We are pleased to announce that Laura Trevail has been commissioned for a new project that creatively responds to Coalhouse Fort, a partnership between Essex Cultural Diversity Project and Start Thurrock.

The commission aims to further Essex Cultural Diversity Project and Start Thurrock’s joint work to celebrate diversity, provide a platform for marginalised voices, and empower residents to decide what kind of creative activity they want to experience in their own neighbourhoods. We were particularly seeking a project that can be shaped with communities, foster a sense of local pride and ownership, and help residents value and invest in the future of this important cultural asset on their doorstep.

Over the next few months, Laura will bring together people who love, seek out, or stumble upon Coalhouse Fort in the creation and sharing of ghost stories, while exploring the Fort’s heritage, its natural history, and personal stories together. The project will help to articulate our own connections to Coalhouse Fort, and how that can carry forward for generations.

As an artist whose practice is responsive to context, Laura’s work is largely to listen to a place, a problem, a need or an idea, and to craft that information into an experience that is both enjoyable and useful. In the artist’s own words…

“Fortified in times of threat, neglected in times of safety, surprisingly responsive to change and opportunity, the history of Coalhouse Fort speaks strongly to challenges facing us all right now. There’s a tenacity, a stubborn-ness to the place, combined with broad and expansive strategic views. A much-needed hope, even in the cracked and dampening stone. As an artist, and a human who wants the best for others, Coalhouse Fort is an irresistible beacon. Far from a triumphant castle, it is deeply and ferociously loved for its own darn self. I am interested in exploring what we love, dream, and hope, by also welcoming exploration of what we grumble about, dislike, and fear.

The world is made of love and fear, and not always in the right place. I’m interested in that. I’m interested in cause and effect. I’m interested in what we think we see. I aim to make glancing work with long-term resonance; like the memory of a kind word, or the lasting shiveriness of a ghost story.”

“I am cracklingly thrilled to receive this creative commission from Essex Cultural Diversity Project and Start Thurrock, as folks rally to bring Coalhouse Fort back to use and repair. To be back at the Fort, conjuring ghost stories with people who love this tenacious, nurturing and defiant place. As summer sinks into autumn; though division, scarcity, uncertainty and war be all around, we shall gather together for a proper good spook.” Laura Trevail, artist

“This creative commission comes at a time when partners in Thurrock, supported by Historic England, are driving forward ambitious plans to reanimate Coalhouse Fort and reopen parts of the building to the public. It’s a key moment to launch this commission with Essex Cultural Diversity Project and influence what future creative activity and public engagement could look like within a heritage setting. Laura’s practice and original approach to involving residents in the creative commission is an exciting prospect and we look forward to seeing the work unfold.” Roxie Curry, Executive Director Start Thurrock

About the artist

Laura Trevail lives in Westcliff and makes work across Essex and beyond, with training and background that includes live performance, sculpture, data relationships, human behaviour, horror, connected devices, and value exchange. Laura’s practice promotes diversity and inclusion, opening doors and connecting with diverse pockets of humans, bringing people together and digging around in what is mutually interesting. Laura likes to make work that people chat or reminisce about together, building quiet and real lasting connections to cultivate shared respect and refuse division. Bringing their own experience to working with others facing challenges, Laura is committed to combining improved access with the understanding that those who have had to learn to do things ‘differently’ bring skills and knowledge that are essential. Mainly, she ‘just likes humans’, and is interested in finding out what gets us curious and engaged. Laura is interested in granular diversity, and how working at that level can create genuine lasting mutual benefits.

www.lhtrevail.com | instagram.com/lhtrevail

This project is made possible through a co-commission from Start Thurrock and Essex Cultural Diversity Project supported by Arts Council England. Start Thurrock is a Creative People and Places programme.