Plague and Locusts 2020: Jonathan Kelham

Jonathan’s work predominantly explores the construction of a romanticised, melancholic and self-deprecating notion of Englishness presented in the reoccurring qualities of subjective utopian philosophies. The work presents a collection of hybrid characters [Joe Orton Paddington Bear. Alan Moore Count Duckula. Brian Clough The Brain. Kate Bush Eeyore…] who explore this particular bumbling, narcissistic self in a hyperbolised fictional space ‘The Leaders of Men’.

The multi-disciplinary project [2009-present] incorporates; humdrum drawing, z-movie film, shonky animation, ill-composed collage, lucid letters, dubious typography, annoying morse code and references to Bury. The Leaders of Men has been exhibited Internationally In Group And Solo Shows Including: Dundee Contemporary, Generator Projects, Spike Island, John Hansard Gallery & The Netherlands Institute For Sound And Vision.

Jonathan Kelham [B. 1986] has completed Postgraduate Qualifications at Birmingham Institute of Art & Design and University of Essex [UK.], he is currently undertaking an Art Practice PhD at UCA.

Kelham gave some succinct answers to our questions.

JK. I'm a multidisciplinary artist and educator based in Bristol UK, but have relocated a lot across the last decade [Hull. Birmingham. London. Southampton. Essex. Bristol. Gloucestershire]. I completed Postgraduate Qualifications [MFA & PGCE] at Birmingham Institute of Art & Design and University of Essex [PGCHEP], and been really fortunate to be awarded a Art Practice PhD studentship at UCA which I'm currently undertaking.

E. How did you get involved with video art?

JK. I've made one single-on-going project for the last decade too, 'Leaders of Men'. This multi-disciplinary project [2009-present] incorporates; humdrum drawing, z-movie film, shonky animation, ill-composed collage, lucid letters, dubious typography, annoying morse code and references to Bury. Throughout this period animation, film and video works have occurred at intervals - mainly when I think they are the most relevant modes of making for that particular point in time.

https://vimeo.com/510013414

Fuck, Where Is The Mute: Leaders Annual General Meeting 2021, Jonathan Kelham, 2020.

E. How everything has changed (or has it?) in these conditions, what about the work you make now, what preoccupies you most now, when compared to your previous dominant themes?

JK. 'Fuck,...' is very much my Lockdown work - its really straight - just a reflection of the shift in language / platforms / sayings that are now universal. Our continual relocation has meant that 'studios' fell away quite quickly so the studio is often in the commute and on the laptop etc. so again Lockdown has not shifted the conditions too much.

E. Are you finding these conditions very hard? Or is it a welcome break to be able to concentrate solely on work, rather than do other, money-making things?

JK. ​Very Hard.

The Leaders of Men, Jonathan Kelham

E. Has your concentration intensified or fallen away?

JK. Fallen Away.

E. Is making work therapeutic or challenging nowadays? In difference to before.

JK. It's more therapeutic but I need to be disciplined in the time I allow for thinking and making - the thinking really only ever happens during the normal everyday tbh - the making happens in the evenings when I've got the energy / idea ready in my head - so the thinking is done and the time can be allocated predominantly to making.

E. Do you think being artists makes you more resilient in these times? Meaning that those who have regular jobs, salaries etc. are now stuck at home with very uncertain futures ahead, as you always have.

JK. Maybe.

E. How do you think the role of the arts may change post-Lockdown?

JK. I'm hoping that the D-I-Y and artist led projects - spaces and instigations remain - lots of which have been only in existence during the LD and that the monies are shared out more.

E. Do you think this whole event will alter the way we engage with the world afterwards?

JK. Yes.