Fiona Whitty (1984) is an artist from Wicklow and who now lives and practices with communities in London, Nigeria and Jamaica.
Ed Carroll: So we’ve had some emails and I’ve explained how a group of us have come together to organize a Legacy Event in Galway on 17/18 October. Your
practice started out with from intercultural work with the Nigerian community in Ireland. Can you tell us more about that?
Fiona Whitty: I was more interested in anthropology and art combined. I had been looking at all the new communities coming to Dublin at the time and how the city was changing with all of all of the refugees coming into hostels. In particular I'd come in contact with a group of Nigerians who had come into the hostels seeking asylum. In college I was doing painting and sculpture and it wasn't really communicating what I wanted to say. For over a year I organised, what became my first big action, the Le Cheile event, in Wicklow. It was about bringing different cultures together in this old Irish farmhouse. I brought a lot of Nigerians together and I had this event which we'd planned for over a year and this was really the start of it for me where that social thing was much more interesting to me then the gallery stuff. The social interactions got my curiosity and I started to read up about social art like Nicolas Bourriaud and different theorists who were talking about art in the social context. Some of my lecturers in college were saying, How is your work art and not documentary?. So I had to defend myself but it was great because it got me more rooted into socially interactive art as my practice. But my big memory is it that it seemed much easier then with a lot more people working in that area. CREATE were there, really supportive and I got some funding from them when I finished college. Another important time for me was when I went and did a residency in the Michelangelo Pistoletto Foundation in Italy where a group of us were selected to reflect on social transformation. I spent 4 months there and made lots of connections. But when I came back to Ireland I felt the whole scene was dwindling and the funding had dried up. Also, for my practice, I needed to come to London to look at how people had integrated into society after a time because London has such a long history of migration and I was able to find second generation people to work with. I got a Travel and Training grant from the Arts Council to do my masters degree in London at Chelsea College of Art.
d Carroll: Could you remind me again of the Le Cheile event that you organized in Wicklow? How did you invite people? What did you do for the day?
Fiona Whitty: I was able to organize an old farmhouse in Tinahely, Wicklow that my grand-uncle had and offer to us. I cleaned it up because it was in a mess and we even had African food and music. I invited people mainly through word-of-mouth because I had contact with the hostels and with other groups. I made up a little brochure and I put a map on it and many people came. Five hundred people came.
Ed Carroll: 500 people came!
Fiona Whitty: Yeah, to this timy little place in Wicklow. It was really amazing because many people had not seen even one black person before. And for many of
the Irish it was their first time interacting with black people. It was a really big deal and I got funding from Leader in Wicklow. And they were really supportive.
It was a one-day program. My mom made some soda bread because there is an amazing open fire in the kitchen of the house and this Cameroonian woman made some traditional bread on the open fire. We had these African griot's - storytellers - and an Irish seannachai and we told stories and rhymes and then there was some installations in the bedroom, sound installations about bread. Artist, Sarah Browne had some sculptural work that was installed in the bedrooms upstairs. There was also sword fighting outside. There was Irish and African music and lots of food African and Irish food. It was a lovely day.
Ed Carroll: And what are your reflections of the day now? Was it very important for your in terms of this interest in intercultural work? What stays with you now
from that event, in terms of what you would like to do in the future?
Fiona Whitty: Yeah it has definitely influenced what I like doing. Now I'm organizing and I have set up a Community Interest Company with my friend and artist Jenny Gordon called WhittyGordon Projects. We did our Masters together in London and we put on events sometimes in London. We do a lot of Engagement work with people who are under the radar, such as homeless, isolated elderly or hard-to-reach young people. This helps me to find my direction because I know I like to be on the ground and meet people because that is where I think the art is, not necessarily the end product, but the whole process. I'm going out on the streets, I'm meeting people who are disenfranchised and don't get noticed.
Ed Carroll: It's wonderful. It's wonderful. In terms of funding for that sort of work how do you survive?
Fiona Whitty: Hahaha. Well that's another reason why I haven't been able to move back the Ireland full time because I haven't been able to find work to survive over there. Now I'm working with Jenny and as part of our company, WhittyGordon Projects, we been commissioned to do training and make films with dfifferent
communities across London. For example, recently we were commissioned to make a film working with intergenerational groups about about the past the present and the future of an estate which is going thrugh massive regeneration in London. I don't think I would the opportunity to make a regular income doing this type of work in Ireland. I have also developed lots of arts engagement projects in Barking in Essex with my friend Susie. So a lot of it is working with communities, where I'm getting funding from the National Lottery, local Councils or The Arts Council.
Ed Carroll: Is the legacy of intercultural work still important for you?
Fiona Whitty: Oh yes definitely, and still I’m working a lot in Jamaica and with my friend Jenny we've been back and forth there to Kingston 6 times. We are trying to
set up a project with a railway station in Kingston Our idea is to set it up as a film hub and to have it as a place for people to come together to learn about art and
film and have exhibitions and film nights and events. We want to work Around the station, where the people who living there are isolated marginalised and very poor. In Nigeria I have got a lot of connections now. I'm trying to set up a residency there and I just completed a film. I got funding from the British Council and went there in April to screen it. It’s about young people and struggles and I called ‘All that is Golden Glitters’. So I really want to keep that intercultural work going.
Ed Carroll: Looking back, once you left Ireland, you said you found it hard to find a way back-in there and that things were drying-up. Was that just your experience or was it something wider. Do you think it was a sign that things had shifted away from this sort of community practice?
Fiona Whitty: Yes definitely. It was also about who you know you, the connections that you have in Ireland. I just feel because you are out of the loop of that as well as trying to make new connections in London it was hard to keep the old connections in Ireland too. Most of the people from my degree class in Ireland have moved to London. About half my year is living in London. So it kind of feels that there must have been something happening because why is nobody staying? The people of my age are really talented but they are not really able to stay in Ireland and I think that's a shame. I don't know anyone of my age that wants to move back to Ireland yet. Maybe it is that when you move out of a place you lose your connection. Since I moved to London it's been much harder for me to get funding. When you're out of the loop it's not as easy. Jenny and I got the opportunity to do a residency with Damer House Gallery in 2014 where we spent 3 weeks engaging with the community of Roscrea which was really amazing because it helped me reconnect back with my practice in Ireland. Jenny and I loved Roscrea and would love to work there again in the future to develop more projects.
Ed Carroll: In terms of going forward what are your hopes for that practice that youhave somehow sustained? Have you been able to make links and contribute to
other civil society groups?
Fiona Whitty: We come across all sorts of people in our work and we have lots of dealings with people to try and get things off the ground. In Nigeria I'm working
with the King of Lagos at the moment. He is trying to get me to come back and do some projects in a really run down part of the community. And I've made so many links to people who are not necessarily interested in the Arts but who have taken a big interest in the projects. I'd still love to come back to Ireland and do some projects as well as keeping the project going in London, in Lagos and in Kingston. I just don't want to be in one place, I definitely don't want to be in one place!(Laughs) I'd really love to set up this exchange with Nigeria because few want to go there and explorer what kind of things we can learn from Africa, what a cross exchange of skills can offer. That is something that really interests me to find exchanges that circulate around Lagos, Kingston, Ireland and London.
Ed Carroll: Maybe that’s a good way to finish. You really are a star in the sky of my world of community practice and it’s been nice to discover some of story. Thanks so much for giving your time and let’s keep talking about how you might participate in the legacy event.
Fiona Whitty: Thanks, I’m happy to do that too.
www.fionawhitty.com
www.whittygordon.com
Transcript of interview that took place on August 27, 2016.