{"id":4089,"date":"2019-03-10T12:10:04","date_gmt":"2019-03-10T12:10:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodvale.com\/?p=4089"},"modified":"2019-03-10T12:10:04","modified_gmt":"2019-03-10T12:10:04","slug":"augmented-reality-at-shire-hall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/augmented-reality-at-shire-hall\/","title":{"rendered":"Augmented Reality at Shire Hall"},"content":{"rendered":"

Artist Jason Wilsher-Mills<\/strong> talks to Fergus Byrne<\/strong> about his upcoming exhibition in Dorchester<\/p>\n

As a youngster, Jason Wilsher-Mills was a keen rugby league player. So keen, and also so talented, that he had scouts from some of the big league clubs taking an interest in his future. Little did any of them imagine that that future would go in a completely different direction. Captain of his team, already over five foot tall and broad-shouldered, Jason contracted chicken pox at 11 years of age. It developed into chronic Polyneuropathy and left him paralysed from the neck down. \u2018I didn\u2019t grow much after that\u2019 quips Jason, \u2018but I would probably have been well over six foot.\u2019<\/p>\n

He was in hospital for over a year, and while doctors came and went, suggesting polio and various other possible diagnoses for his condition, there was never a definitive conclusion. \u2018Even the Polyneuropathy is like the nearest thing they could get to\u2019 he explains. From 11 to 16 he was in full-time care, reliant on his parents for everything. The rest of his life was a slow battle to recover what movement he could and claw back as much use of his limbs as possible. \u2018But I recovered\u2019 he says. \u2018I say \u201crecovered\u201d in inverted commas because I never really recovered. The fact that I\u2019m using a wheelchair now tells its own story really.\u2019<\/p>\n

The process took him on a career path he hadn\u2019t imagined initially. In March he will be unveiling an exhibition of his new augmented reality artwork, bringing the story of the Tolpuddle Martyrs to life like never before. The exhibition is the next step in a career as an artist that has seen him exhibit with Grayson Perry at the V&A; show art in the Tate Modern; create a banner for display in the Houses of Parliament and have work commissioned to exhibit at the Museum of Islamic Art in Qatar. Something he described as \u2018like being asked to play for England!\u2019<\/p>\n

This year he has also been shortlisted for Unlimited Art Funding; an initiative that supports disabled artists who are in mid-career, to help them get to the next level. \u2018Fingers crossed I might be creating permanent art for Finsbury Park, the National Children\u2019s Museum and many other places that will all connect using technology. I\u2019m also doing work commissioned for the International Freedom Festival,\u2019 says Jason.<\/p>\n

The Shire Hall exhibition came about because of a chance meeting with members of the Shire Hall project at the unveiling of his banner created for the Disability Discrimination Act at the Houses of Parliament. He will be using augmented reality technology to superimpose computer-generated films, images and interactive components on what someone is seeing in the real world. This could be by using a tablet or mobile phone to view the original artwork and then \u2018seeing\u2019 the augmented part as 3D on the screen. The exhibition, called Tolpuddle Martyrs Remixed: Six Dorset men who changed the world<\/em>, is something that Jason is very excited about. It is the initial step in an augmented reality project that he plans to develop further in the coming years. \u2018It\u2019s absolute cutting-edge technology\u2019, says Jason. \u2018There\u2019s no other museum that\u2019s using that technology.\u2019<\/p>\n

The technological advance is a long way from his initial sketches while recovering from his illness. One of eight children, Jason came from a very working-class background, but he was encouraged by his parents to draw. When he became disabled, the doctors suggested he probably wouldn\u2019t live beyond seventeen. \u2018I\u2019m fifty next week!\u2019 he laughs. But his parents were very supportive of his doing what he wanted to do. \u2018I went on to University and was really quite passionate about art.\u2019 After graduating, he took up teaching, unsure about whether he should paint. He explained: \u2018I definitely wasn\u2019t ready to do what I do now when I was in my twenties. I felt I had to do other things like teaching. I taught art in a prison for many years. Art has always been there, but it\u2019s having the courage to make the step.\u2019<\/p>\n

About ten years ago he was in a slump, feeling he couldn\u2019t achieve anything when one of his friends told him he should paint his way out of it and suggested using an iPad. This was something Jason had never heard of. \u2018And literally within three months of getting one, I had work on show in San Francisco. That quick it was bonkers.\u2019 He explained that he felt he had to mature a bit before taking the step to being a professional artist. \u2018But I worked really hard, and I\u2019m really ambitious in what I do, and it\u2019s sort of paid off.\u2019<\/p>\n

He sees a strong relationship between his work on the Tolpuddle Martyrs and his background. \u2018I\u2019m a northerner from Wakefield in Yorkshire\u2019 he says. \u2018My Dad was a coal miner, and I have really vivid memories of the miner\u2019s strike. I grew up seeing lots of trade union banners. We were brought up going to coal miner\u2019s galas. It was a really important part of our lives, but we didn\u2019t know that it was to do with being socialist or left wing. It was just part of our lives.\u2019<\/p>\n

