Jemima Hoadley, standing in a winter forest scene, dressed in a grey vest and knickers, staring into the distance. She faces diagonally forward in the centre of the scene, bare arms hung down by her sides, bare feet in the soil and leaves , belly slightly distended. Her dark hair hanging down behind her shoulders. A large tree skeleton looms behind her. Colours are muted brown, grey and green. The steely grey sky appears through the thicket of branches behind the tree.

Jemima, dancing, against a blue sky. The image is square and is mostly blue.  In the image, Jemima protrudes from the left of the frame, as if flying on her side, dark hair in a ponytail.  Her two arms are extended forward, one up and one down, with palms hooked towards her, as if she is holding something away from herself.  To the right, of the image, on the same line as her hands, is a bird, in flight.

Jemima, dancing against a blue sky.  The image is square and is mostly blue.  Jemima protrudes hovering mid air, from the top right of the frame, with one arm bent in front of her face and the other arm reaching out and downwards. Her gaze is towards her outstretched arm, eyes partially closed.  She wears as pale grey vest.  Her torso is slightly slumped in motion.  At the top of the image, a faint white vertical line can be seen.

A white woman, crouched on a forest floor, in vest and knickers. Bare feet, legs and arms covered in soil. Palms pressing down into wet leaves, feeling her way and steadying herself,  Her hair wild, eyes cast down, closed. Forehead creased. The bow of a tree and branch behind her. 

Jemima and Blaise in a winter forest scene. Jemima is hunched over, cradling Blaise, who is wrapped around her waist. They wear pale grey vests and knickers, Blaise’s knickers are pale grey with big black spots on them. Jemima has soil on her bare arms, and thighs. They’re faces cannot be seen. Jemima’s long hair hangs down covering her face. One of Jemima’s arms cradles Blaise’s shoulders in front of her. Her other arms reaches behind her and hooks Blaise’s legs behind her back. Mossy green tree trunks and branches extend behind them.

Jemima and Blaise in a winter forest scene, dressed in vests and knickers. Jemima stands holding Blaise across her right shoulders, in a fireman’s lift. Jemima’s right hand is hooked over the back of Blaise’s legs, her gaze cast down to the floor, a half smile on her face. Blaise’s right arm is hooked loosely over Jemima’s shoulders, her left hand curled up into her neck as she coils into her mother’s back, eyes cast down. Jemima’s bare arms and legs are dirty with black soil. Jemima’s long hair is dark with a thick blonde streak in the middle of her head, hangs down onto Blaise’s arm. A mossy green tree trunk and sinewy brown branches angle up in diagonals behind them.

Jemima and her 10 year old daughter Blaise in a forest scene, their arms reaching up, entwined, both their heads arched back looking up at their arms. Their faces partially obstructed by their arms. A thick tree trunk arches up directly behind them. Wispy branches feathering out, blurred. In the image we see only their heads and outstretched arms. Blaise has short cropped hair. It is as if they are at, and are, the very tree tops.

A video of close ups of Jemima’s left hand, shot in slow motion.  The middle two fingers are scared, deformed and carry extra flesh, so they look someone podgy in comparison to the other fingers.  The middle finger is bent, at an angle at the top joint.  The hand stretches and closes, tendons tightening and loosening.  The hand swings uncontrolled.  The hand beckons. The hand runs, in slow motion, like a spider running towards the camera.  The hands dangles trembling.  The hand, against a white wall, slides into view, a crude drawing of a face drawn in black across the middle two fingers.  The hand is a face, a spider, scuttling out of frame.

Jemima, a white woman with long dark hair tied in a loose pony tail and dressed in a light sleeveless black dress falls repeatedly in slow motion onto a single bed against a white wall. She rebounds as she hits the bed. The bed has a patterned duvet and pillow case, something a young child or teenager might have. There is a colourful map of Europe on the wall. Part way through Jemima continues to fall but is now naked, the flesh of her belly, thighs and buttocks rebounds in slow motion. She sometimes falls forwards onto her front, and sometimes fall backwards onto her back.

Jemima’s head and shoulders. She stands in profile against an out of focus winter forest scene. Her two-tone blonde and black hair covers her face: her left ear and jaw line visible.  She wears a vest, her bare arm dirtied with soil. The bare trees around her contrast starkly with the white sky behind.

Jemima, dressed in a pale grey vest, with bare arms, moving against the sky as the backdrop. Jemima is a white woman, in her mid-4os, with Jewish heritage. She has shoulder length dark hair, with a white streak through the centre.

From left to right

In the first image, to the left, Jemima looks forward and out into the distance. We are slightly below her looking up into her face. Her arms are raised up above her shoulders, armpits exposed. Her hair hangs about her face, with strands cutting across her left eye.

