Aisha Ajnabi & Radha Patel 15.4.24 - 28.4.24

DARCH is the collaborative practise of Aisha Ajnabi (Umulkhayr Mohamed) and Radha Patel formed in March 2023, and a culmination of 6 years of work individually. As artists of colour, we wanted to take this as an opportunity to self-direct our creative practice and develop work we know is important, such as to support people to work through ancestral grief related to colonialism, displacement, capitalism / being poor, familial trauma, the environment. DARCH is grounded in finding creative ways to articulate care centered practices for people of colour, with a politic grounded in solidarity and liberation. DARCH overlaps shared elements of our practices namely rituals, shrine building, animism and ancestral honoring and relationships to land through sound work, conversations and storytelling. 

Our residency at Arcade Campfa researches different cultural rituals that create containers of processing and validating colonial/ancestral grief and liberatory rage. Grief and rage, despite being characterized as unruly/undesirable emotions, are in fact indicators of health within a global structure of racial capitalism & cisheteronormative patriarchy, which shame us into disconnecting from our bodies in moments of intense feeling, as a way to position our bodies' intense capacity to feel, and are inherently unsafe and unproductive.

Through exploratory conversations and archival research, we'll create our own grief/rage ritual that explores the relationship between grief and rage, using vocal embodiment and sound as a healing entity. The ritual will center the experiences of both queer people of colour and the more than human, creating a container that holds a process of releasing misplaced shame that is connected to grief and rage and exploring how giving ourselves the space to feel grief and rage may bring about renewed connection to our liberation.

︎ ahklmruuy
︎ a_nice_island

Kialy Tihngang 23.10.23 - 6.11.23

I'll be using my Digital Residency to present research for my recent body of work, Fetissoes, where I speculate that a group of enslaved African people jumped overboard their captors ship into the ocean and combine European maritime technology (the master’s tools) with fetishes (African religious objects with magical powers) to create tools to safely return home underwater.

My research crosses into modern and historic traditional African religious practice, European perceptions of African fetishes, the resultant Christianisation of former African colonies, the persistent, pernicious cultural impact of Christian mission work therein, and my own fraught relationship with Christianity as a colonial import. It will be presented in the form of imagined chain messages and memes. Updated daily, I will use primitive animation, gifs, and other vestiges of Web.0 to create these images, fabulating evidence of viral, colonial digital mission work.

︎ kialytihngang.com

Philippa Brown 9.10.23 - 20.10.23

During the residency with Arcadecampfa, I will be creating and posting a short film 'sketch' everyday for 12 days between 9th-20th October, a daily Horror-scape. I will use the platform to investigate lo-fi filming and editing, performance and sound through the lens of folk horror, psychedelia and oracles.  This may or may not add up to something at the end ><

Philippa makes sculptures and installations as a means to explore the ambiguous, magical and sometimes fragile interconnectedness between histories, materials, beliefs and bodies of all kinds.Nostalgia, subcultures and the occult are the portals through which I explore conformity and alternative ways of living. There is an undercurrent of humor that runs through my work with an ominous tension reflecting on the opposing forces, dark and joyful with human experience and nature.

︎ philippabrown.co.uk

Gweni Llwyd 15.9.23 - 29.9.23

I'm excited to be using the Arcade/Campfa digital residency space to build a bug. This bug may be an experimental multi-layered, digital Frankenstein, who will nest on the cargo site - sharing its secrets, stomach contents and multiplying itself. I aim to investigate ideas of 'bug' as an unexpected problem as well as insect, and how unexpected problems open up space for new ideas.

︎ gwenillwyd.com
Owain Train McGilvary & Taluah Thomas 8.9.23 - 23.9.23

TriTRItri
TriTRItri, the word tri (3) repeated in different registers. This work is a kaleidoscopic exploration of queer imagery, sound and spoken word using The Three Crowns (a gay pub that was destroyed by fire in 2014) as it's springboard. The video is a result of various discussions and sharings between McGilvary and Thomas asking the question 'what's Cymraeg queerness anyway'?. 

Owain Train McGilvary
is an artist from Ynys Môn working with moving image, drawing, painting and collage that is anchored in collaboration. He is interested in modes of communication derived from popular culture and queer vernaculars, through investigating the subcultures that engage with them. Often guided by the tensions between fact and feelings, he devotes projects with people over long periods of time through building trusting relationships that continue beyond the legacy of the work.

