On 10th June 2021, Sue and Sheila held an informal conversation event with guests, responding to the question ‘Atmospheric Forces – what does this mean to you?’
Topics that they’re exploring:
- The weather system of a person. The weather system of a planet.
- The air, global exchange, trade winds, climate, gravity, circulation
- Colonialism and empire
- Coverings, layers, care
This informal online event marked Sheila and Sue’s first in-public exploration of their new research focus at Reading University, and was attended by researchers across the University as well as guests and friends of the artists.
The artist duo collaborated on the work Common Salt . In Atmospheric Forces they continue to open up the themes of nature, colonialism, memory and connectivity and will present their new piece as a work in progress in the Autumn.
Artists Sheila Ghelani and Sue Palmer were joined by guest speakers:
- Jane Trowell – Art educator, curator and environmental justice activist, who works with arts-activist research organisation Platform
- Deepa Bhasthi – Writer and Farmer (joining from India)
- Ollie Douglas – Curator of MERL Collections, University of Reading
- Andrew Charlton-Perez – Associate Professor in the Department of Meteorology, University of Reading
- Harshavardhan Bhat – PhD Researcher with the Monsoon Assemblages project at the University of Westminster (joining from India)
- Marlene Creates – Environmental artist who lives and works in a 6-acre patch of old-growth Boreal forest on the island of Newfoundland, off the Atlantic coast of Canada (joining from Newfoundland).