I worked with artist Anna Bunting-Branch to compose the soundtrack for her animated film ‘Holding Space’ commissioned by ‘a space arts’ and shown at God’s House Tower in Southampton in August 2024.

The exhibition included a panel discussion - ‘Compost the Rich’ between Anna Bunting-Branch, myself, and curator and activist Helen Starr to discuss socially-engaged practice and how artists can work with communities as a form of activism.

Further information about the film, and Anna’s exhibition:

Holding Space explores the role of reproductive refusal in climate activism and considers how environmental factors affect decisions about bringing children into the world. The exhibition is informed by the artist’s ongoing research into childlessness and different ways of conceiving the future in the face of climate emergency.

An animation is exhibited in the Barker-Mill Project Space. Taking breath as a metaphor for the intimate relationship between body and environment, this work touches on the personal and political stakes of reproductive refusal. In response to what the animation’s protagonist calls the “violent comforts” of late capitalism, refusal is here reclaimed as a generative and loving act. Digital effects bring hand-painted imagery to life along with new music by Rosie Carr.