Royal Hastings, University of London Multimedia Art MA Final Project

Candidate name: Jemisha Badhuri

Candidate number: 0883479

Teamwork vs help:

I’ve never had ‘good team player’ on my CV . I don’t like relying on other people any more than I have to. If I can do something myself, then I go right ahead and do it. Which is fine. Art in its purest form isn’t something that benefits from teamwork, so working with others on a collective project is a new concept for me. And that’s why I’m here after all.

Help, on the other hand, is something I often find myself on the receiving end of, whether I want it or not. Dad says I must always be grateful for help, because if I’m grumpy and send a person packing, they may not help someone else in future, when that someone might really need a hand. He’s probably right, in that annoying way parents are.

One thing this course has taught me is that I too can help people, even if I risk them being grumpy and ungrateful, just as I’ve been many times in the past.

A good team player is an obedient member of the pack. A people-pleaser. But I’m a good team leader, because I know what’s right and wrong and I’m decisive. I can make decisions over and above the consensus of the majority. Which is why I found working with this group of personalities so frustrating.

What do you do if you know the team leader has made the wrong decision? Escalate your concerns. What if you do that and nothing happens because the ‘line manager’ – or, in our case, the tutor – is as deluded as the others? You see, the notion of teamwork can be exploited in all sorts of ways. The team will carry lazy members who don’t want to work. A poor leader will delegate tasks they don’t like to weak members. People take credit for things they had no hand in – and crush those who did. So why do organisations value teamwork so much? If you ask me, it only serves the domineering bully who can’t achieve anything on their own.

I spoke up, I asked questions and I escalated my concerns on numerous occasions, but when all is said and done, I investigated Alyson’s disappearance all by myself.

To: MMAM ( FTP )

From: Gela Nathaniel

Date: 1 May 2024

Subject: Assignment Six

Dear all,

As the final project swings into its next phase, it’s time for your sixth and final coursework assignment, and it’s something you can take forward into the workplace when the course has ended.

You are not the person who started this course. Design a new CV , webpage or social-media profile that sells you as an employee or a freelance creative. Look back at Assignment Two from last year. How are you different from that person? How have you grown and matured? Your page or profile MUST include a 2D piece or soundscape that illustrates the transformation that you, personally, have undergone. Deadline: 17 May 2024.

Your deadline coincides with a time when the installation for RD 8 should be almost complete.

Best wishes,

Gela

Doodle message group MMAM ( FTP ), 1 May 2024:

Jem Badhuri

How can Gela expect us to do *another* assignment when we’re behind on the final project?

Patrick Bright

It’ll be a toughie.

Jonathan Danners

We’re not behind on the project. We’ve had to re-design, but the client’s request for larger components on the tunnel wall will serve our timings well. We can cover the area faster.

Jem Badhuri

I have to re-design my head centrepiece. That’s a lot of work for me.

Patrick Bright

But won’t your soundscape be less intensive, seeing as it’s ambient and not binaural? Not that I know a lot about it.

Jonathan Danners

I’m happy to help you with the head, Jem. I can join you on that this week. We’ll work together.

Ludya Parak

I can help with the head. I bet Patrick can too.

Ludya Parak

Patrick.

Patrick Bright

If I’m needed, then yes, of course I’ll help you, Jem.

Jonathan Danners

Jem? Do you need help with the head?

Jem Badhuri

I’d rather do it on my own.

Jonathan Danners

There we go. We can all concentrate on our manufacturing tasks, to make sure the tunnel does NOT become the wall frieze the client might still request the next time we show it to them.

Patrick Bright

I thought you convinced them, Jonathan?

Ludya Parak

He did, but clients …

Doodle message group [Private] Jonathan and Jem, 1 May 2024:

Jonathan Danners

Thank you for adapting your soundscape and clay head. Much appreciated.

Jem Badhuri

I’m a conscientious team member going with the flow.

Jonathan Danners

What’s the balance, now we’ve had RD 8’s extra ￡500?

Jem Badhuri

There’s ￡137.65 left.

Jonathan Danners

There must be more than that. What’ve we spent it on?

