Artist Q&A
Jenny Alderton
"The juxtaposition and contradictions of connectivity within the modern world are really interesting for me, it’s something I think about and engage with in my practice.
Things being online make them far more accessible - especially for those with ill health and disability... the connectivity and platforms the internet creates can be fantastic, especially for marginalised people".
Jenny Alderton talking at the opening day of the Deserters exhibition at Oriel y Bont Treforest, in April 2025. Photograph by Tim Kavanagh.
When did you start making (visual art/other) and why?
2015, in my late twenties. Visiting a friend in Bath, they showed me around the Fringe Arts Bath festival, which just opened my eyes to art. I had never been someone who could “paint or draw” (still can’t really!) so I always thought “art wasn’t for me”, especially at school. I have always been into culture, reading, writing, and music, and then as a teen, I became interested in dance too. I did an English Literature and Creative Writing degree, and I included photographs in my creative writing dissertation, which I guess was me already trying to create using more than just words alone.
At Fringe Arts Bath, I realised art was more than painting and drawing; there were weird installations and sound things and a light work, all sorts! I realised then that art was about expression in so many different forms. The next day, I looked into studying art and applied to do
an art foundation degree at UWTSD. I had come to a point with writing where I felt a little confined, and being able to play with different ways of expressing, and trying to mix all these methods together was- and still is- really exciting to me.
Why? Good question! Very good question! It’s kind of a drive; I feel the urge to create. It’s like things bubble around in my mind, and I want to try to get them out, look at them, play with them, see what other people think.
Current project: Material Memories, 2025-ongoing. Photograph by Jenny Alderton.
How would you describe your making process? How do you use your energy and time to produce work alongside your illness? What spaces and places do you make in?
Chaotic, stressful, cathartic, complicated, simple, tiring, frustrating, fun, satisfying, never-ending! If I'm moving or writing, it's very instinctive; I switch my brain off, and it happens. I then go back to edit. For work like film and installation, I am not really process-driven; I tend to get a weird idea in my head and then try to work out how (if!) I can make it happen! Usually, once it’s done, that's it; it's done. I have lots of ideas and not a lot of time, so I don't tend to go back and revisit that much. I’m a perfectionist, so I have to try to put that out of my mind when making. If I were revisiting things, I'd just get stuck on one thing forever! I try to think things are what they are when they're made, and to be honest, that often works better than what was in my head in the first place!
I read a lot, listen to a lot of music, make lots of notes, observe the world, and I think it all just goes into the big vat of subconscious and lies in wait, talking with one another, connections being made, questions being raised. I have a terrible memory, so I'm not sure if this is the best way for me to work! But there we are! I use my energy sparingly!
For me, it's been a long journey learning to balance illness with everyday life, let alone creating as well - it still is, to be honest. It took me a long time to give myself permission to stop and rest. I ploughed on, and that made my health a lot worse, and I couldn't create. Now I listen as much as I can to my body and illness, looking for signs and little warnings about how I am doing. I give myself a lot of rest time. I sleep about 10-14 hours a day; if I didn't, my brain wouldn't work. So, although I have less time awake, that time is actually far more usable. Rest is the main thing for me, guilt-free rest! If I need to rest, I do it. Luckily, I am quite lazy, so it comes quite easily to me! I also plan ahead a lot and ensure I have activities spaced out with a lot of recovery time. I make a lot in my mind.
I spend a lot of time thinking and planning, really going through project details in my mind - this is something I can do whilst I physically rest. It means I can rest, but still, if not get things done, at least get things lined up and organised, prepared. Often, before a nap, or just when I am resting, I think a lot about the practicalities of a piece of work- thinking through different options, potential problems, finding solutions, working out priorities and action plans. So, when I'm in the making, I can use all my energy for that, rather than any of these things, which would completely sidetrack me and take all my energy!
As for physically making, at the moment, I have a computer and some space up in the attic at home. Luckily, we have a big garage, so I work on big projects and installations in there. I have to create at home; working elsewhere is too much for my health. By the time I get anywhere, I'd need to rest, so a studio elsewhere would just become an expensive nap room! As much as I would enjoy the space and potential community, it is just not workable for me. Movement is a lot harder. I haven't worked with this for a while, simply because I don’t have anywhere to move at the moment, unfortunately.
‘Homevideo | Videohome’ Installation, Galeri Caernarfon, 2024. Photographs by Jenny Alderton
What inspires you? Books, film, art, podcasts, etc? Recently or in the past...
