Divine Archives

Divine Archives brings together the exchanges of forty six women. Through creative practice these women joined me in what I refer to as the act of archiving. I asked them to consider their bodies as beautiful and radical archives, holding years of embodied knowledge that should be valued and looked to as guides for self-reflection and social organising.

Hungry for the embrace of what women’s consciousness-raising groups offer, we gathered with process as a catalyst for conversation, community, and female friendship.

Our bodies were cast in clay as we brought bodily memories to the surface. We bathed under the sun in the Yorkshire landscape as our forms slowly imprinted onto light sensitive sheets beneath us, and we bravely stepped into each other's worlds – storytelling and performing with vulnerability for the camera. Through shared laughter, tears, and learning, we claimed these spaces as our own, documenting them with a loving and knowing lens. 

With endless gratitude for the rich contributions of all who participated, this body of work positions women as the guardians of living, breathing and present knowledge.

Divine Archives features collaboration from artists Kelly Rankin and Hannah Way. Kelly’s documentation and creative response to our gatherings take shape as two 8mm films (shown in part here) and a series of 35mm black and white photographs. Hannah’s collaboration, as a ceramicist, provided a foundational knowledge and guidance for our clay work, sharing skills with the eight women who joined us.