Talulah
is a DJ, composer & writer from Llangollen. Previous work includes sound design with theatre company Nothing More To Say for ‘52 Monologues for Young Transsexuals’ at Vaults Festival and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. They were also part of Peak Cymru’s ‘Pegwn’ programme alongside Dylan Huw and Llinos Anwyl, resulting in audio-visual work on the use of language as an artistic and political tool. Talulah’s sound work is rooted in collaboration, community-building & conversations around queerness.

︎ owaintrainmcgilvary.cargo.site
︎ soundcloud.com/user-425474880

Gwenllian Davenport 3.7.23 - 14.7.23

Afoniaieth
Afoniaeth is a made-up Cymraeg word, a blend of two Welsh words: afon + barddoniaeth // river + poetry. Within her online residency, Gwenllian will explore her local rivers' language through sound, film, photography, print and sculpture. Questioning how we might translate a river and discover its afoniaieth.

Gwenllian Davenport is a bilingual artist from Merthyr Tydfil. Her practice explores her identity and her relationship with bilingualism. Gwenllian’s practice is largely inspired by her local landscape and this informs her making and use of materials.

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Gair ffug yw Afoniaeth; cyfuniad o ddau air Cymraeg: afon + barddoniaeth. O fewn ei chyfnod preswyl ar-lein, bydd Gwenllian yn archwilio iaith ei hafon leol trwy sain, ffilm, ffotograffiaeth, print a cherflunio, wrth gwestiynu sut y gallem gyfieithu afon a darganfod ei afoniaieth.

Artist dwyieithog o Ferthyr Tudful yw Gwenllian Davenport. Mae ei hymarfer yn archwilio ei hunaniaeth a’i pherthynas â dwyieithrwydd. Mae Gwenllian wedi’i hysbrydoli gan ei thirwedd leol ac mae hyn yn llywio ei dewisiadau o ddeunyddiau a’i ffurf o greu.

︎ www.gwenlliandavenport.co.uk
︎ @gwenlliandavenport

Tom Crawford & Samuel Hasler 15.5.23 - 29.5.23

Tom Crawford and Samuel Hasler take residency online at Arcade Campfa for the next two weeks. Over the past couple of years they have been accumulating an eclectic range of film, text, animation and audio with loose connections to cinema, suburban spaces and the nocturnal, whilst also at times, reflecting on the collaboration process itself.

They will test out and try to make sense of some of this material. The aim is to make stuff that's fun, that has a bit of energy and that has momentum. This will include new collaborative video work and writing.

︎ tcrawford.co.uk
︎ @tomcrwfrd

︎ samuelhasler.co.uk
︎ @samhaslerart

Dina Kelberman 1.3.23 - 28.3.23

Dina Kelberman is a multi-media artist who explores human nature through found digital media.  Her accumulations create monuments to our pervasive need to connect, create, and destroy.  She has created web-based pieces for the New Museum and Marina Abramovic Institute and exhibits internationally.  Her work has been written about by The New York Times, Art21, NPR, art theory books and textbooks.  In 2019 she completed her first feature-length recontextualization film, The Goal Is To Live and in 2020 she created an entirely new person.  She is currently engaged in a long-term residency with Fotomuseum Wintherthur, Switzerland in advance of the exhibition Lure of the Image in 2024.

It’s Probably Whatever You Think It Is is an experimental streaming series in which Dina edits her residency page on the gallery website live as viewers watch.  She uploads images, draws on the page, types text, and generally experiments with the capabilities of the Cargo website editor.  The stream is accompanied by a soundtrack of minimalist synthesizers that she is trying to learn how to use and samples of her two-year-old child who she is trying to learn how to raise.  Hopefully it’s not a giant disaster.

Coral Rose Kindred-Boothby - 15.8.22 - 11.9.22

Coral Rose Kindred-Boothby is a musician and maker based in Derbyshire. Under her alias The Silver Field, she has released two LPs of electronic-folk journeys through dream-like environments. In 2021/2022 she was the recipient of an Arts Council DYCP grant focusing on making electronic instruments, and now composing with circuits is a part of her practice.

The Scrubland: an exploration in circuits
Using circuit design and instrument-making to explore an environment of re-wilding industrial space. This is an ongoing project and will be updated throughout the residency.


