November Update
Today is Monday 1st December 2025. It is 17 days since my 33rd birthday, when I published my Orbit Report 32, reviewing and reflecting on the 32nd year of my life. It has also been one full month since I switched my note-taking application (Obsidian) from daily notes files to monthly notes files, in an attempt to sink my thinking into a deeper pace layer. Now as I step into the darkest month of the year, the blank file before me as I opened my notes this morning did not feel like some sleek overwhelming obelisk of amnesia I would have to work through like I do every morning. Instead, it was refreshing, like returning from a trip to a tidy home, ready for a cup of tea and a sit down before we move on to unpacking, at whatever pace our body takes us. And it invites questions: how do I feel? what did I do last month? how do I feel about that? what do I want to do this month? what am I looking forward to? why is this such a self-centred practice?
Last month, I began my notes with that same first question, "how do I feel?" I felt good, and in the last month it really does feel like the different pieces of my PhD, my broader practice as an artist+, and who I am as a person, are starting to click together and make sense in ways they never have before. At the same time, I felt anxious, in my body, I could feel the restless motors of ADHD and internalised capitalism in my chest, and I was struggling to switch off and relax in the evenings.
I read Nowt So Queer: Tales from LGBT Lancashire, which I borrowed from The Harris Library, now that it's reopened. I was really grateful to find local queer art / research / activism, and especially from a few years ago, and focusing on queer elders. The book is a collection of first person biographies, testimonials, or 'pen portraits', of different LGBTQ+ people who have lived in Lancashire. I get the impression from reading the accounts that people were interviewed, and then the interviews were written up as a narrative form. Also some of the themes that come up are interesting, for example religion comes up a lot, and it's not clear to me if that's emergent, something people are mentioning of their own accord, or if that's something the interviewer/s were probing for. I won't go into a full review, cease to say it is an important but limited contribution to queer social history in Lancashire which should definitely be built upon. Some of the interesting things people mention in their accounts include: Project Oscar, a gay men's group in Chorley; Kenric, a network of lesbian social groups across the UK; and Prescap, the Preston Community Arts Project. But there is more I will leave for you to discover.
I've been attending the jwllrs night school in Morecambe, which has been focusing on critical social imaginaries, I suppose. Everyone on the course has been producing really amazing work, and we've been learning about so many amazing ideas and artists and interventions. Part of the work I have done their has resulted in a collaborative application to this year's Do It Together open call from the Live Art Development Agency 🤞
I went to The Grundy in Blackpool to seen my friend Hans Browne's work with the Sankey Archives. Again, so much amazing stuff at that exhibition, definitely worth a trip to Blackpool, even in this weather.
I'm re/centering my practice on land, and that means my next big project is setting up a housing co-op in Central Lancashire. I'm currently looking for people who would like to be on either the working group or the steering group. If you're interested, please talk to me! 😸
My PhD research is going really well, I've had some fantastic breakthroughs. I'm currently working with my supervisors on an ethics application I need to submit to the NHS, so that I can recruit and interview staff. But I can finally see how the overall project makes sense, and I'm hoping I'll be able to start doing some analysis and sharing some findings early next year.
I'm trying to reduce my dependence on technocapital, by taking more time away from screens. That's definitely been nice ☺️
jamie from jwllrs put me on to Forensic Architecture, which is incredible. It's a difficult read, but well worth even just the introduction and first chapter.
I tried to go to the Beyond Cars Film Festival this month, where I had three photos in the exhibition, but I really struggled to get there this weekend what with having other things on in the day and then being tired in the evening. But what I saw at the opening was fantastic. I especially loved Ecaterina Stefanescu's 'dialectograms', which resonated so strongly with things I've been thinking about and developing for the housing co-op and at night school.
This Sunday we are programming October Salon for January and I have a lot of ideas so stay tuned for that on their newsletter!
I'm sure I did a lot of other stuff as well but I'm not going to go through my camera reel and be as thorough as I was with my orbit report, because I want this monthly update to be lightweight and fun and useful! I feel pretty good about last month, I feel amazed that so many things are starting to come together, like all the sediment is settling, the jigsaw pieces are all falling into place at the same time.
This month, I'm looking forward to a bit of rest and fun with friends for Christmas; submitting my ethics application for my next PhD study; arranging an initial meeting for the housing co-op; and spending more time at jwllrs with all these incredible artists and ideas!
Thank you for reading 😊 If you'd like to support me, please subscribe to receive occasional (hypothetically monthly) updates!
Stella ✨