‘Mamalujo’

‘Mamalujo’ is my most recent video piece. It premiered at the Northern Ireland Mental Health Arts Festival, which took place last month – online. The video tracks my dealing with the situation I was in: lockdown with three primary school children and my wife working full time, studios closed, home-schooling and trying to put on a brave face. When invited to make this piece, my overriding thought was not to appear in any way like I’m complaining or moaning, because I was lucky. So I did it from my children’s point of view, it’s only their voices you hear. The whole piece is 10 minutes in length. It moves through various sequences of the blue flashing light of an ambulance parked outside my house, frenetic handwashing, radio news reports and reaches acceptance and hope for the future. It’s all filmed in my house, and I did the editing and the soundtrack too.

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