WORDS FOR THE LIVING, 2021
Live Performance | Beth Derbyshire | WERK
Words for the Living is a live performance in which an individual speaker, communicates a series of words and phrases through a megaphone in public space. The words are commemorative excerpts by loved ones for so many of the key workers who have tragically passed away from Covid 19. The poignant and celebratory recital of words is a living memorial, describing the qualities of these incredible people who lost their lives whilst saving others and is intended to pay homage to loss, whilst inspiring the living through their bravery. The performance will be filmed and presented in the digital space of Into the Parade.
Into the Parade is an online web encounter and live project that explores how arts organisation and practitioners across the Midlands are engaging civically. The digital ‘Civic Centre’ is both tangible and metaphorical concept to explore the role of cultural practice in a civic context. Into the Parade is a cultural intervention that undertakes projects that have online and real-world anchors points and has been initiated by Beth Derbyshire and developed with students from the MA Arts and Project Management course at Birmingham City University.
BETH DERBYSHIRE
THE ENGINEERS, 2026
The Engineers is a series of panels exploring the creation of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Designed to observe the earliest galaxies and stars formed after the Big Bang, the telescope enables scientists to look further back in time than ever before, offering new insights into the origins of the universe.
In this body of work attention away from the images of space produced by the telescope and towards the people responsible for its creation. Fascinated by the idea of a machine designed to investigate the origins of the cosmos, the work is equally invested in the human story behind this remarkable achievement.
The imagery focuses on the engineers, technicians, and specialists whose skill, dedication, and collaboration made the James Webb Space Telescope possible. These individuals worked over decades to realise one of the most ambitious scientific instruments ever constructed, creating a telescope capable of capturing light that has travelled across billions of years of cosmic history.
Through these panels, this work celebrates the often-unseen human labour behind scientific discovery. The Engineers reflects upon the relationship between technology, imagination, and collective endeavour, paying tribute to those whose work extends humanity's ability to see beyond the limits of our own world and further into the depths of the universe.