Maggie James

As an arts practitioner collaboration is common practice, however as an artist it is a new experience and one that I am enjoying very much. 

Lim Eu Jin

Unfortunately, I have not been in many collaborative projects of this kind before.

Maggie James

4 main types of collaboration: 

• as an artist and part of organisational team of Open Books - ongoing 

• as a Creative Agent working with the Lead Creative School scheme in Wales, acting as a broker between Creative Practitioners and Schools - ongoing 

• as an arts practitioner working in an artist led gallery - making sure that artists or artists groups create the exhibition as they would like to see and engage with community in an authentic way - ongoing 

• with a group of 5 gallery arts educators from across the UK to see how well-being initiatives can be embedded into gallery practice -  a one off collaboration

Lim Eu Jin

This Open Book project will be a test for myself. On top of that, collaborating with another artist from afar, while mainly relying on digital tools is going to be a little different.

Maggie James

Sometimes when you start a conversation, the only thing that matters is the next part of the conversation. The relationship continues in its own time - no other sense of time matters.

Lim Eu Jin

The time zone difference is something quite easy to work with. End of day for me, start of day for Maggie is how we have set the time for every week's meeting.

Whilst waiting for the call, what typically happens? Do you get nervous and is there a set routine?

Maggie James

I try to make myself totally in the space ready for the start of the call - fully present. Everything has to be quietened - all those 100 things that need to be done have to vanish for the call.

“It may be a shared imagined dream space, for example we could both chose a place somewhere in the world to investigate.”

Maggie James

The project is building a new awareness of space for me, cycling through green pathways intersecting the city.  

After lockdown I felt conditioned not to move around the city in the old way. Riding a bike has given me back a feeling of autonomy. The cycle journey from home to studio is several kilometres with distinct areas. I have been observing, taking pictures, drawing this space. My studio is gradually reflecting this. 

Lim Eu Jin

I am still working digitally at the moment, but soon will be transferred to a physical piece to work on (probably next week) and then back to digital in about 3 week's time. The artwork is in a big format and will take up a big section of the room!

Maggie James

During lockdown and afterwards, it has been increasingly necessary to engage with people on the Zoom platform. Sometimes these people are known to me, sometimes not. But all the conversations have been linked to particular projects, within the context of my various networks. So the new connections have an endorsement and validation, all demand trust and respect. As a result of this safety net, I am able to connect with interest and curiosity.

Lim Eu Jin

I think it is really exciting to have the opportunity to know how other artists work from a very different place and context.

Maggie James

The safety of my collaborator is essential for any meaningful discussion to take place. My collaboration with Eu Jin Lim is the result of careful negotiations between The Godown, Chris Bird Jones, and Open Books, with this in mind I believe there is a safe element already in place. 

Our conversations have taken place at times agreed by both of us, using the Zoom platform. We show respect and consideration to each other, always staying within the parameters of the Open Books Online project. 

Lim Eu Jin

We have decided from the beginning of the project to make use of digital tools available because of the situation. Unnecessary visits outside is kept to a minimum. 

 Although Maggie will have a better chance of making more site visits. We will see how these circumstances reflect in the artworks at the very end of the project. 

Maggie James   

Yes. This collaborative project is new, we are not following a pre-planned pattern. Both Eu Jin and I have enjoyed making images around a journey. We have talked about how the pandemic has affected our freedom of movement and the new realities of the places we know. Our conversations have been direct and genuine. 

Lim Eu Jin

I think it has been. At the beginning of the project, we discussed the differences in the process we usually take. There are a few ways of seeing and doing that Maggie later reveals which I thought is refreshing and I hope to pick them up and broaden my perspective over time.

Maggie James

At both the initial meeting with all 14 artists and the mid term meeting, I felt that all artists were engaged with their partner artist and each pair was grappling with the idea of using and expanding individual practice to come up with something new. Although the pandemic has really tested all of us, I felt that we were all using the experience to create something new. The project has helped me to re-engage with my art practice. 

Lim Eu Jin

I am trying to get the right mood and emotion into the drawing. I think it is only true to the artwork if I do so. To represent KL city now on a piece of paper is going to be very different from when I completed the book for Godown in 2019.

Maggie James

Within my practice, there is a private element of quiet reflection right at the start. A grappling with many ideas until one emerges that has its own dynamic. I felt that Eu Jin also has this quiet starting point. Our conversations have been shared on Zoom, so far just with the Godown and other participating artists, who might have access to these files. So we have a tacit ‘privacy’, with a strong element of trust.

Lim Eu Jin

I try to use an automated background during the zoom calls.

Maggie James

Yes, in two ways. First of all, the book-making process created a clear point of focus, it also had a measurable amount of time. Secondly, the process presented a series of puzzles that Eu Jin and I solved. This was very helpful to escape from the ennui and lack of concentration during the pandemic lockdown.

Lim Eu Jin

It has definitely been one, especially in times of lockdown.  

Maggie James

Joint problem solving while creating new work is something I will seek in the future. Also some of the puzzles - what medium will we use to make the work? What medium will we use to show the work? Have delivered some elements that have affected my practice. I have not collected sound clips before, although I have been fascinated by city soundscapes for a long time. Also, I have not been involved in the production of a dual video before, it has been a very interesting process. So I hope to develop both in the future.

Lim Eu Jin

This experience has given me more confidence with making drawings. Drawing as a tool to record emotions.

“You become suddenly self conscious and self aware in this city space”

Maggie James

Both Eu Jin and I entered the collaboration with open minds, so that anything might emerge from our conversations. We discussed several ideas as starting points. As the actual 8 week time span became a reality,  Eu Jin and I started to map out a plan. 

Some of my early half-formed ideas from months before were jettisoned, as I realised that they would need a much longer time span, to get them into a form that could be shared.

Both of us had used journeys in our previous folding books, and now we have a digital version of the journey - so yes I achieved what I set out to do, but in quite a different way from first imagined.

Lim Eu Jin

There's definitely changes. 

To be honest, I think Maggie and I were very unsure from the beginning how this collaboration would work. 

Not only that we both usually work on our own, but on top of that, we can now only communicate digitally. 

Drawing / painting to us is a very personal process.  

In the end, I think we were both very happy with the result, and more importantly we got to see a very different approach from each other, although the work itself shows very similar interests and topics from the beginning to the end. 

I think our work for this project is less of making 'one work' together, but 'one idea, 2 works'.  

We discuss a lot on the 'one idea', and then we go back to the comfort of our own drawing board to produce the work most representative to this idea.