Images of the Film Installation and Publication Launch, Sunday 20th of November 2011

Film Installation 1

Film Installation 2

Film Installation 3

Film Installation 4

Film Installation 5

Film from Publication stand

Purple foiling on the publication cover

Publication

Film from Publication stand 2

Film Installation and audience 1

Film Installation and audience 2

John and Eric providing information on Balloon Girl's Grave and

the Friends of Cathays Cemetery

Friends of Cathays Cemetery

Film from Publication stand 3

Film from Publication stand 4

A Fitting Memorial

Sunday afternoon was one of celebration for all the hard work that first went into the performance, and then the dedication that went into the film installation and the publication. Most importantly it celebrated the short life of Louisa Maud Evans who made a brave leap into Cardiff’s sky in 1896. I was honoured to have the support of a great team of practitioners who helped realise my visual and creative aims. The continued support of Ruth Cayford and the technician’s at St. David’s Hall also contributed to the final results, I am eternally grateful to everyone involved. Having the Friends of Cathays Cemetery present at the event to provide extra historical content strengthened the sense of place I had hoped to achieve.

Thank you to everyone that visited the installation, read the publication, and provided great feedback. It’s such a relief to have finally got the work out to the public.

Please continue to visit this blog, as this is not the last we will hear of this project. Watch this space!

x This Sunday. See you there x

Only Three Days to go

We are nearing the final hour for the event on Sunday. I am looking forward to making this last part of the project visible and showing it to family, friends, familiar faces, and new audiences.

I am excited by the thought of having feedback, or critique after sharing the film and text with everyone. Often you spend so long with the work lovingly crafting it, that it becomes hard to see the wood from the trees. I have reached this point and need to get it out there and share the experience, discuss the work and ideas behind it with an audience.

I look forward to sharing this with you.

One Week to Go. Nerves and the BBC Screen

BBC Screen directly outside St. David's Hall. Cardiff, UK

Only a week to go until the launch, and things are almost ready. The film is complete and I will be experimenting with the lighting technicians at St. David’s hall during the week. When I show film I like to create an environment. It is important to me that I deliver my experiences of making a performance through film- I try to emphasise that moment in time and redeliver it. Through showing the documentation and working on it, I am given an opportunity to vocalise exactly what I had aimed to say in the original action. A performance for me is an integral part of the process. It is very rarely my finished piece, or the finale of a project. Installation is something I wish to do more often, and I am relishing the idea of creating an ephemeral installation for the event. Sound will be key to the space and will come from the original recording of the live work. The rustling of balloons, the swaying of trees and the wind will engulf the space. Combined with the purple lighting and the film projection the strangeness of the level 3 space at St. David’s hall will be transformed.

The longevity of this project lies with the publication. I can’t wait to share it with you as so much labour and love has gone into creating the document, which I see as a mobile exhibition.

Launching the film to the wider general public is exciting and an integral element to this work. Originally I had hoped to create an original artwork to insert in the Echo Newspaper (Cardiff’s daily rag). My intention behind this was to honour the public that subscribed to pay for Louisa’s grave and funeral. When I first heard about this public act of kindness I felt a need to repay them and honour this collective good. It didn’t work out for various reasons, but I think the BBC screen is a great vehicle for sharing this artwork and a unique slice of Cardiff’s history.

Facebook Group

Please join the facebook group for this project by following this link:

http://www.facebook.com/groups/188857767834906/?refid=52

Diolch x

Publication and Film Installation Launch

The invites have been distributed, and I am hoping people will cherish them. It is an A4 full bleed poster of myself leaping during the performance, it then folds down to A6 and has all the relevant information. I view invites and publications as mobile artworks or exhibitions and put a lot of energy into making them. I remember as a student lovingly tacking inspirational invites up in my studio space. When remembering this I am inspired to create a document that people wish to treasure.

Please join me at St. David's Hall on Sunday 20th November 2011, 2.30pm-4.30pm to celebrate the hard work and joy of making this new work.

Hope to see you there.

In Memory of Balloon Girl : Phase II

Editing of the film work is well under way and I am very excited about it. My approach to making this work is similar to how I approach making a drawing or painting. It feels very expressive and I’m excited to be moving away from the standard performance document. One of my favorite artists is Pipilotti Wrist, her approach to creating beautiful film pieces and using video, as a way of making subversive installations is a big influence for me. It is important to me that I communicate to the viewer my experiences of jumping, flying and falling.

Helen and Zoë, my graphic designers, who also worked on the Craig Y Nos publication, have been busy working on the new publication. This work features a commissioned written response to the performance by Briony Goffin. I am so pleased with the writing and cant wait to share it with people. Again, this document will aid my expression of my experiences of the performance.