In the centre image, Jemima seems to be hanging down from the top of the frame, with her left arms dangling down into the frame.  Her eyes are closed with her head tilted to the side (up towards the top of the frame), her hair rising up towards the sky.

In the third image to the right, Jemima is mid movement, her right elbow bent in front of her face, her eyes peaking out above her arm and staring off into the distance, looking out to the right. Her shoulders are hunched back and her left arm is extended out of the frame.

The back of a child’s head and back. She has short cropped messy hair and wears a pale vest, arms bare, with winter tree branches in the background. The child’s left arms is bent up above her head, a right angle at her elbow. The fingers of her hand are being clasped by an outstretched arm reaching diagonally up into the frame from the right. The skin of the palm and elbow of this arm are puckered. A pale grey sky creates silhouettes of the winter tree branches behind them. The branches extending up like fingers to the sky. The child’s right arm is connected to the arm of the person out of frame. Their arms create a diamond shape that frames the back of the child’s head.

Jemima printed on cotton cloth. Jemima, a white woman dressed in vest and knickers, dirty with soil, is in the descent from a leap. Her bare arms, are flung up above her, head flung back exposing her neck and jaw, hair flailing behind her. A thick tree trunk reaches up behind her and the grey sky can be seen though tree branches.

Jemima with her 10 year old daughter Blaise. They are dressed in vest and knickers, in a winter forest scene. Each image captures their heads and torsos, moving in front of tree trunks and thick branches.

From left to right

In the first image, Blaise arches back looking over her right shoulder, arms stretched wide, as Jemima, who is positioned behind her, gently manipulates Blaise’s arms and back with soft hands.  Jemima’s gaze is cast down, focused on Blaise’s back. Thick branches weave close behind them.

In the centre image, Jemima stands behind Blaise, with one arm clasped around her daughter’s chest; her other arm and hand shielding Blaise’s eyes from seeing. Blaise’s left arm is bent up about her middle, fingers gently curled. Jemima’s long wavy hair, dark with a white streak through the centre, is hung down over her face. Thick tree branches curl behind them.

In the third image, Blaise and Jemima are close together. Blaise is standing behind Jemima in profile, with her front pressed into her mother’s back, her bare right arm hooked over her shoulder. Jemima is facing away, so we see the back of her head. The thick branches behind them are out of focus.

Projected film. Description to come.

‘Changing the programme around older people’s roles. Can we look at this (ageing and menopause) as a process that can offer dignity?

Who are the older people who are really challenging some of the beliefs around how one should be involved in society, as an older person, and how one should conduct their relationships, as an older person?

I don’t actually have to be bitter. I don’t have to hold on.  It is a choice. I can keep going over it for years and years, or I can say, “Are these thought processes serving me? Are these relationships serving me?” And if not, don’t do it.’

Quotes taken from a conversation with Jenny Bell, August 2021.

You are invited to ponder the question:  “If the year was a lifetime, what month are you, at the moment, in your life?” and contribute your thoughts here, on the chalk wall.

Video playing on the monitor on the mezzanine. Description to come.

Top

Blaise, 10 years old, being held hanging upside-down, her right arm hanging down, reaching toward the ground, which is muddy and covered in brown leaves. Blaise is being held, by Jemima, bare legged and barefoot, her legs covered in damp soil. Wearing just pants, her arm wrapped around Blaise’s upside-down waste, clutching her to her own waist, mid step, toes curling up, keeping balance. A blurred tree trunk cuts diagonally across the frame, behind them. The image is cut off at the waist, so we see only Blaise’s torso and Jemima’s legs.

Middle

In the image we see only the right arm of a white woman and her right eye. Her bare arm reaches up to the sky, cutting a diagonal, from the bottom left of the frame to the top right. Her fingers soft, reaching. Her eye looks up beyond her fingers. A small child’s hand lightly clasps her arm, just above the elbow. We cannot see the rest of the child. Blurred winter tree branches fill the background, with a bright grey sky behind.

Bottom

A black and white photograph filling the other half of the atrium window of Jemima and Blaise, dressed in pale vests with bare arms, outside in a winter forest.  Blaise, with her short cropped hair, is curled forward over Jemima. It is not immediately obvious if Jemima is curled forwards, or arching backwards.  Her hair hangs down obstructing her face. Blaise’s right arm is hooked over Jemima’s shoulder and Jemima’s arms clasp up around Blaise’s back.  Blaise’s right eye is visible and looks out beyond the camera.  A bare branch cuts a diagonal line behind them.

In the video Jemima and her 10 year old daughter Blaise, dressed in shorts, trainer socks and colourful patterned t-shirts, move in fast forward.  Jemima gets down on hands and knees and Blaise climbs, rolls, slides, see-saws and balances on Jemima’s back.  At one point, Jemima places pink yoga mats on top of a wooden bench and demonstrates to Blaise different techniques of moving, in contact. The video loops.