Hannah Dinsdale

These are extracts from a book made by ADAM; a collective I co-run with Alastair Kwan, Millie Laing-Tate & Helen Wilson. The book was designed by Anya Landolt and Ryan Sargent.

I wrote this story based on a sleepover that we had in an office at Adam House, off the Strand, in October 2020. Due to Covid-19, London was strangely quiet and I found the experience quite spooky. Since lockdown restrictions eased in April, and me and my dad both had our vaccines, we worked on the story together from my parent's house in London.

You can find out more about ADAM via our Instagram.

Earlier this year I worked with Sophie Giller on a duo show called ‘Rock-a-stack’. The title of the show came from the digital drawing (left) and the tapestry (right). Through many WhatsApp voice notes and Zoom calls, Sophie and I created the tapestry together based on my original digital drawing. As a child plays with a Rock-a-Stack toy, they are building and layering while learning hand-eye coordination, and connecting in a tactile and sensory way to the material world. We both felt this approach of understanding materials reflected our process-led way of working and became the starting point for our collaborative show. 

You can read our exhibition text and see more images here.

This is a second extract from our ADAM book.

In response to my practice, my friend and artist Alice Walter has written the following text: 

The colour blue is a very curious creature, precious from its rarity in history and yet common above us; loving in its motherly healing yet staining in its indigos and melancholy. She brings it down to earth and breathes life into it, through the electricity of dyed veins and the spring of cushioning: building an energy system of care. There is a refusal to blindly accept the myth of ‘impossibility’ that rules access exclusive and energy a commodity.

More images and full text can be found here.