To Have & To Hold is a body of socially engaged practice, originally commissioned in 2019 by the Arts Council England, Storyhouse and Chester West and Chester Council, and concluded late 2023 as part of Chester Contemporary (2023-24). The work is informed by three almost-forgotten geographically specific narratives that all in different ways offer perspectives on gender and female power.  As a collection these narratives bring together fascinating rituals, strange tales of hope, self-sacrifice, and embodied female power.

The concept of marriage is used as a multifaceted device: to marry the past with the present, as a plot anchor in the original folklore and more allegorically in the practice itself, where virtual interactions are intentionally married with material and site-specific experiences. Part of this work was developed during the COVID-19 pandemic, in which day to day physical interactions were limited, creating interesting additional boundaries and questions for  local-remote and global social engagement. The links below give you access to the differing works undertaken during this project.