Artists, discarded items in public space, writers, reflections on water, naps, resting, wandering, daydreams, doing nothing, time, being bored, thinking, reading, odd noises, unnoticed things, wondering, non-places, driving, synchronicity, communication, technology, expression, an eggshell, a song, a line in a book, things which get me out of my head, things which get me into my head, wistfully staring out of the window of a bus or train, clouds, things that make me feel very small, all sorts of things! I'm not picky! Things that spark a sense of 'Oooooh!' in me, things that draw me in, make me notice them. That can lie in pretty much anything, I think. Like many artists, I find myself returning to similar themes, so I think they must, in some manner, inspire me. For me, these include time, self, communication, connection and technology, slowness and crip time, places and psychogeography. But, really, I see everything as interconnected, so it's hard to limit my interests to these, and also hard to limit my inspirations. Nonetheless, I guess I'm drawn to things which express something of these subjects, or talk to me of them - especially in a new way. So, anything that talks of these things inspires me.
Going back to when I was at school, I was bored; nothing they taught seemed remotely relevant. Manic Street Preachers were a cultural lifeline to me, I became an absolute self-confessed 'culture slut' and 'manic's obsessive’ (still am I suppose!) They talked and sang
about politics, art, literature, important things! Through them, I found Albert Camus, Sylvia Plath, Patrick Jones, I failed maths because I was too busy reading Primo Levi covertly under the desk! But I felt I had found a connection with the world, and a door opened into culture for me. If it wasn't for that, I don't know where I would be, to be honest. They continue to inspire me and introduce me to artists like Vivian Maier and David Hurn.
Recent inspirations have been ‘The Book of Form and Emptiness’ by Ruth Ozeki, ‘non-places’ Marc Auge, Louisa Munch Theory, I’ve also been trying to read and understand a bit more about hauntology and hypermodernity, so Mark Fisher and Gilles Lipovetsky. I listen to a lot of music, but recently dark wave European goth really helps me get into a creative mood, not sure why! Bands like Lebanon Hanover and Molchat Dorma. I think there’s like an uplifting melancholia I find resonates with me. Also, I can’t not mention ‘Dispatches From Elsewhere’. Mentally, I keep returning to this programme again and again! Its beauty and humanity, its explorations of narrative, psychogeography, connection, searching for meaning in the contemporary work, hopelessness and hopefulness, the self and loss, whimsy as survival. It blew me away and is an amazingly inspiring piece of work for me.
Working with [per]mission to Play: Facilitated creative walk as part of our ‘Stop and Play’ project. Cardiff, 2024.
Photograph by Jenny Alderton.
Below: Jenny Alderton facilitating a creative walking tour ‘Hiraeth a’r Filltir Sgwar: Longing and Belonging’ for the Fifth World Congress of Psychogeography, 2025.
Photograph by Rik Fisher.
How would you describe your relationship to the wider world?
Small. I am naturally very introverted; that, together with chronic ill health and fatigue, means I don’t really get out much. Illness is naturally isolating. I have a very small number of close friends; I don’t see them much in person but keep in touch with them. I am lucky I’m an
unsociable bugger! I loved lockdown, and that’s really not far from how I live, to be honest! Like many, I have to balance being in touch with the world and not being overwhelmed by it!
The juxtaposition and contradictions of connectivity within the modern world are really interesting for me, it’s something I think about and engage with in my practice. Things being online make them far more accessible- especially for those with ill health and disability - which is fab, and the connectivity and platforms the internet creates can be fantastic, especially for marginalised peoples. However, the echo chambers, doom scrolling and algorithmic extremism can be dangerous.
I was lucky enough to be chosen for an online residency during lockdown, where I met some other artists, and we formed a collective. [per]mission to Play are a group of artists and cultural practitioners interested in public space. We're based in Canada, Wales, Greece, and Germany. We discuss and engage with processes that question public space and meet with one another mainly online, which makes this avenue of connection accessible to me. This is a big connection for me creatively and socially and keeps my mind ticking over with interesting interactions and thoughts. I am incredibly grateful for this connection; the other members are fab people and wonderful artists. Recently, I have started to help run the annual Fifth World Congress of Psychogeography. Again, this has been really good for me to reach out and connect in the world, and as most of it is organised through emails and online; again, it is accessible to me.
Deserters has been a wonderful project to be involved with; reassuring, supportive and inspiring. Being in a group with other artists who share health challenges, yet still create, or use these challenges as inspiration, has been fab. It makes you feel less alone when you see and engage with others in the same situation.
Stills from i am here now, video work shown at Deserters exhibition, Oriel y Bont, Treforest in 2025. (Video made in 2021.). Images by Jenny Alderton.
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