Melanie Jackson (UK) works with modes of non-fiction storytelling through assemblages of sculpture, writing and moving image. She works with the sensorial and political qualities of the material, drawing upon tales of excess and the absurd, and inventive ways of getting by. There is a focus on the materials, techniques and production networks of bio-techno-capital, and their ‘ur’ formation across time and place. She works with tactics of representation that remain provisional rather than definitive, treating the gallery as a stage for experimentation with art roles: mimicry, documentation, myth fabrication, science, performance, animation, political commentary, music, installation, craft and the cultivation of aesthetic delight.

Spekyng Rybawdy’ is an installation of moving images, drawing and sculpture drawing on the transgressive narratives and explicit symbolism of Medieval pilgrim bawdy badges. Through a carnival of colourful, erotically charged characters made by and for working people ‘Spekyng Rybawdy’ encourages us to re-examine not only our ideas about who took part in the production and circulation of imagery in the medieval period – but also how this might enable us to reconsider the origins of dissenting representations, sexual politics, and our attitudes and behaviors today.