Personal Information
--------------------






Given name: John









Surname: Manton









Email: 19179495@brookes.ac.uk









I understand that by submitting this form, I consent to the use of my data for the purposes of the 2026 Forum on Artistic Research'.: Yes









I agree to the terms of service.: Yes













Your contribution
-----------------






Title: Conceptualising painting as a research intervention into commoning endangered choral performance archives









Format: Poster presentation (6)









Main language: English









Abstract:
This presentation centres around the performance history of the choral work of Nigerian composer and leprosy patient activist Ikoli Harcourt Whyte (1905-1977). Harcourt Whyte wrote a huge number of hymns in the Igbo language, fusing Nigerian and UK Methodist musical modes, for performance by patients and fellow former patients at the Uzuakoli Leprosy Centre in southeastern Nigeria. Here, I develop a conceptual armature for the deployment of a research painting practice, in revisiting documentary and artist collaborations around Harcourt Whyte’s work.

The painting practice in question uses a mix of physical and digital processes to interrogate the role of machine learning algorithms in knowledge production, preservation and storage in relation to artistic performance practices, and in mediating access to, and custody and legibility of archives of practice. I investigate how we can use such practices, deriving from relations around painting, to prospect for ways to insinuate minoritised histories/heritage, community practices, and archives-at-risk into the evolving algorithmic landscape, without reinforcing existing harms or rendering new axes of vulnerability. To evidence this potential, I revisit my own collaborative work with composers, academics, medical workers, and patient activists to recover, reinterpret, perform, and share the work of Harcourt Whyte.










Image: https://www.sar2026.ie/system/files/webform/submit_contribution/281/Uzuakoli%20performance%20%28Manton%2C%202015%29.jpg









Short biographies of the presenter(s):
- In my work as an artist, I am interested in how we make sense of the records of our past, how we build, share, and contest histories, how we understand the hold that storytelling has on us, and how we shake it loose, even if only for a moment. To help shake the hold of narrative, I make art across a variety of media, including video and sound work, painting and drawing, sculpture, and photography. My works layer and braid audio and visual material, together with the marks made over years of drawing, and the offcuts of an academic career as a historian and anthropologist.










Previous presentations or iterations of the research:
{Empty}














Requirements
------------






Additional information:
For the SAR Conference, this is envisaged as a poster presentation, but if it's possible to play some relevant music/sound in accompaniment when I am in the space (quietly, so hopefully not disruptive in the space) that would be great. It's not essential to the intellectual case being presented, but it usually helps engagement with specific endangered conceptual dimensions of the world my research engages.










Spatial and technical requirements :
I can provide my own accompanying equipment. If posters cannot be printed on site, I will need to know in advance, as I would be travelling internationally.










Potential risks or ethical concerns:
The Nigerian component of my research work has been covered by ethical review and consent agreements for both academic and broadcast purposes. Any outputs will be shared with original research participants and communities.










Create a user account for SAR 2026: Yes









Create new user: {Empty}