Table Of ContentTO ALL THOSE WHO MADE THIS ISSUE POSSIBLE,
THANK YOU.
STAT ISSUE 03 - JANUARY 2021
CONTRIBUTORS
ARCHIVES: WIGAN & LEIGH
MARK COVERDALE
CONAL CUNNINGHAM
MONS IGNEOUS
PETE MERCER
SUSAN PLOVER
MICHAEL PRESCOTT
TRACEY HOLLIS ROWE
ANDY SMITH
SPECIAL THANKS
JODIE BOKOR
ESCAPE THE NORTH
FUTUREEVERYTHING
NEIL HARRIS & WIGAN COUNCIL
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I D I D N ’ T K N O W
W H A T T O W R I T E
FOR AN EDITORIAL
SO INSTEAD HERE
I S S O M E B I G
H E LV E T I C A T Y P E
THAT I HOPE LOOKS
APPEALING.
IN THIS ISSUE IS…
ARTIST’S BLOCK // EPIC LUXE //
DIVIDE AND RULE // UTOPIAN RELICS
/ / S U S A N P L O V E R / / M A R K
C O V E R D A L E / / M I C H A E L
P R E S C O T T / / T R A C E Y H O L L I S
ROWE // THIS PLACE [OF MINE] //
E S C A P E T H E N O R T H / / 2 0 2 0
REVIEW //
I HOPE YOU LIKE IT.
IF YOU DO, MAYBE GET IN TOUCH AND HELP MAKE IT?
PETE. STAT EDITOR.
JANUARY 2021
artistʼs block
words & artwork by
MONS IGNEOUS
being a creative means that nothing is linear. youʼll drive yourself
forwards and backwards a hundred times over before eventually
settling on the first attempt you made. one could argue that there is
no point in making that circular journey to wind up exactly where
you started, but I disagree. frustrating as it may seem, putting time,
effort, resources and thought into a piece is a learning curve
regardless of how long youʼve been practising - whether it be ten
days, ten months or ten years - sometimes ending up in the same
place is exactly where you were meant to be. and that isnʼt
exclusive to art. itʼs applicable to everything. your journey as an
artist, a creator, a storyteller, is no different to your journey as a
person. as long as youʼre willing to put the effort in, you will never
stop growing.
that being said, there will always be moments of struggle. the
feeling and fear of failure, and falling short of the expectations you
place upon yourself. thereʼs no quick fix or cure for this kind of
slump, but I believe curiosity may be one of the most useful tools to
help drag yourself back up. be curious. wonder, what would happen
if I drew this upside-down? what would come of it if I chose the
colours for my piece with my eyes closed? what if I used orange
fanta as my painting medium? gradually get more curious, more
ludicrous with your sense of wonder, try everything without
expectation. create something with the intention of it being bad -
you might just surprise yourself with the outcome.
p.s. using orange fanta as a painting medium doesnʼt actually work -
believe me, I tried.
monsigneous.co.uk
tw / ig / fb: @monsigneous
EPIC
LUXE
Rethinking the role of a
gallery space in an age
of social distancing, The
Turnpike presents Epic
Luxe, a collaborative
photography Livia Lazar piece by artist Frances
with thanks to The Turnpike Disley and Fallen Angels
Dance Theatre - a
charity supporting
people in recovery from
addiction through the
medium of dance.
watch EPIC LUXE at
theturnpike.org.uk/
francesdisley
DIVIDE
CONAL
CUNNINGHAM
AND
How Coronavirus has
RULE
re-energised the
North-South divide.
artwork by strain of the virus - consistently higher
Andy Smith in Northern England, with the Northern
ig: picturesmash1 Health Science Alliance finding that
Covid-related deaths between March
words & images and July were 14% higher in the North
Conal Cunningham than those in the South. What this
tw: ConalCunningha underlines is that the North and South
divide is not a gimmick or a political
hot-topic, but a structural and
As we began to feel the first,
e c o n o m i c i m b a l a n c e t h a t
dramatic effects of coronavirus way
disproportionately affects those in the
back in March, there was a sense that
North, especially in times of crisis.
