Tanya's trip to Australia

As an Associate Artist with Project Ability, I recently collaborated on a series of conversations with contemporary outsider artists, exploring a new critical language towards the definition of their practice.

We were very excited when we got the call to present this research at Contemporary Outsider Art: the Global Context - at Melbourne University, Australia!

Trains, planes and cars booked - also not forgetting the essential PA, we started our journey...

The research involved having some of the most extraordinary enlightening and refreshing conversations with artists from Project Ability's Re:Connect programme and also Celf o Gwmpas, about their own sense of self. Looking at defining a developing critical language with which to express their practice and give back ownership of their work in a contemporary outsider art landscape.

The artists all had a great sense of pride of their artistry and a strong sense of solidarity, belonging within a creative identity.

It seemed the role of the supported studio spaces at both Project Ability and Celf o Gwmpas to play a vital piece of the jigsaw for the artists to live as practicing artists. Providing them with peer support as well as professional artistic development, accessing exhibiting opportunities both home and away, whilst supporting them to apply for their own project funding too. Providing opportunities that they may not be able to access if it weren't for the support of these artist studios.

I began to wonder how I should represent these conversations, these ideals at a conference that would be examining contemporary outsider art from a global context. A massive ask!

Read more about Tanya's journey on her blog: http://tanyaraabe.wordpress.com