PLACE SETTING
PLACE SETTING is a new film by artist Nina Thomas, commissioned by Animate Projects and British Ceramics Biennial. The title refers to a set of tableware for dining, and also resonates with how lives are shaped by a particular culture, industry and workers. The film explores themes of loss, memory and community, and what it is to live in and work in a hearing world.
In developing the work, Nina researched local archives and met with deaf former ceramic industry workers in Stoke-on-Trent. Interviews with ex-Potteries workers, Malcolm Johnson and Anne Cartlidge, filmed by Conner Wells, are shown as part of the project.
A booklet for the project includes writing by Nina on the background and themes, and her work with composer Chu-Li Shewring on the sound, and with CareFuffle Working Group on the captions. You can download a PDF here: Place Setting booklet April 2024
PLACE SETTING was presented as part of British Ceramics Biennial, Stoke-on-Trent, 23 September – 5 November 2023. A revised version was shown as part of ANIMATE X QUAD in Derby, 25 January – 25 February 2024, and at LUX, London, 6 April – 19 May 2024.
The project has been supported by Deaflinks, The Willows School, Spode Museum Trust, and Stoke-on-Trent City Archives.
Supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.
Nina Thomas
Nina grew up in Staffordshire, and now lives in London. She studied illustration at the University of Derby and has MA in Art and Media Practice from the University of Westminster.
She works predominantly with film and installation, exploring overlooked or under-explored stories and histories. Recent work has focused on her experience of becoming deaf and subsequently seeking to understand other deaf experiences and histories. Exhibitions include The Crypt Gallery, London and OVADA, Oxford.
Nina is profoundly deaf, and as a founding member of The Film Bunch, a deaf and hard of hearing film organisation, she has curated the online screening Deaf Experience and was commissioned by Pan Macmillan to create an animation for poet Raymond Antrobus. Her film Silence was commissioned and exhibited by LUX, London in 2020. She has worked on access and advisory projects at the Victoria and Albert Museum, The Wallace Collection, National Disability Art Collection and Archive, The British Museum, Shape Arts and the D4D research programme. Nina is a trustee at Stagetext.
British Ceramics Biennial
The British Ceramics Biennial (BCB) launched in 2009 with a festival celebrating and showcasing contemporary ceramics from across the world. Set in Stoke-on-Trent – the heart of the UK ceramics industry, the festival takes place in established venues and non-traditional spaces across the city.
Over its ten years of our existence BCB has built up a programme of projects of artists’ residencies, fellowships, commissions, education and enterprise projects running year round. The initiative is intended to be a catalyst for regeneration in the region and to create a platform for innovation and excellence celebrating the best in current ceramic practices, both nationally and internationally.
BCB works in partnership with organisations and individuals in the museums, cultural, industry, business, education, community and voluntary sectors across the city in the development and delivery of projects with a particular focus on public engagement.
dDeafLinks
dDeaflinks, Staffordshire began as North Staffordshire Adult Deaf and Dumb Society in 1868, in a small rented classroom in Hanley. In the 1930s, with its own building, it became the Church and Institute for the Deaf and Dumb, providing weekly meetings and religious services for Deaf people, and support in all aspects of members lives, including finding employment and housing.
It was renamed The Ellis Memorial Centre for the Deaf in 1976, in honour of Joe Ellis, who had been Principle and Secretary for 45 years.
A name change in 2001 to dDeaflinks Staffordshire aimed to indicate two groups represented – the lower-case d representing the hard of hearing and the capital D representing those who are profoundly deaf and use BSL as their means of communication. Services and support to the dDeaf community are equally in demand today as they were in 1868. Today, dDeaflinks’ activities include social groups, from toddlers to 50+ Bingo and signed singing, support services, courses in British Sign Language and Deaf awareness, and providing interpretation services. dDeaflinks is proud to continue its strong history offering support and empower dDeaf people.
