We’re excited to welcome graduate Bridget Coderc to Paradise Works, who joined us through our annual partnership with The University of Salford Art Collection Scholarship. A new initiative in its third year, the scholarship includes a studio for twelve months in addition to mentoring. Previous winners include Katie Mcguire and Elliott Flanaghan.

Bridget Coderc in her studio at Paradise Works.

Former studio award winner and PW Marketing Assistant Gwen Evans caught up with Bridget, to discuss what she’s been up to since receiving the scholarship.

How would you describe your practice?

I combine mediums like photography, video, performance, and spoken word to question the subject of emotional experience, memory and the body. Contextually I am interested in themes of the mundane and the everyday. Usually, my ideas come from personal experiences or from psychological theories like Donald Winnicott’s transitional object or Sigmund Freud’s the unconscious.

What have you been up to since graduating?

After being selected for the Scholarship I’ve been settling into my new studio at PW. During this time I’ve started a collaborative art project called VIEUX with friend and sound artist Lee Roberts. This experimental project combines spoken word and abstract visuals made by me, with electronic/psychedelic sounds created by Lee. The words and melancholic imagery depict and describe emotional struggle, which is paired with a dreamy melody. I’ve started a youtube channel to document our work and we're currently preparing to perform our piece as a live set.

How has winning the studio opportunity at Paradise Works influenced your work?

The studio space has given me the freedom to become even more experimental and expressive. I’ve always explored different ways of going about my work, I’ve never stuck to one thing. Sometimes it can even be chaotic! But it’s this element that makes me excited every time I go into the studio. When I arrive I’ll usually set up my camcorder then begin experimenting with my body. By constantly creating and exploring, I develop a large amount of work. Like my inspiration, Burce Nauman once said “Art is everything that you produce in your studio”.

I have divided my space into three sections: performance, research and brainstorming. By having these reference points I am able to push my work further. Having a studio has been invaluable, I think it’s equally important for media and lens-based artists to have a studio space, as it is for painters or sculptors.

Do you have any advice for recent graduates?

My advice would be to sign up for as many opportunities as you can, get into collectives or establish your own, embed yourself within a studio, volunteer and meet people/creatives outside your practice as this expands your work.

Ambitions for the future?

I am planning on finding a permanent studio space, to apply for artist-in-residence programs, produce exhibitions, collaborative projects and be proactive.