but that doesn’t render it irrelevant in times of crisis.”
Adina Nelu can be found on Spotify.
Kate Feld
Kate Feld, a Vermont native, is a writer and journalism lecturer at the University of Salford.
“I’m going to be creating a lyric essay… which is kind of a hybrid form between poetry and prose essay writing essentially.
“I’m going to be writing this about life in quarantine, in my town of Ramsbottom, which is right on the edge of Greater Manchester, right on the edge of the West Pennine Moors.
“It’s quite an interesting place to be for the lockdown because it kind of feels like the whole town is going back in time. I wanted to capture that, I was interested in seeing the changes to the way that people here are living their lives, the changes in our relationships to nature and the land.
“So I really wanted to explore and investigate that, as well as documenting it, similarly to the mass observation movement in Bolton.”
Feld also highlighted the new opportunity this commission is providing, in stating that: “I will also be taking photographs which is an interesting thing for me, it’s something I’ve done a little bit of, but for a while I’ve been wanting to use photography in my work more, so this is a nice chance to experiment with that.”
Kate Hodgson
Kate Hodgson, a Salford resident, is a visual artist who studied Fine Art at the University of Leeds.
“This is a really exciting opportunity for me to get involved in a wider community of artists, especially after having just moved to Salford.
“It also gives me the chance to make and experiment using what I have at home which is a new challenge for me.
“I’ll be making bags that can be used for essentials shops. They’ll have positive slogans printed on them and will be made by me at home.
“I’m then going to send the bags out to other artists in Manchester to use and keep.
“I’m interested in forming relationships even though we can’t physically meet.”
GMCA have stated that these are only the first round of commissions, however applications closed on 1 March.
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