ONE WORK | Juliana Capes, 'Be Different Today'

For the next event in the One Artist | One Work series, Juliana Capes will discuss her recent work Be Different Today (2019), a collaboration with Ruth Barrie. The 5 minute film was commissioned by LUX Scotland in partnership with BBC Scotland and Creative Scotland as part of Now & Next.

Be Different Today comprises footage from a series of audio described sunrises on Portobello beach. Like Capes’ film Sunset Reports (2019), which describes an entire sunset for the visually impaired, Be Different Today draws on Capes’ experience of working with audiences with visual impairment.

Be Different Today and Sunset Reports speak of the difficulty of describing indescribable concepts such as colour, beauty, love and grief. They operate on the cusp of the personal and universal, describing experiences we can all relate to, but rarely make time to actually see. Both works explore the richness of describing for others, with its difficulties and subjectivities, encouraging conversation and collective sight.

Be Different Today draws on Capes and Barrie’s life experiences and references their shared love of Portobello beach, ASMR YouTube videos and transcendental meditation. The resulting film speaks of the dualities of living: of simultaneously keeping close and letting go.

Both works are available to view on Capes’ website. Be Different Today is captioned and the event will be transcribed live.

Over the last few months LUX Scotland has been holding a series of online events led by artists. Each fortnight a Scotland-based artist has presented a recent work and talked through how the work came into being. Each artist has been joined by one of the LUX Scotland team and up to 40 online participants.

How it works

Our online events will take place on Zoom. The event will be live captioned using otter​.ai live transcription. We will also use the chat space to post questions /​comments being raised by the guest artist so they can be referred back to.

We ask that all participants are respectful and listen to the facilitators and other participants. An attendee list will be circulated to all participants in advance of each event. At the beginning of events we will introduce the guest artist and invite participants to briefly introduce themselves and their reason for joining. During the event discussion, we ask that one person speaks at a time and that you type ​‘hi’ in the chat to indicate you want to contribute. A member of the LUX Scotland team will keep a track of who wishes to contribute and will direct the conversation to you. You may also wish to use the chat space to type your question or comment, should this be preferable for you. We ask that you keep your microphones on mute until you are going to speak to ensure everyone can hear clearly. We invite you to have your cameras on, where possible, as this maintains a feeling of being together in the space.

If you require support to participate in our online events, or have any questions, please let us know by contacting us on email hidden; JavaScript is required or by phoning or texting 0739 4042 450, and we will be happy to assist.

LUX Scotland is dedicated to providing a welcoming online environment for everyone, regardless of gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, or religion or belief. Participants who do not adhere to this code of conduct and the participation guidelines will be asked to leave the event.

We welcome feedback on how these online events have been organised and facilitated in order to improve them as we go forward, in acknowledgment that this is a learning curve and adjustment period for us all. An evaluation form will be circulated at the end of the event along with any references, links or materials brought up during the discussion.

Juliana Capes was born in Grimsby in 1974, growing up in coastal Lincolnshire. She has been based in Edinburgh for the last 23 years and lives in Portobello with her husband and children. She is a award winning multidisciplinary visual artist who has exhibited most recently at Edinburgh’s Fruitmarket Gallery, Royal Scottish Academy and Edinburgh Art Festival. Her diverse artworks often use the vocabulary of natural phenomena to ask questions about the processes of feeling, seeing and believing. She is interested in beauty and her work strives to achieve it.

She is also passionate about access to the arts and concurrently works in creative learning in galleries and community contexts. In particular over the last 15 years she has worked extensively with a Visually Impaired audience, notably as lead artist on the National Gallery of Scotland’s Visual Impairment programme.