Offsite9: Communion - Thomas Jack Brown

Images: Courtesy of Thomas Jack Brown - Archive video from Media Archive of Central England at University of Lincoln.

Communion is a site-specific video installation tied to the BAS9 theme of ‘tactics for togetherness’. Hosted within the chapel of St. Peter’s Church in the city centre, Communion contains archival footage and images of some of Wolverhampton’s citizens collapsed together to show the city’s history in a non-linear way. 

What’s your connection to the Christian faith and the church?
My connection began through architecture and interiors. Visiting religious buildings and witnessing rituals of worship which have existed for centuries leaves me in a state of awe. The tempos at which we live our lives feels incredibly fast so to connect and be witness to buildings and practices that have been permanent features for so many people over so many centuries and in so many places across the world is an astounding feeling. Permanence across time is important.

I did my undergraduate study at Canterbury Christ Church University and had free access to the cathedral and gardens. I used it all the time, to have a reflective moment or as a quiet route to campus. As a wide-eyed teenager in a new place, whenever I got lost in the city I used the cathedral to find my way home. It became a big source of comfort to me, like one would assume it was for visitors and pilgrims over the centuries. Graduating in Canterbury cathedral for my degree and Worcester cathedral for my MA were special moments of my life. I visited Toulouse in 2016 and spent time in The Basilica of Saint-Sernin and the Cathédrale Saint-Étienne, in 2018 I visited Buckfast Abbey and in 2021 I visited the grounds of the Caldey Abbey off the coast of Tenby. Each allowed for a deep appreciation of what and who has come before me.

How have you developed the idea for Communion?
Communion has seen different prior iterations and has gone through various changes in its conception but the running theme has been archive footage. I used archival footage and audio of Wolverhampton in a piece called Wolverhamptopia (2020) made during a residency at The Asylum Art Gallery. This was focused on the city’s architecture/topography, whereas Communion is focused on its people in line with the theme of ‘tactics for togetherness’.
I am incredibly grateful to St. Peter’s Church for agreeing to host Communion as I think there is a harmony between piece, site and audience.
To have work installed in a religious site is a personal achievement. The US video artist Bill Viola is a personal hero and his piece Martyrs in St. Paul’s Cathedral is an incredibly evocative installation. To be able to emulate an element of Viola’s career with my own installation feels incredible.
Communion has developed in conversation with other commissioned artists and staff at Creative Black Country. Negotiating a proposed piece of work between partners is a really important and useful step to the overall creative process. The conversations and changes along the way are as rewarding as completing and exhibiting the final work.

What draws you to archives?
It is similar to my connection to faith – that same feeling of being connected to what has come before you.
However, a different mindset is adopted when using archival materials as an artist. There’s an interesting objectivity in using archival material which provides freedom from potential bias or subjectivity. This could be digitally editing or when I have physical access to archive materials like Super8 film reels, where I can irrevocably change the material with paint or bleach. I can make bold decisions and have a greater field for experimentation.

How will you work with communities?
I propose to conduct talks with church congregation members and other groups of patrons of Offsite9 and BAS9. I also will be attending church services which gives me the chance to meet the communities that will be witness to the work. It will be interesting to receive feedback and generate dialogue.
Communion will have a physical visitor comments book and a QR code to a feedback portal to give thoughts on the piece via mobile technology.

Can you describe how your work is linked to the BAS9 ‘tactics of togetherness’ subject?
I have collapsed different times, spaces and people who have existed in Wolverhampton into one video, overlaying footage, for instance, of the celebrations of King George’s Silver Jubilee in 1935, a carnival in Lower Penn from the 1950s, factory workers from the 1960s and the city centre in the 1970s. This community is built by trades and industries, by people of many different religions, ethnicities, ages, beliefs and a community that is proud of its ability to come together such as in defiance of the former Wolverhampton MP Enoch Powell’s ‘rivers of blood’ speech. Those marches and actions, a physical manifestation that stated ‘his words are not who are’, are testament to what Wolverhampton citizens can do when united in common thought and belief.

What do you hope audiences will experience?
I hope audiences gain an appreciation for the people that have come before them and what can be learnt from their own past. There is so much be learnt from archive footage. Stories of our local area, held by the older residents of our communities, can sometimes be diluted or lost to time. Archives are ways of keeping stories and lessons connected to us in the present and are valuable resources. 

Communion
Thomas Jack Brown
22 January - 10 April - Monday to Friday: 11-2pm.
St Peter's Collegiate Church, Free, Drop in