Ascendance takes Barnet on an 'emotional journey'

Sophie Winch talks to Matthew Rosier about his installation at the borough’s Light and Flight festival

A man in a blue shirt leans back, as a beam of light shines towards his chest — A hovering participant in the *Ascendance* film tour – (Credit – Zoe Scholes)

Matthew Rosier will show his installation Ascendance this month at the Light and Flight festival, a major arts event across two weekends celebrating local history and creativity in Barnet.

To make his videos, Matthew toured a film set to locations across the borough, focusing on spaces with a sense of established community. Among these were Middlesex University, Barnet and Southgate College, and Unitas (a charity and youth hub). Working with Middlesex University, he constructed a floating rig, allowing participants, aged 16-20, to hover above the ground. “The project is so inclusive of our wide creative community across the borough,” says Dr Helen Bendon, deputy dean for arts and education at Middlesex University.

Matthew’s subjects came from many different neighbourhoods and communities, including the Nepalese Community Centre, Art Against Knives, youth clubs and colleges. There was an “amazing mix” of young people, he says. Alongside these participants, members of Beat (the Barnet Educational Arts Trust) were involved in creating a soundscape by collecting birdsong. “It’s been really lovely to involve our young musicians in the project,” says Sharon Broughall, CEO of Beat.

Alongside filming flying young people, Matthew has been working to record the stories and voices of twelve older participants. These range from Mahender, who in 1968 walked from India to East Finchley, to Simon, vicar at the Stone Grove estate, whose perspectives on the shifts of Barnet’s demographics take his narration beyond his own story.

“I’ve lived in London a long time,” Matthew tells me, “but always in the East and South; North [London] is a less well-known area for me”.

Working on this project, he soon discovered that Barnet felt like a ‘settled’ place, with “less of a sense of coming and going”, and a strong emphasis on “local community”. He also observed a great sense of cultural diversity, something which he was keen to foreground in his work. In particular, Matthew says, he was very inspired by the Unitas youth centre in Burnt Oak. “It’s such a happy place,” he says, “and I felt really connected with all the people there”.

“It’s the case across London,” he says. There’s more of a history than people sometimes appreciate, as people have ended up “congregating and putting roots down” everywhere. Matthew says one of his biggest inspirations has been Steve McQueen’s Year 3 project in 2021, which featured a photograph of every year three class in London, displayed in the Tate Britain’s grand hall space. “Right in the middle of Brexit, it was completely overwhelming to be in that,” he tells me. “Looking at all of those faces, you realise ‘there’s no discussion [about immigration] here. This is the future.’”

“If this could even begin to do something like that, that’s what I would want,” he tells me. “It’s funny, sad, and awe-inspiring – there’s an emotional journey with it that I hope people will experience”.

Matthew wants people to experience the feeling of “rising and going forward”, in a time that can feel “very dispiriting and scary. He hopes the project will uplift its audience, and show how much people have been able to overcome.

Ascendance is being shown at the Light & Flight festival. It will be unveiled on Saturday 14th November at 4.30pm and remain on display Sunday 22nd November.

Entry is free and tickets can be booked here: https://www.lightandflight.co.uk/

Local news needs your support

We are proud that we were at the forefront of reporting on the recent local elections. We can’t do this without the support of our readers.

Independent news outlets like ours – reporting for the community without rich backers – are under threat of closure, turning British towns into news deserts.

If our coverage has helped you understand our community a little bit better, please consider supporting us with a monthly, yearly or one-off donation.

ACT NOW!

Monthly direct debit

Annual direct debit

£5 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else, £10 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else and a print copy posted to them each month. £50 annual supporters get a digital copy of each month's paper before anyone else. £84 annual supporters get a print copy by post and a digital copy of each month's before anyone else.