In common with many people I have experienced 2017 as a year of cancellations, frustrations, disappointments but it's also been one of my most creatively productive years ever. I took heart when reading Waldemar Januszczak's article "In praise of older women". In it he describes the plight hitherto of most artists who are over 50 and who crucially, are women and writes "If the lifestyle sections are genuinely interested in predicting our artistic future, hey need to be trawling the nation's old people's homes and shouting "Is anyone here a forgotten artist?" Because that's where the money is."
All I can say is yes, but do we have to wait until we're in the old people's homes? do we have to wait until we are too old and frail to achieve the ambitious and large scale projects which we want to achieve but can't because we haven't got the money! I'm always so thrilled to hear about artists like Phyllida Barlow and Lubaina Himid finally getting some recognition and keep hoping that I may someday get a break - after 37 years of making art through all kinds of challenging circumstances, maybe 2018 will be the year that my work gets seen and gets recognised.
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AuthorFion Gunn is a London based visual artist with an international multi-media practice. Archives
October 2024
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