Poppy Jackson – Tower

We are delighted to invite you to Poppy Jackson’s Tower, a performance taking place in Wattisfield, Suffolk, as the culmination of the year-long programme Pathways Home.

Tower activates the inherent political potency of the maternal body within a rural setting. The work explores the interconnected dynamic of mothering and artistic practice, within the open landscape that has become an integral part of the artist’s life and her children’s upbringing.

The performance crosses through agricultural buildings and land set in the meadows and farmland of a home in rural Suffolk: a mile-long footpath through the fields connects the location with the artist and her two young daughters’ house. This idyllic setting, near to where Poppy grew up herself, belies a reality of gender-specific challenges and barriers. The global children’s charity Plan International UK recently uncovered that this is one of the UK’s toughest places to be a girl, due to ingrained patriarchal tradition, rural isolation, gender-based violence, and economic, health and educational disadvantages.

Poppy has developed this work using materials, objects and architecture integral to the site. She is grateful for the involvement of neighbours and key people in her family’s lives in the performance process.

The performance will last around 50’. Refreshments provided by Lavender Lattes will be available upon arrival and post-performance.

LADA and the artist would like to thank the site owners for their collaboration in making this event happen.

Please note that the work may include nudity, bodily fluids and themes of motherhood.

Tower has been supported by LADA as part of the Live Art in Rural UK year-long programme, conceived by LADA’s former Director Vivian Chinasa Ezugha. Live Art in Rural UK focused on amplifying the embodied practices of artists living and working in rural locations across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.