Gemma Burditt: The Art of Milk
Our current artist in residence, filmmaker and animator Gemma Burditt has spent the past six months researching and exploring the current state of dairy farming in Northumberland, through interviews with dairy farmers and with researchers at the Centre for Rural Economy and Institute for Sustainability at Newcastle University.
The resulting work, a four metre long animation spanning the width of the Gymnasium Gallery, traces the history of dairy farming in the County, exploring how businesses have evolved, responded to changing markers and advances in technology, informing how we value milk and it’s production today.
Gemma’s work examines human stories and how individuals negotiate their personal journeys through changes in the wider context, changes in political situations or conflict in personal truth versus societal expectations.
Her recent projects have included ‘Urban birds’ – a documentary about female cycle couriers exploring the need to be physical in an ever sedentary workplace and weighing up the priorities of a pressure to contribute economically with a desire for freedom and personal autonomy; and ‘Through the Hawthorn’ – a multi-screen short film telling the story of a young schizophrenic patient negotiating his way through compulsions to follow voices in psychotic episodes with his mother’s expectation to be “normalised” and a patient’s right to choose when in conflict with a carer’s wishes.
The residency has been supported by the Centre for Rural Economy and Institute of Sustainability at Newcastle University.