In February 2020 Nicola Siebert-Patel, Claire Michel and I began strategizing about how we could start a collective project at the end of our MFA studies.

Initially we were considering routes to sponsorship for a show themed around women. We had some early ideas about locations that we might look at for an idea of size and costings. We had planned to meet during the Easter break to brainstorm funding ideas and to allocate individual task responsibility, but then the lockdown occurred, which has delayed our plans.

Recently we met over social media to add impetus to the idea and we now have an initial framework of a plan. We have chosen to call ourselves Open House, this has been born out of the open studios idea usually run in local areas around the U.K. where artists open their doors to the public. The first of many exhibitions will be held in Nicola’s front room in Kingston. We plan to call this show Behind Closed Doors and address ideas on introspection, life, death and heredity. These are areas that we already consider in our practices and concepts that have often come to the forefront over the lockdown period. We have decided to begin small and curate a show for the three of us until such time as it is deemed safe to run full-sized exhibitions and sponsorship can be found. We have diverse practices but our unifying link is that all of us have an interest in domestic narrative. Once the terms of social distancing ease, we will set a date for the show. Our thoughts on the social distancing restriction are that we may invite a few guests at a time over a number of days to mini private views; however all of these issues will be addressed and finalised in a few months’ time when we receive the government guidelines for the next phase for re-opening of venues to the public.

Our intention is for this strategy to establish how we all work as a team and what our individual strengths are. Our inaugural launch will be small but we hope it will ultimately be the start of a winning formula.