Cammock, Helen
Helen Cammock explores history and storytelling through layered, fragmented narratives. Using video, photography, installation, print and performance, she interrogates the ways in which stories are told, and acknowledges those who are rendered invisible by the hierarchy of histories. The artist’s own story also impacts her work. Having worked as a social worker before becoming an artist, she remains attentive to the structural oppression and inequality across communities she saw during this time.
Cammock’s work is prefaced by writing, borrowing the words of others to use alongside her own. There’s a Hole in the Sky Part II: Listening to James Baldwin (2016) is set around an imagined conversation with writer James Baldwin. It considers migrations, forced or voluntary, by Black American writers and dancers who moved to Europe in search of work and wider recognition. The piece layers multiple and varied experiences, exploring the dynamics of appropriation and power. Set in the Docklands in east London, it builds upon Cammock’s interest in failing colonial industries, set against the backdrop of futuristic new-build flats and state-of-the-art transport links.
- Artwork Details: running time: 11 minutes 10seconds
- Edition: 1 of 5 + 2 AP
- Material description: HD video
- Credit line: © the artist. Image courtesy of the artist.
- Theme:
- Medium: Film and Audio Visual
- Accession number: ACC19/2017