Today we are pleased to be hosting a guest blog from Mouse on the Telly, a talented video artist who worked on R.Dyer’s Emergent commission video for us last year.
Read on to find out more about her work and some of the challenges she faces in the music industry as a Disabled performer and artist.
I, Mandi Peers (aka Mouseonthetelly), would describe myself as an artist specialising in the medium of video. I have always loved making images, whether it be using paint, ink and paper, or video.
I am also a massive music fan, so it seemed a natural progression to combine both art and music in my work, by either making music videos, or playing live visuals at music events. Although I have been doing this since 2008, it was not until I quit my job working for a music charity in 2017, that I found the time and the energy to properly focus on my creative work.
Music videos
As I write this in January 2022, the last video work I did was an audio/visual collaboration with an electronic musician called James Rushworth. I made a video featuring 4 of his tracks, and this was shown live at Plugged IN on 17th December 2021.
The last 2 years have been fairly busy for me, mostly making music videos, which I love doing. This included working with musician Rebecca Dyer to make a video of her track ‘Risk’ as part of Drake Music’s Emergent commission. You can see that video here:
I also did 3 live gigs in the summer of 2021, all at a lovely venue called the Taproom in Walthamstow. I am a wheelchair user with impaired lung function, so I am particularly vulnerable to COVID, so it was great to be able to play live at a venue with such good access and ventilation.
Live visuals and industry challenges
When I play live, I can, if needed, provide an entire video rig: I have screens, projectors, mixers, DVD players, other random gadgets, and loads of cables. Yes, I am a bit of a geek!
Unfortunately however, my disability does impact on my ability to play live visuals at music events; even without COVID, I still can have the challenge of venue inaccessibility, and I have sometimes had no choice but to turn down live gig offers due to this.
Projection mapping
At the moment, I am between jobs, so I now always use that spare time to develop my skills in video mapping. I am absolutely fascinated by this discipline, which is all about projecting onto unusual surfaces –for example, onto a building, making that building totally change its form.
I am currently working on a much smaller scale, projecting onto furniture and other objects in my home. Right now, I have set-up to make a piece of video mapping art from my living room chair. Previously I mapped some cushions on a sofa, which you can see here.
Find out more
You can find my work online on social media, and on my website: www.mouseonthetelly.com