we were all in this together, that the
To better understand this regional
virus did not differentiate nor
divide, you only need to look at the
discriminate. Not only did this prove to
figures of Northern deprivation pre-
be untrue, with the virus clearly
Covid. Out of the 20 most deprived
discriminating against the poorest in
neighbourhoods in the UK, a 2019
society, but the Conservative
government report found that 19 of
governmentʼs handling of the pandemic
these are in the north of the country.
has ignited divisions throughout the
The Institute for Public Policy
country, from the conspiratorial
Research (IPPR) found that in the
(although the less said about anti-
North East, the child poverty rate is
vaxxers the better) to the political, the
around three times the UK average,
geographical to the constitutional.
whilst the Office for National Statistics
Indeed, just months after the Tories
found that the general life expectancy
decried their 2019 election win would
for men in Blackpool is a mere 53.3
ʻforge a new Britainʼ, their response to
years old - 18.6 years below that of
Covid has, rather ironically, shown this
new nation to be splitting from all
sides.
In this context, it is perhaps inevitable
that the inter-generational discord that
exists between the North and South of
England would emerge from slumber
once more; an age-old division that has
permeated English history. Indeed, not
since Thatcherism and the 1980ʼs
minerʼs strikes has the gulf between
the opposite ends of the country been
so glaringly stark.
Throughout the pandemic, infection
and mortality rates of coronavirus have
been ‒ until very recently with the new
men in Richmond-upon-Thames. To why much of the Northern “red-
summarise a particularly grim analysis, wall” (traditional Labour safe seats) fell
the IPPR have concluded that the UK is to the Conservatives last year - many
ʻmore regionally divided than any for the first time ever - or to why the
comparable advanced economyʼ. North predominantly voted to leave the
In the best of times, these statistics European Union in 2016. The North
should be a huge cause for concern. desperately needs investment and
They emphasise how ten years of change, so if promises are waged to
austerity and cuts to local funding have deliver this, it is not difficult to
severely affected those in the North, understand why votes would be cast
noticeably in local authorities such as on it.
Liverpool, Blackburn, and Barnsley who Even consecutive Conservative
have faced average cuts twice that of governments have themselves
areas in the South, according to a acknowledged the reality of regional
Centre for Cities report. inequality that exists inside the country.
In the midst of a global pandemic, Yet, the irony of the regurgitating
however, these statistics are rhetoric to create a ʻNorthern
devastating. They highlight the powerhouseʼ or to ʻlevel upʼ the North
uncomfortable correlation between is that it admits that the North of
deprivation and high coronavirus England has been neglected for
infection and mortality rates, with your generations. Quite counter-
chances of survival in some part productively, such grand statements
dependent on your locality. If this was create an aura of surrealism rather
not bad enough, the IPPR states the than realism when considering the
North is now experiencing levels of consistent political decisions that have
unemployment not seen for a quarter allowed the North to dilapidate whilst
of a century, likely coming as a London eternally evolves. Indeed, how
consequence of the strict restrictions can we believe the claims that we will
the area has faced for the majority of soon be a powerhouse when 1980ʼs
the year. Once you factor in that those Northern Rail Pacer trains ‒ now a
in more deprived areas are less likely to museum exhibit - were still running up
be able to work from home, and the until late last year?
dramatic austerity cuts to local mental And whilst there is clearly deprivation
health services, it becomes clear that and poverty that needs to be
the pandemic is a concoction of addressed across the UK, particularly
consequences that is perpetually in some areas of London, recent
skewed against the poorest in society, history also strikes a similar, irksome
and those heavily populated in the chord to Northerners. Of course, who
North. can forget the Burnham-Johnson
This dire imbalance is not something standoff in which the government were
that has gone unnoticed, however. only prepared to pay 67% of
Indeed, it goes some way to explain furloughed workerʼs wages in Greater
