NAN KIDS @ WAF2022

Leon Clowes is a transdisciplinary artist interrogating distance of memory and the space of sounds and words.

Using autoethnography, self-compassion and Brechtian techniques, 

Leon's creative practice is informed by lived trauma.

Portraiture by Ilmė Vyšniauskaitė (www.ilmevysnia.com)

Upcoming + Recent

Recovery – joint audio-visual exhibition at SET Lewisham with Emma Bettine Hewitt (March 2022)

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SECRETS: The Last Five Days of Sandra – performative installation co-produced with Britten-Pears Arts/Snape and QUEEF Experimental (UK) (Aug 2021-Feb 2022)

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​A Day In The Life Of… – artist-in-residence at Grove Park Library, The Mayor’s Borough of Culture (Jan 2022)

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Gratitude – selected artist for James Wilson’s new collaborative work (Nov 2021)

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Pulp-Non Fiction / A Technology Triptych – audio-visual collaborations with disabled musician Clare Smith and disabled artist Fiona Helen Ledger (June 2021-Dec 2022), commissioned by Disability Arts Online and Arts Council England

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NAN KIDS – performative sound-word portraits of adults raised in kinship care at Deptford X Festival, Reel Rebels Radio (Hackney) and SPILL Festival (Ipswich) (Jul-Nov 2021); funded by Arts Council England and Sound and Music New Voices 2020

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The Avant Garden Drop-In Centre @ Round Chapel, Hackney – audio collage of 20 artists (UK, Mar 2021), four-day residency resulting in 90-minute radio piece of music, sound and space.

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The Avant Garden on Ice – audio collage of 14 artists, Reel Rebels Radio (UK, Jan 2021); Kaamos/Datscha Radio (Finland/Germany, Feb 2021)

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Nine Sound Works Made Over Nine Days In November – Reel Rebels Radio (Nov 2020); Orbit Instagram Artist-in-Residence (Jan 2021)

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Days of Future Past – Reel Rebels Radio (Apr 2020); Transmission Gallery and Queer Contemporaries exhibitions (Sep 2020); CCA Glasgow’s Radiophrenia Festival (Nov 2020); #WIP exhibition by Queer Art Projects (Oct 2020 – Jan 2021); Squish.Rotterdam (2022)

SECRETS+SHAMES=SELFS

Audio trailer for upcoming trauma trilogy.

Publications

Clowes, L. (2019) Got any gay music? London’s “anti-gay” queer clubs 1995-2000. Stahl, G. and Bottà, G. (eds.) Nocturnes: popular music and the night. Lincoln: Palgrave Macmillan.
Clowes, L. (2018) Soft Cell: redefining the synth-pop prologue. In: Beaven, Z., O’Dair, M. and Osbourne, R. (eds.) Mute records: artists, business, history. New York: Bloomsbury Academic.
Clowes, L. (2017) How can you sing a song if you have no voice? Disabled musicians, activism, technology and the authenticity of creativity. Riffsjournal.org [Online].