Since re-positioning myself and my creative practice in a small island community, and having endless conversations with friends on the course about rurality and place… I embarked on trying to answer a research question:  

 

Rurality and Social Practice: is the nature of working in a rural context inherently more socially engaged? 

 

I spoke to other individuals working in the arts in rural communities… and then wrote what felt like a difficult and long essay... 

 

“I think the future of the art world is social; we need to be having creative conversations that form sustainable, nourishing and committed social relations. Rural life gives space to a personal and subjective interest, a sense of active responsibility for our collective environment. Perhaps it isn’t working but living in a rural context that is inherently more socially engaged, and therefore a rural practice, in collaboration with its community and environment, will almost always be a social practice too.“

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