Frankie Hedger – 1.8.22 – 31.8.22

Frankie Hedger is an artist based in the Devon country side, having recently graduated in fine art from Cardiff Metropolitan University. Her work is interested in creating a concious art practice, regularly working with materials that achieve both sustainable making processes and functional outcomes.

Art Now, Dinner Later?
Recent explorations led to the use of pasta dough to create artworks with the ultimate purpose of consumption. Frankie Hedger will identify forms of edible materials, demonstrating material lifecycles, challenging perceptions on how art can subsequently be used.

︎ @f__art_

Alice Rekab and Uma Breakdown

animals don't vibe with disembodied voices
Alice Rekab and Uma Breakdown have been working together since 2017. Their collaborative research examines animistic and fictional narratives which speak to experiences of kinship and isolation, as well as solidarity through the sharing of traumatic experience and the craft of storytelling and world building. For this residency they have produced works in sound, text, and image, that intersect with each other both formally and conceptually while maintaining aspects of their own particularity.

Alice Rekab
︎ alicerekab.com
︎ @alicerekab

Uma Breakdown
︎ umabreakdown.com
︎ @supsupsupwhat

Katayoun Jalilipour
Katayoun Jalilipour is an Iranian-born multidisciplinary artist, performer and writer based in the UK. Through humour, provocation and storytelling, their practice uses the body as the subject to talk about race, gender identity and sexuality. They work in a variety of mediums including video, GIFs, installation and live performance, and use speculative histories and fictions to re-tell stories through a queer lens.

ℭhe𝔰t of 𝔅east𝖘
Draws inspirations from 19th century Iranian art and western christian depictions of saints in paintings, exploring intimacy and violence. Through a series of sculptures, sound, fictional text and drawings, centring a trans and queer experience.

︎ @katayounjalilipour
︎ katayounjalilipour.com

Anya Paintsil
Anya Paintsil is a North West based artist. Born in North Wales in 1993, Anya’s work is influenced by her dual Welsh and Ghanaian heritages; inspired visually by Fante textiles, Anya combines traditional hand rug making techniques and afro hairstyling methods, to create large scale portraits, comprising yarns, braiding hair and human hair. Anya’s practice is largely autobiographical, frequently exploring race and identity outside of metropolitan areas of the UK, along with personal narratives and memories.

Image: Mair a fi
Punch needled wool and arcylic, latch hooked human hair on hessian. 'Mair a fi' is a portrait of my sister, Mair and I as children.

︎ @anyapaintsil
︎ edcrossfineart.com profile

Emma Daman Thomas
Emma Daman Thomas is a musician and artist living in rural Powys, Wales. She’s a founding member of collaborative band Islet and her solo artistic practice includes design, sound and music.

Warm Leveret
Warm Leveret will be a sonic experiment with harp, electronics and voice.

︎ @emmadaman
︎ emmadamanthomas.com
Jaffrin
Jaffrin is a Welsh Bangladeshi Muslim writer and visual artist based in Cardiff. Her work is an intersectional exploration of the components of her identity and is a means to work through personal trauma whilst being a form of activism.

تزكية - TAZKIYAH - SANCTIFICATION
Following the passing of the month of Ramadan, I will be exploring and creating work in response to the sayings of prophet Muhammad ﷺ and the Quran in regards to the the state of our hearts, the movement from hardness to softness within and the process of purification of the heart.

︎ @_jxffrin
Ilana Harris-Babou 11.4.21 - 1.5.21
Ilana Harris-Babou’s work is interdisciplinary; spanning sculpture and installation, and grounded in video. She speaks the aspirational language of consumer culture and uses humor as a means to digest painful realities. Her work confronts the contradictions of the American Dream: the ever unreliable notion that hard work will lead to upward mobility and economic freedom.


Feeling Better
In Feeling Better, I will continue my exploration of the wellness industry. In particular, I'll be looking at online fitness courses and health gurus. I'm interested in who gets to be "well," and the ways structural inequities are often framed as individual decisions in the US.

︎ ilanahb.com

Michael Kennedy - 1.3.21 - 1.4.21
Michael Kennedy is a cartoonist, writer and visual artist based in Birmingham, UK. His work attempts to capture the intersection of racism’s various media and structural forms and present its multitude of effects on us.

