Failed Supporting Statement - Another Gaze, Sept 2019

-
Commissioning Editor

Dear Another Gaze editorial team,

I was delighted to learn of this editing opportunity from a friend who made sure I saw your Tweet about it. I am a researcher of film and visual culture transitioning from academia to forge a career as a writer and podcaster. What I can bring to your team is a scholar with extensive knowledge of histories, theories and practices across cinema and the visual arts who pays great attention to detail and firmly believes lifelong education and knowledge-sharing should be for the many and not exclusive to the few. From my experiences as an educator and an early career researcher, I understand the challenges faced by writers of all levels. I strive to improve on best practice as an editor through the provision of observations aiming to work with authors to help them be the most effective communicators they can be. This includes ensuring ideas are logical and are demonstrated convincingly, that claims are evidenced, and that structures and writing styles convey those ideas effectively to readers. This editing post will help me hone those skills further, enhance my own writing and will hopefully lead to further such opportunities in my freelance work.

To indicate my experience, included as attachments are two versions of an essay I was commissioned to write by Surrey Art Gallery in British Columbia about a video installation by artist Sylvia Grace Borda. The longer version is due for publication as part of a text marking ten years of the gallery’s UrbanScreen, an outdoor IMAX projection showcasing commissioned public moving image works. The shorter version will be published on the gallery’s website as part of its ‘Presents’ series. The differences between the two indicate my attention to suitable structure and my ability to edit with concision without losing meaning or detail. Please also find attached a brief CV detailing my most relevant experience, including editing and peer review work. If I can provide further samples, please do not hesitate to ask.

I am based in Newcastle upon Tyne where I am an influencer for the growing Reclaim the Frame initiative led by Birds’ Eye View Film Festival to promote films made by women and to widen their circulation and audiences. As my publications may indicate, I am originally from Belfast, Northern Ireland, and moving image production from and about the region in the last twenty or so years has been my main research area since my PhD studies (2008–11). A significant strand of these studies is women’s (marginalised) experiences of conflict and the continued impact of issues stemming from conflict on women during official peacetime since the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. An example is my work on performance artist Sandra Johnston (a blog post here gives an indication of the nuances of women’s and girls’ experiences: https://peablair.blogspot.com/2017/11/rise-up-live-performance-by-dr-sandra.html).

In terms of others’ engagements with films and artworks I take interest in, I have recently appreciated and learnt a lot from:

Rebecca Harrison (2018), ‘Fuck the Canon (Or, How Do You Solve a Problem Like von Trier?): Teaching, Screening and Writing about Cinema in the Age of #MeToo’, MAI, 9 November. Available at https://maifeminism.com/fuck-the-canon-or-how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-von-trier-teaching-screening-and-writing-about-cinema-in-the-age-of-metoo/.

Zélie Asava (2017), Mixed Race Cinemas: Multiracial Dynamics in America and France, Bloomsbury. Sample available at https://bloomsburycp3.codemantra.com/viewer/5b1d0ebec15c52da1d92199d.

I try to keep up with the latest exhibitions even when I can’t get to see them. For instance, I am very drawn to Turner Prize nominee Helen Cammock’s work at the moment. As writer in residence at Yorkshire Sculpture International this year I got to see work by international artists like Cauleen Smith, Tau Lewis and Huma Bhabha. For shows I can’t experience first hand, Twitter is an important tool in keeping my knowledge fresh as I follow many arts organisations and publications. I feel strongly that feminism should be intersectional and inclusive and enjoy learning about the creative potential of language to facilitate inclusivity.

Many thanks for your time and consideration. I look forward to hearing from you.

With best wishes,

Paula

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

You owe me twenty quid: Tyres in Spaced

-
Image
15 May 2020 Last week Becca Harrison tweeted about re-watching the turn-of-the-millennium Channel 4 sitcom, Spaced , and some of its most quotable lines (concerning jaffa cakes in coat pockets) and imitable actions (mimed shoot out). Being an Ulsterperson, my fondness for the show often homes in on Tyres played by Belfast-born, Holywood-bred actor Michael Smiley (if you're a Ben Wheatley fan, you ought to recognise him). This train of thought, not for the first time, got me thinking about the significance of Tyres. When Spaced first aired in September 1999, Northern Ireland was a year-and-a-half into its fragile official peacetime following (and not quite yet distinct from) the prior thirty years of conflict. I was in my mid-teens and it was only when I reached my early and mid-twenties that I fully understood the characters in the show, especially the oddities of being a grown-up but feeling not as mature as your age suggested, of feeling the ageing process but still being
Read more

Spirited Away

-
Image
22 May 2020 Back in what feels like the beforetimes in February, Netflix began a staggered release of Studio Ghibli films, which put me in the mood to revisit many of them as well as see the few I'd missed for the first time. As the Covid-19 crisis became more apparent and lockdown was (finally and suddenly) introduced in the UK, the desire in particular to find comfort in Sprited Away (dir. Hayao Miyazaki, 2001) grew all the more. It's a film I've watched a few times before, and I enjoy the experience of seeing the works in both the original Japanese and English dubs. When Channel 4 ran a Studio Ghibli season, oh goodness, 10 to 15 or perhaps more years ago, only the dubbed versions were shown. But Netflix gives fantastic options for audio and subtitle combinations, and this time round it has to be the Japanese. In early April my anxiety concerning the pandemic was overwhelming, and getting it under control led to fatigue. One afternoon I had to admit defeat and lie i
Read more

Shadow Dancer

-
*DISCLAIMER: I am writing about the film with an approach to critical analysis with only a hint of review, therefore there are spoilers within if you have not seen the film. This post serves as a line of thought that I am archiving for later development.* It appears that reviews of Shadow Dancer (Marsh, 2012) have not been entirely complimentary, as far as I am aware (I am deliberately avoiding them so feel free to correct me), and seem largely to have been written by men. The film is much more than critics and general commenters deem it to be (e.g. one I came across stated that this is yet another Troubles film making the IRA out to be scum). Shadow Dancer does not attempt to depict the Northern Ireland conflict through a microcosmic narrative, rather it draws out a suppressed individual struggle within patriarchal organizations, and in doing so attempts to reflect the hidden lives many were forced to lead. The most striking aspect of Shadow Dancer for me is its evocation
Read more