Jem Badhuri

Resin and hardener. Gela says Griff put his foot down and locked away all the department supplies. According to Patrick, we now need even more resin for the larger components.

Jonathan Danners

He should know.

Jem Badhuri

If it’s any consolation, he gets trade prices *and* a discount through his retailer card.

Jonathan Danners

Ludya wants to subscribe to a music thing for the multimedia display. She’ll be tapping you for payment at some point soon.

Jem Badhuri

How’s Suzie?

Jem Badhuri

Duh! I mean Alyson. This voice function has a shocking autocorrect.

Jonathan Danners

Alyson’s fine, as far as I know.

Doodle message group [Private] Gela and Cameron, 4 May 2024:

Gela Nathaniel

Please submit something – anything – for Assignment Six and I’ll make sure it gets a grade.

Cameron Wesley

Bit tricky. Might be going deeper into this job than I thought. Submit something for me.

Gela Nathaniel

You can come up with a basic webpage and image. Do something on your phone and send it to me. I’ll jazz it up in FlowHand. Where are you, and why haven’t you returned kiss-kiss to Mae yet?

Cameron Wesley

You’ve spoken to Mae?

Gela Nathaniel

She’s pissed off, and rightly so. If you tell me where it is, I can get it and give it back. Not much to ask, is it?

Cameron Wesley

Did she tell you what kiss-kiss is?

Gela Nathaniel

It’s new tech they don’t want in the wrong hands.

Cameron Wesley

Not new. It’s old, old, old tech.

Gela Nathaniel

Whatever, it belongs to RD 8 and they want it back. Why would you risk your reputation for an old radio?

Patrick Bright’s Doodle Diary, 4 May 2024:

Went round to Jonathan’s. We sat staring at each other for God knows how long. Probably five minutes, but time means nothing when you walk through that door. We both saw it in each other’s eyes: total mental and physical exhaustion. He must be broken, surely? Or did losing his mother and sister make him steely-strong?

I feel like we could work out how we got here by going back, plotting a route, but I don’t want to notice other paths we should’ve taken and didn’t. Too late to go back. Didn’t see Alyson. Could’ve popped my head round the door, but … couldn’t bring myself to, even though she’s still in there.

Jonathan finally says, ‘It’s nearly time for the voice. Come on.’ Couldn’t say no, even if it was an option. We went upstairs. The unit has its own room now, which was a bedroom until, well, recently. We don’t say a word, he switches it on and then we wait. Harsh white noise bounces off the walls. The sky is crystal-clear outside, yet the atmospherics are pure raging up there. We hear them over the airwaves. And then, like a thing you dread but know is inevitable, the white noise stops. First the silence. Then the voice.

‘It’s dark. I’m trapped. Can’t move. Please help me. It’s killing me. Have you killed me?’

At least I think it asks that at the end, but the white noise kicks back in. Jonathan has scribbled everything down in a notebook. He does this every day, each broadcast copied down and dated. Only when the voice says, ‘Have you killed me?’, he stops dead.

‘This is the first time it’s asked that,’ he says, although he flicks through the book to make sure. ‘Interesting. It’s coming to a realisation, I think.’ When did we switch to using the impersonal pronoun?

‘That it’s dead?’ I ask.

‘Yes. It’s possible this unit tunes into a place of transition where the consciousness transmutes after death. The voice says they can’t see, hear or move. That’s been the basis of the broadcasts from the start. Well, they are all physical sensations of being. Of being in a corporeal body. If you are suddenly taken out of your body, those are the feelings you’d miss. They are coming to terms with a different state of being.’

It’s a rational evaluation on the one hand, and on the other it’s totally bonkers. But I can’t argue. Jonathan needs to believe this.

‘What are you going to do?’

‘I want to communicate with it,’ he says, ‘but the only one of us who knows anything about radio is Jem.’

I freak out. ‘We cannot involve Jem. She’s too young, and after all’s said and done, it’s not her fault.’

‘It is Jem’s fault. Partly, anyway. If she hadn’t booked us into one room, this would never have happened.’

I can see his point, but if we get her involved it will be the beginning of the end, and I say so. It occurs to me that’s what he wants: a way to end this that takes the decision out of his hands …

‘What about you, Patrick? You wired the unit up and got it working. You can make it a two-way thing. Ask radio experts on message boards and YouTube. You can do it.’