He can remember arguing with his Dad about the miner\u2019s strike. \u2018Like all teenager\u2019s I thought I knew better\u2019 he says. He saw \u2018highly edited\u2019 pictures on television of violent protest and asked his Dad why they were fighting. \u201cWell, they\u2019re fighting for their jobs lad\u201d, replied his father. Later in life, he did work for the coal miner\u2019s industry and remembers meeting people that had been on the front lines of the miner\u2019s strike. He met people who recalled being bundled into the back of a police van only to find that underneath the police uniform many of them had army uniforms on. \u2018One guy recognised his own Sergeant from when he\u2019d been in the army.\u2019 The sergeant warned the man that as he had signed the Official Secrets Act, he mustn\u2019t tell anyone.<\/p>\n

Jason points out that his upbringing, surrounded by the area and people where the trade union movement started, informed his own political beliefs. Although he understands that the men that went on to become known as the Tolpuddle Martyrs had their own brotherhood based on their religious beliefs, he could see the injustice of them being punished for considering forming a trade union. \u2018With my own political beliefs and being a disabled artist in contemporary times, I use my voice to campaign and describe and deal with what it is to be a disabled person. I kind of felt there was an affinity there.\u2019<\/p>\n

He came to Dorset last year to spend a few weeks doing workshops in schools and talking about the Tolpuddle Martyrs. \u2018It was amazing how many kids had family members that were connected in some way to the story.\u2019 He carried on gathering information and putting together ideas for the commission, which required an individual piece about each martyr, or \u201cDorsetshire labourer\u201d as they are called. \u2018Which is quite an important definition\u2019 he explains, \u2018because, at the end of the day, they were just ordinary men who were caught up in an extraordinary story. First and foremost they were passionate about their beliefs. They actually built the chapel in Tolpuddle, and they were committed Methodists. The work I wanted to do was about that and returning them to the land and showing how important the church and Dorset was to them. It was also about how important they were as individuals. Because it\u2019s almost as if the Tolpuddle Martyrs have become a mythology, so the work is trying to get back to the real men and the families. They were all passionate about their families, and that\u2019s what kept them going.\u2019<\/p>\n

His plans for the future include taking the idea of people like the martyrs and bringing it into the discussion about disability. \u2018In terms of disability we\u2019re not that different to those guys meeting round the tree\u2019 he says. \u2018It\u2019s an understanding that it\u2019s a real fight. I think George Loveless\u2014one of the martyrs\u2014he was an ordinary guy, he was a passionate speaker and was very charismatic. I\u2019ve tried to make him look like an old-time prophet from the Old Testament. Almost like Charlton Heston with the crazy hair, coming down from the mountain, inspiring these men to do something that would transform their lives. They were ordinary guys that had to do something because they were left with no choice. I can recognise that in my own situation.\u2019<\/p>\n

There is a strong thread running through the work that Jason Wilsher-Mills pursues. He takes the battle forward for those with any kind of disability and shows a vital awareness of injustice, especially for those that have to rely on the state to help them survive. \u2018I have a friend who is an ex-Paralympian\u2019 he says. \u2018She\u2019s never walked. She never will walk. She\u2019s been in a wheelchair all her life but had her disability benefits taken away because the doctor didn\u2019t give a detailed enough explanation of her condition.\u2019<\/p>\n

He points out that it\u2019s hard enough for people with autistic disorders, mental health issues or \u2018invisible illnesses\u2019 to get help. \u2018Although you\u2019d think that if you had a leg missing or were using a wheelchair, they\u2019d figure out there was a problem.\u2019<\/p>\n

He also works with adults with learning disabilities. \u2018It\u2019s about telling their stories and using the tools that I have to do that.\u2019 One of his current projects is producing a sculpture at the University of Hull which is all about the disabled people in Hull, \u2018the communities, the hidden stories and quiet voices\u2014and giving them a platform to express themselves\u2014it needs doing as well.\u2019<\/p>\n

Jason Wilsher-Mills\u2019 exhibition Tolpuddle Martyrs Remixed: Six Dorset men who changed the world<\/em> will be open to the public at the Shire Hall Historic Courthouse Museum in Dorchester from March 19th to June 14th.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For more information visit shirehalldorset.org.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Artist Jason Wilsher-Mills talks to Fergus Byrne about his upcoming exhibition in Dorchester As a youngster, Jason Wilsher-Mills was a keen rugby league player. So keen, and also so talented, that he had scouts from some of the big league clubs taking an interest in his future. Little did any of them imagine that that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4092,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[13],"class_list":["post-4089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-features","tag-fergus-byrne"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4089\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}