Presented in partnership with UP Projects, Rush Me is a new digital experience by artist Sonia E Barrett.
Rush Me investigates narratives including migration, belonging, identity and hybridity and builds greater empathy with the Windrush Generation by contextualising the British Government’s invitation in the 1940’s to come and help the “motherland” in new ways. It takes a long view of the myriad ways people of Caribbean descent have moved and been moved to serve British interests. Recontextualising ‘Windrush’ in terms of both historical and contemporary movement, “rush me” is a meditation on help, need, peril and service.
Rush Me is an interactive digital space hosted in Hubs Mozilla, which can be explored by online audiences after the creation of an avatar. The space presents three avenues of exploration that delve deeper into the themes of healthcare, transport and military assistance. Acknowledging the Windrush Generation’s huge contribution to the nation, as well as personal sacrifices, these three themes reflect some of the areas in which Caribbeans contributed skills and lived experiences so crucial to British social, economic and cultural history. Audiences are free to roam these spaces, contribute to their narrative or participate in joint spaces of reflection.
Rush Me has been curated and commissioned by UP Projects as part of their digital commissions programme, and is generously sponsored by Barrington Hibbert Associates and supported by Arts Council England. The commission was realised with technical development and creative assistance from Marine Renaudineau.
About Sonia E Barrett
Born in the UK of Jamaican and German parentage Sonia E Barrett grew up in Hong Kong, Zimbabwe, Cyprus, and the UK. She studied literature at the University of St Andrews, Scotland and her MFA at Transart Institute Berlin/New York. Sonia is a MacDowell fellow and has been recognised by the Premio Ora prize, NY Art-Slant showcase for sculpture and the Neo Art Prize. She has exhibited at the National Gallery of Jamaica; 32 degrees East Gallery, Kampala, Uganda; the Heinrich Böll Institute Germany; the British Library; The Museum of Derby, and the Kunsthaus Nürnberg.
About UP Projects
UP Projects enables artists to achieve extraordinary, ambitious and risk-taking work that communities can shape, participate and relate to. They bring art to unexpected corners of the public realm, finding creative potential in unlikely situations, and their work is always responsive to its environment. Their 20 years experience champions a bold yet sensitive approach that values time, takes care, inspires learning and enables the transformational impact of public art to flourish.
Since 2016, UP Projects has worked with an array of artists to create work for the digital domain that has responded to topics as diverse as Brexit, accessibility, citizenship and social acceptability.