Artist Statement:
Mary Brennan of the Glasgow Herald states that;
‘‘At times, Mayhew’s work feels like the ‘growing pains’ of a seemingly liberated generation for whom a sense of personal identity and integrity remained elusive. What makes his witness of inner turmoil so poignant and powerful is that he doesn’t opt for an exclusive introspection:
Mayhew’s journey towards self-knowledge encompasses far-ranging confrontations with social mores at home and abroad – he puts his emotions and his body on the line in order to challenge complacency and hypocrisy.’
I am based in Manchester where my studio is located. ~ art.
This praxis is in perpetual evolution & under ~ constant consideration.
Through an immersive engagement with space, time, place and people, I employ a multi-disciplinary and collaborative approach in the formation of ideas, utilising any form of expression needed to form a poetic portrayal of site and people.
The process is as important as any given ‘final outcome’.
The procedure of this praxis is absorbing, people centric and responsive to the lives and landscapes I pass through, locate myself in, and experience.
I gather and collect raw material directly from the lives and sites I arrive into utilising documentary practices of video and sound field recordings, along with the gathering of the found and discarded, what I would call the materiality of space and place. These ready-made signifiers of lives and of place are crafted to generate site-specific references for an audience to be in 'audience'..
This approach and process enable me as an artist to act “as a conduit for other people’s stories, a vessel other people pass through” (Terry O’Connor - Forced Entertainment).
This living process, and so engaging praxis, is guided by elaborate structures of mapping and dedicated research processes that are translated into human engagement systems during the entire process. Any given end product arrives from an evolutionary accumulative process of putting ideas into practice. This approach has enabled me to work with a fluid exchange within dance, musical composition, large-scale site-specific projects, durational and performance praxis, and visual art traditions
The process is peripatetic: I travel employing varied systems of social transportation, often directed by the chance encounters of human engagement, the stories and human connective networks to people, place, sites, plus the personal and social histories.
The multiple community networks that exist are essential in the realisation of this praxis.
The praxis focuses on site-specific models of engagement. Historically I have presented in an underground canal lock, hotels, closed hospitals, a tennis court, roads, housing estates, towns, cities, and extending to include encounters with countries and continents.
Past residencies have been sustained in Batley, West Yorkshire; Hulme, Manchester; Little Germany, Bradford; Lausanne, Switzerland; Saint Petersburg, Russia; Northern Ireland, and the vastness of China and Australia.
The end products are non-prescriptive but follow a series of pragmatic structures. The aim is not to dictate outcomes but to respond to the potential and possibilities that arise, through an engagement with Place, Space, Time & People.
'Michael Mayhew’s works are characterised by an emphasis on experience.
He transforms every incident or element during his trips into original and immediate impressions of China - which combined together are represented in his art works and performances.. His first trip to China proved that he is the right person as an emissary of art communication. His work serves as both inspiration and reference'
Park19 Artist Studio
Guangzouh, China
‘‘At times, Mayhew’s work feels like the ‘growing pains’ of a seemingly liberated generation for whom a sense of personal identity and integrity remained elusive. What makes his witness of inner turmoil so poignant and powerful is that he doesn’t opt for an exclusive introspection:
Mayhew’s journey towards self-knowledge encompasses far-ranging confrontations with social mores at home and abroad – he puts his emotions and his body on the line in order to challenge complacency and hypocrisy.’
I am based in Manchester where my studio is located. ~ art.
This praxis is in perpetual evolution & under ~ constant consideration.
Through an immersive engagement with space, time, place and people, I employ a multi-disciplinary and collaborative approach in the formation of ideas, utilising any form of expression needed to form a poetic portrayal of site and people.
The process is as important as any given ‘final outcome’.
The procedure of this praxis is absorbing, people centric and responsive to the lives and landscapes I pass through, locate myself in, and experience.
I gather and collect raw material directly from the lives and sites I arrive into utilising documentary practices of video and sound field recordings, along with the gathering of the found and discarded, what I would call the materiality of space and place. These ready-made signifiers of lives and of place are crafted to generate site-specific references for an audience to be in 'audience'..
This approach and process enable me as an artist to act “as a conduit for other people’s stories, a vessel other people pass through” (Terry O’Connor - Forced Entertainment).
This living process, and so engaging praxis, is guided by elaborate structures of mapping and dedicated research processes that are translated into human engagement systems during the entire process. Any given end product arrives from an evolutionary accumulative process of putting ideas into practice. This approach has enabled me to work with a fluid exchange within dance, musical composition, large-scale site-specific projects, durational and performance praxis, and visual art traditions
The process is peripatetic: I travel employing varied systems of social transportation, often directed by the chance encounters of human engagement, the stories and human connective networks to people, place, sites, plus the personal and social histories.
The multiple community networks that exist are essential in the realisation of this praxis.
The praxis focuses on site-specific models of engagement. Historically I have presented in an underground canal lock, hotels, closed hospitals, a tennis court, roads, housing estates, towns, cities, and extending to include encounters with countries and continents.
Past residencies have been sustained in Batley, West Yorkshire; Hulme, Manchester; Little Germany, Bradford; Lausanne, Switzerland; Saint Petersburg, Russia; Northern Ireland, and the vastness of China and Australia.
The end products are non-prescriptive but follow a series of pragmatic structures. The aim is not to dictate outcomes but to respond to the potential and possibilities that arise, through an engagement with Place, Space, Time & People.
'Michael Mayhew’s works are characterised by an emphasis on experience.
He transforms every incident or element during his trips into original and immediate impressions of China - which combined together are represented in his art works and performances.. His first trip to China proved that he is the right person as an emissary of art communication. His work serves as both inspiration and reference'
Park19 Artist Studio
Guangzouh, China