"I remember You as You Were" - Commission with Visual Artist and Director Helga Dorothea

Collaborating with Artist and Director Helga Dorothea on the creation of “I Remember You as You Were” was a moving and emotive project to be involved with through the time of lockdown.

Helga brought together a collection of local artists specialising in different mediums who relished the challenges of creating at a distance.

Helga’s multi faceted vision and strength as a connector brought together the words of poet Jan Noble, which where then set to musician by renowned composer Donna McKevitt and accompanied Helga’s collection of recent footage of the Granville and found historical moments from the towns past. I was invited to contribute to the film by collaging ephemera connected to the many layers of history of this spectacular building.

The aspect of rearranging timelines, of severing chords with the past in order to reimagine new futures is what lies at the heart of how I began to work at the start of lockdown, so to be involved in this project at this incredible time of pause, felt both poignant and precious.

Pugin’s forgotten ballrooms of this once bustling jewel in the heart of Ramsgate’s sea front landscape has been unearthed, proposals are in place to raise funds for the regeneration of this space to become arts venue, community hub and studios space for local creatives. This would be a monumental asset to the development of the town and would allow large visiting exhibitions to be held here, local jobs to be created and it would contribute to Ramsgate’s part within the ongoing cultural conversation on the Isle of Thanet.

The film was commissioned with support from the Arts Council by Heritage Lab to raise awareness for the proposal for this project and to create a proscenium within which to imagine a new future to serve the ever growing community of this historical British coastal town.

Find more on the plans for the space here.