Phil King. Personal Statement.

I have always had the ambition to take my work into the discipline of
Phd study and have been looking for the opportunity. The AHRC Funded
Studentship offers me that chance. I have been a practising artist and
writer for many years, publishing and exhibiting internationally with
real recognition, but rarely able to commit to it on a full time basis,
either through work or parental responsibilities. Having worked in the
field of Autism support I became very interested in the differences
between ideas of mental health here in the UK and in France. As an
artist and translator of artistic and literary texts I have become very
interested in the questions that this gap raises. As a native French
speaker, I grew up until the age of 9 in France, leaving Toulouse in the
early 70's, I feel very well placed 'between' cultures to develop both
my art work and thinking 'cross channel'. This would resolve a certain
'split' in me or at least put it to productive use as a contribution to a
working understanding of a complex cultural relationship with wide
ranging repercussions. I write and paint on a daily basis and as an
independent cultural agent, I feel that a Phd course would engage that
work in something really shared and important. I am very interested
specifically in the Machine Room idea and in the Contemporary art
research centre at Kingston. I feel open to contributions and criticism
and need to find a suitable environment. I believe Kingston is that. My
work as a translator would benefit from finding a place in a broader
research context. I hope to take full use of conference and publishing
opportunities that an academic degree offers. I also hope to develop
teaching skills as part of the course. I feel ready and waiting for this
chance to contribute. The cultural divide that I feel within myself and
that i have come to understand as a motivating force in my work is
something I feel would benefit greatly from recognised academic
university contexts. I hope to complete the Phd in as short as time as
possible, as an accomplished writer I hope to generate as much
material as possible, to publish research papers in both English and
French and investigate possible links and opportunities in both
cultures. My plan is to work 'between' the two nations and languages
illuminating the natures of both. I feel that approaching artistic
understandings of mental health, of autism and schizophrenia as
manifest in both countries is a fascinating way of doing this. And the
chance of being able to combine such on-going research with my art
practice, a practice that I believe will gain a great deal really fits in with
my deepest and long held ambitions.