Yesterday I sat in class all day learning about fundraising and writing my artist statement. I nearly didn’t go because writing about my work scares me! Honestly I stood by the front door debating it. I had to submit a draft artist statement in advance - so I sent the press release that journalist Dominic Walsh wrote. It turned out that the teacher wanted my own version! 

To help Laura Robertson set us lots of 5 minute exercises and they were fun, a riot of imaginative writing and nobody to point out the errors in structure, spelling and grammar. I was free to write erotica, longings from the heart, critique a photo, it was so creative and suited me to play with words as I play with images.

Well the big news was that I actually wrote an artist statement all by myself and then decided to read it out loud. I’m not ready to share it yet with you, but I had expected to freeze rather than write. I think Laura tricked me by making it risk free to be honest.

In the afternoon we had more fundraising training. All art is made for free. If you need to pay the mortgage and put food on the table, pay for the exhibition or book you have to hold the digital equivalent of a jumble sale. So Monika Neall - the super woman of bid writing came to drill us. She is an Impact Consultant and was very keen to tell us which pitfalls to avoid. If I do my book of Trans Portraits how can I measure the change the book will create? If I don’t do the book, what does the world loose? Really big questions and a new way to start thinking about my bid.

Answers: 

We would lose a document of trans people in Britain

If 48% of trans people consider suicide we need a record of those who live and build meaningful lives as nurses, doctors, accountants, the stay at home Dad, the man who runs a charity for the homeless, the scientist who is saving lives, the war veteran. 

Yet by 5pm I was worried. You see I cannot think of a way, as yet, to be paid to work on this project. So it’s back to squeezing it into my spare time or pushing it to the back of the queue so I can focus on earning the minimum wage. Despite Redeye- The Photography Network offering first rate training, I am still searching for solutions. 

If you can help do get in touch!