BLACK-OWNED
In an attempt to develop the graphic nature of my recent paper collage works, I’ll be creating absurd comics in the French Abstract Formalist tradition (as coined by Kim Jooha) to accompany a text collaged from newspapers from 2020, that tells the satirical story of someone that willingly becomes “black-owned”.

︎ michaeldkennedy.com

Phoebe Davies - 22.2.21 - 7.3.21
Phoebe Davies is a Welsh artist and researcher, based between Somerset House Studios in London and South Wales. She regularly works in response to individuals and communities, generating work through collaboration, collective devising and sharing models of working across different social and cultural sectors. Her outcomes are project dependent, including print, installation, video, and sound and often draw upon methodologies from feminisms, organic farming and athleticism.

HOAX
During her Arcade Campfa residency Phoebe Davies will be developing new work in text and audio. Departing from personal narratives, this work will explore physicality of farm labouring, the perils of pregnancy and Welsh coastal mythology.

︎ phoebedavies.co.uk


MASH - 18.1.21 - 7.2.21
MASH is a collaborative practice between emerging artists Gwenllian Davenport and Abi Charlesworth. Established as an outlet to experiment and support each other after graduating from their BA Fine Art course at Bath School of art and Design in 2019, their ethos as a duo is to make playfully, accept mistakes and to ultimately have fun.

As a collaborative, MASH uses an innovative approach to rethink materials to hand. This explorative way of making allows them to work directly with materials curiously in the moment, producing unknown outcomes. They describe their collaborative making process, simply, as a mashing of ideas, approaches and methods. MASH aims to engage tangibly with materials, making use of the gripping, squelching, patting, smoothing and the spreading of surfaces.

︎ @mashhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh/
︎ abicharlesworth.co.uk
︎ gwenlliandavenport.co.uk

Si-So
With the support of Arcade-Campfa, MASH will explore the capabilities of remote collaboration. Utilising the online residency to continue their practice, they will exercise the sensibilities of a see- saw (Si-So) by taking it in turns to add, edit, and adapt a new body of work.




Tulani Hlalo - 23.11.20 - 23.12.20
Based in Manchester, Tulani Hlalo works with textiles, video, sound, sculpture and performance; using her work to explore identity and heritage.
︎ tulanihlalo.com

As Shape Not As Sign Of Human Or Narrative (iii) 
As Shape Not As Sign Of Human Or Narrative (iii) is a continuation of a body of work further exploring the abstraction of the body through a series of life casts and videos.




Hannes Schievink & Noa Zuidervaart - 15.6.20 - 15.7.20
Hannes Schievink is a Dutch artist based in Zwolle, the Netherlands. His work mostly focusses on existential questioning, but make it fun. Themes like religion and identity collide with fun and campy imagery and text.
︎ hannesschievink.nl

Noa Zuidervaart is an artist based in Zwolle, the Netherlands. His work focuses primarily on character and narrative based illustrations that take the form of fictional memoirs.
︎ noazuidervaart.nl

E-xodus
Hannes Schievink & Noa Zuidervaart will be creating a webcomic together via e-mail which follows two parties fleeing an undefined danger on Earth and will be a mix of campy science-fiction, drama and existentialism.



GWENBA - 1.6.20 - 1.7.20
I’m interested in exploring communication and connection through the digital realm, mimicking the forms of Nature in the process. Creating growths that speak in data’d tongue /= hieroglyphs that read in emojis sprawled onto rock segments.. microbial MyCelium Systems - (the twitter for mushrooms) and creating a symbiotic language between nature&data:
︎ gwenba.wixsite.com

*earth:born*
is a collection of archived&ongoing work that  explores the relationship between organic and virtual spaces, forming digital growths from the earth’s core with performance, sound, video, text & new:media experiments. / —


Ian Watson - 25.5.20 - 25.6.20
Ian Watson is a Cardiff based artist currently taking part in the G39 Fellowship with support from Freelands Foundation.
︎ @_i_a_n__w_a_t_s_o_n_/

The Path (2020)
Considering the birth of the first city, the weight of ambition, material waste and a zombie coerced into drinking bin juice. Here at the hard edges exists a place where nature rewards us with fruit despite the seemingly unsympathetic terrain.

The script to The Path can be viewed/downloaded below.
︎ The Path