Michael Barnes-Wynters (BEYOND)
BEYOND is our bi-monthly online artist gathering and we thought it was about time we spotlighted the facilitator, Michael Barnes-Wynters.
BEYOND, developed by us at YVAN and Michael, is an open and safe space for artists and arts workers to make connections, friendships, request feedback on recent work and a place to share resources whilst being encouraged to test out ideas. Find any upcoming gatherings here.
Michael Barnes-Wynters, a cultural connector and enabler, is the perfect host for these sessions and as a multi-disciplined artist himself, let’s find out more about Michael (aka Barney Doodlebug)…
Michael is a typographic artist, instigator and the eternal crate-digger of the vaults of history. An ambidextrous user of analogue and digital technologies, he feverishly interrogates the intersection between popular culture and the residues of colonisation.
“My art activities ask blunt, relevant and meaningful questions that tackle human suffrage and injustice, climate racism, gender exploitation and control.”
Can you tell us a bit about your practice as a visual artist?
Proudly hailing from Bristol and Manchester's underground club cultures, my practice is a remixing of stories designed and curated through my Afro-Caribbean heritage gaze as typographer, graphic artist, publisher, multi-disciplined audiovisual artist and instigator. My art activities ask blunt, relevant and meaningful questions that tackle human suffrage and injustice, climate racism, gender exploitation and control.
For those who don't know, what is BEYOND, your role within it and how artists and arts workers in the region can get involved?
Beyond The Mainstream is YVAN's bi-monthly online artist social gathering which aim to identify Locations of Hope (LOH) across our Yorkshire region. As BEYOND’s facilitator and connector of souls, I aim to instigate alternative ways to plug into a sea of creativity and provocations whilst giving opportunities to get involved in future collaborative projects and publications.
Could you share a little bit about your roles (past and present) with us at YVAN and why you first got involved?
In 2015, I was approached by YVAN to help promote its new ‘Nourish’ event. At this time, my monthly ‘Nourishment’ sessions were presenting works and ideas from local, national and international creative makers, thinkers and activists. As a cultural connector and enabler, I was invited to join its board in 2019, co-chair in 2022 and now its ‘Beyond…’ facilitator.
Why do you create?
I create to examine constructions of ‘the self’ through the activity of splicing the audible and visual materials of personal and interpersonal archives, always remixing to offer multiple perspectives that reveal the deeply entrenched inequalities in contemporary society. My collaborative works explores historical narratives and omissions, especially from my African diaspora, working class communities and migrant experiences in the UK.
How does being part of a network, like BEYOND, impact your artistic practice?
I am blessed to have a lifetime of collaborators whilst plugged into numerous global networks of multiple arts disciplines. Since being approached by YVAN it has given me a sense of place and genuine opportunities to connect with and to help unearth those whispering visual arts voices deep in the region’s underground creative communities.
“I’d like to see and hear more encouragement of artists who look like me to be more involved in the decision making and given the chance to help shape the visual arts ecosystem. ”
What changes would you like to see in the arts sector?
I’d like to see and hear more encouragement of artists who look like me to be more involved in the decision making and given the chance to help shape the visual arts ecosystem. To see more unusual suspects being given the opportunity to lead creative organisations and access to a database of affordable studio spaces in the region and beyond.
What are your future aspirations as a visual artist and have you got anything coming up you’d like to share?
Eternal collaborative provocations including Provisional, a new, Black-led programme of interdisciplinary work exploring AI and its impact on ordinary people alongside Hotel Zimmer, our artist-led investigation into AI where the work will be devised as live art, online & through social media.
Also, our next issue of uKunst, radical arts publication, will be exploring sustainability at the end of May.
Links: https://linktr.ee/MICHELBARNESWYNTERS
Portrait image credit: Jason Shipley