TRUTH TO POWER CAFÉ IN HULL

ARTIST STATEMENT BY SARAH HICKSON

It was a blustery March day. Clouds sped across the sky, shifting and shaping the light. Deep shadows appeared, and then dissolved, as quickly as they had come. I was visiting Hull for the first time - with London Artists Projects and Back to Ours – to take photographs during the making of a short promotional film for the Truth to Power Café.

Truth to Power Café, created by Jeremy Goldstein and directed by Jen Heyes, is a live performance event mixing memoir, image, poetry, music and live testimony from participants speaking truth to power. I take portraits of the participants, which are then projected onto a large screen during the live event. My intention is to capture empathetic images that add poignancy to the personal testimonies. 

London Artists Projects TRUTH TO POWER CAFÉ "The revolutionary potential of theatre at its best and most direct." Lyn Gardner, Guardian Created by Jeremy Goldstein Verse by Henry Woolf Directed by Jen Heyes Photography by Sarah Hickson Banners by Ed Hall Music by David Bowie arranged by Sven Ratzke TRUTH TO POWER CAFÉ IS A NEW INTERNATIONAL PERFORMANCE EVENT MIXING MEMOIR, IMAGE, POETRY, MUSIC, AND LIVE AND SPONTANEOUS TESTIMONY FROM PARTICIPANTS SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER IN RESPONSE TO THE QUESTION ‘WHO HAS POWER OVER YOU AND WHAT DO YOU WANT TO SAY TO THEM?' To take part sign up here https://www.truthtopower.co.uk/takingpart-dates Speaking truth to power is a non-violent means of conflict resolution; the origins of which lie in the anti-war movement. In our era of post-truth, alternative fact, and fake-news, speaking truth to power is widely accepted to mean saying something to those in a position of trust or authority who don’t want to hear it. Participants of all beliefs, and backgrounds can take part in the event and will have up to five minutes to respond to the question before a live audience. Is it to your parents, a sibling, politician, lover, landlord, neighbour, religious leader, boss, banker, or simply your best friend? It’s time to tell them the truth before it’s too late. Truth to Power Café is inspired by the political and philosophical beliefs of Nobel prize winning playwright Harold Pinter and his Hackney Gang. The Gang included Jeremy Goldstein’s late father Mick, and poet polymath Henry Woolf, who at 89 is the last surviving member of the Gang, and whose poetry Jeremy performs in the show as the real-life son of the Hackney Gang. 'One of the most fascinating hours you will ever spend in the theatre’ BBC Lancashire

The short film, directed by Jen Heyes, features Jeremy Goldstein and ten Hull residents, who are all members of the Hub at Back to Ours. The scenario for the film contained my gaze, creating the framework within which I could explore fragments of narrative as they played out against the landscape of the city. Henry Woolf’s poetry, spoken by Jeremy, was my internal soundtrack:

“You’ve got to slide between the living and the dead. Open up a window in your head.”

I ignored the clutter of expectation in my mind, and observed what appeared in that window in my head. It’s often the frayed edges of a story that draw my attention - where vulnerability and ambiguity reside, where threads from the past unravel in the present. I looked for glances that might slip by unnoticed, for emotional exchanges, and moments of fragility. 

What emerged was an intimate photographic response to people and place – in dialogue with the Truth to Power Café and the film. I like to think that these images represent something of the spaces in-between. There’s an acknowledgement of melancholy and longing, but also of hope, in this visual ode to the city. 

Sarah Hickson, April 2019