Thank You

Thank you to everyone who attended the live performance, It was a beautiful afternoon, and a fitting tribute to Louisa. Thanks to the friends of Cathays for providing visitors information on the cemetery. Hope to see you in November for the documentation launch at St David's Hall, Cardiff.

This is an ongoing project and the blog will be regularly updated. Please visit to keep informed of the latest activity.

In Memory of Balloon Girl Performance,Cathays Cemetery, July 24th 2011

This sequence of performance stills runs in order from bottom to top.

Photocredit to Joanne Sutton. All images copyright of Kathryn Ashill 2011.

Archive Photograph

Louisa Maud Evans’ grave immediately after her burial on July 29th 1896. Image courtesy of The Friends of Cathays Cemetery.

Performance Invite

Performance invite designed by Helen Warburton, in collaboration with Kathryn Ashill. All Images on this blog copyright of the artist 2011.

Artist's tribute to parachutist

The following link takes you to a news article about the project featured in the South Wales Echo on February the 14th 2011. Originally, it was my intention to make a piece of work (performance still or drawing) for the newspaper as the majority of the payments for Louisa’s grave came from Echo readers. Throughout the search period this newspaper followed every lead to find the girl, and reported every detail of the strange news.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2011/02/14/artist-s-tribute-to-parachutist-killed-in-1896-91466-28165330/

Project Description

‘In Memory of Balloon Girl’ is a multi- layered project, which responds to the rich history of Cardiff in a number of phases. The history of Balloon Girl came to my attention after attending a heritage walk at Cathays Cemetery in May 2010.

This new artwork aims to resurrect the memory of Balloon Girl, and to bring this history back into a public spotlight. Phase one of the project will be realised through two site specific performances at Cathays Cemetery. On Sun July 17th 2011, the first performance took place. This private memorial was performed to camera with only my filmmaker and the creative writer present. In this quiet setting we could collect documentation and respond to the cemetery without interruption. A week later the same action was repeated for a public audience, with the focus on the live experience.

Phase two of the project is the public launch of the film documentation. The film work will be shown on the BBC Community screen in Cardiff City Centre during November 2011. There will also be a publication and film launch at St. David’s hall on Sunday, November 20th 2011. The publication will be a creative document of the project and performances, which will include drawings, commissioned writing, photographs and film stills.

November is a fitting month to exhibit the fruits of a memorial project and I’m looking forward to the work being shown.

It is important to note that this new body of work couldn’t be realised if it wasn’t for the hard work and loyalty that my team dedicate. All are amazing artists in their own right. They are:

Catherine Angle: Artist assistant

Briony Goffin: Writer/ Poet

Laura Kelly: Filmmaker

Zoe Platt: Graphic Designer

Joanne Sutton: Photographer

Helen Warburton: Graphic Designer

This project has been fully funded by the Arts Council of Wales, and is supported by St David’s Hall, Cardiff.

Balloon Girls History

On the 24th of July 1896, the body of a young girl washed ashore at Nash point ( near the Newport). Identified by the sailor suit she wore, it was obvious to those who pulled her from the mud of the Bristol Channel that this was Balloon Girl.

Three days before, Balloon Girl, real name Louisa Maud Evans, ascended in a balloon from Cathays Park. Part of the Cardiff Maritime and Industrial Exhibition, this stunt would be the crowd puller, a descent by a young girl using the latest in Parachute technology from a balloon was not to be missed. As a result this event on the 21st of July attracted over 100,000 people. The brave aeronaut was supposed to ascend in the balloon and then descend by parachute unharmed on the outskirts of the city. The plan was for the heroine to be collected at this point by horse and carriage and make a glorious return to the crowds at the Exhibition field.

Louisa had decided on the exotic show name of Mademoiselle Albertina. Louisa sewed herself a sailors suit, navy collar with white trim, a white smock, and a straw bonnet.

As the crowd cheered, Louisa quickly took to the sky. In a matter of seconds she was high above the houses of Adamsdown, Roath and Splott. Many from the Docks could see Mademoiselle Albertina; picnicking families who lined the Penarth cliffs to see this amazing sight could even see her. The balloon travelled at great speed over Newport Road and the infirmary, where the wind suddenly dropped, causing the balloon to rapidly gain height.

5,000 feet in the Cardiff air, Balloon Girl had no choice but to release herself from the harness and parachute into the Bristol Channel. Her heavy parachute, made from cloth and wood, weighed over 30lbs. It was this apparent lifesaver that dragged her to the murky depths of the water. Louisa Maude Evans drowned at the age of 14 and half years.

The people of Cardiff paid for her tombstone and funeral via subscription. Her body now rests at Cathays Cemetery.