Tina on the Union
I was delighted to be approached by Joanna, Ellie and Liz and asked to become the official shop steward of the UUA. There has, for as long as I can remember, been a history of union work in my family. So it was a role that I felt I could happily and naturally fall into. My background in art meant that I had a specific interest in the 'Part-time' project and the diverse practices of the three commissioned artists.
We first met up as a group on 30 May 2006 in Blackpool where Joanna had already started her work placement at the Henderson Hotel. We instantly developed a bond. After a thorough discussion I began to grasp the complexity of the project they were embarking on and started to devise ways of overcoming foreseeable problems, such as being sure to maintain a level of peer support / correspondence to prevent the artists feeling isolated whilst working alone in different parts of the country.
Over the summer, I began my email correspondence with Steven Renshaw of Prime, raising many of the issues that were of concern to the artists. Sadly, however, communication broke down after Prime's snap decision not to recognise the UUA. Following the release of the flawed Prime publication in January 2007, I have began work on a formal response. I will continue to fight until the fascinating works produced by the three artists during 'Part-time' are adequately acknowledged and the issues that they raised collectively and as individuals have been fully engaged with and explored.
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