I can’t. I just can’t.

‘I don’t want to speak to it. If you want my opinion, then the way we solve this problem is to switch that thing off and dump it. Send it back to RD 8 even. It’s not ours, we never should’ve had it, and I wish – wish to God – I’d never helped Jem open it up and tinker with it. It distracted her from everything else, but if I’d known …’

‘Patrick, you have to contribute. You know what the rest of us are doing don’t you?’

I have to nod.

‘Well, you can do this . You can do it. Because if you don’t, someone will remember whose fault this really is.’

Doodle message group [Private] Hannah and Gela, 6 May 2024:

Hannah O’Donnell

When can I expect MMAM ( FTP ) grades for Assignment Six?

Gela Nathaniel

They had a setback on their final project, so I’ve only just handed it out.

Hannah O’Donnell

Is Cameron planning to submit?

Gela Nathaniel

Definitely. He’s working on something now.

Hannah O’Donnell

I’m sending you an email about the final grades.

To: Gela Nathaniel

From: Hannah O’Donnell

Date: 6 May 2024

Subject: Final grades

Dear Gela,

I’m preparing guidelines for how the final project is marked and those marks reviewed. There’s a draft document entitled ‘Notes for examiners’ attached. It’s the first thing they read before diving into the students’ coursework. I think it’s clear and to the point. In addition, please read the points below and come back with any comments and amendments.

You will mark the students in the first instance. An external examiner will access those marks and other course materials to evaluate both coursework and the final project, and to confirm – or query – the given grades. As we know, the external examiner very much holds the balance of power, and I don’t want this course to flounder at such a late stage after everyone has worked so hard. Not least you, Gela! We all want this course to fly.

As I understand it, the group won’t be able to assemble the installation here before the materials are transported to RD 8 and assembled for real, so to speak. As the event takes place outside the college on private property, the onus is on you to document the process for the external examiner.

Can we have a portfolio of photographs that show the installation before the materials leave the studio, then in situ at RD 8, before the event. If you are able to photograph people at the event – or film them experiencing the installation, that would work well.

The deadline appears to be the day before the actual event: can you confirm? Please let me know any ideas you have that will enable the examiner to evaluate the final project and do justice to all the hard work you and your MA group have put in over the last year.

All the best, Hannah

To: MMAM ( FTP )

From: Gela Nathaniel

Date: 6 May 2024

Subject: The long essay

Dear all,

Do not run screaming at the subject line of this email. It’s time to start pulling together your long essays. By ‘long’ we mean 5,000–6,000 words.

Of course as you’ve all been keeping copious diaries of your work on the final project, these will be a cinch. They are basically your chance to evaluate the whole project, start to finish, from your point of view. Imagine you are giving your line manager an idea of what went right and wrong, and in particular what learnings can be taken from the experience, so that the next project will be better still. This form of post-mortem is how we all ensure we move on from past mistakes towards a bigger, brighter future!

We’ll discuss potential formats and headings, etc. at our next meet-up in the studio. The format is flexible, so long as you clearly communicate:

Who you are as an artist

A project overview

What went right

What went wrong

Learnings going forward

How you format and structure the essay is up to you.

Best,

Gela

Doodle message group MMAM ( FTP ), 6 May 2024:

Jem Badhuri

OMG , I can’t believe we have to start the long essay before we’ve finished the installation. I’ve been keeping a Doodle diary, so hope to get it over with quickly. What’s everyone else doing?

Patrick Bright

Feels like two minutes ago we were getting our welcome packs and registering for the print room. I’ve been keeping a diary too, but don’t think it’ll be very useful.

Jem Badhuri

The diaries are chronological, so we can do a chronological account, right?

Patrick Bright

That would be the logical thing.

Ludya Parak

It’s our opportunity to throw shit around, folks. Point fingers. Lay blame. The worse you can make everyone else look, the less you’ll come under the gaze of the man. Tips from the coalface of corporate survival.

Jonathan Danners

If the final project is a success – which it will be – there won’t be any blame to throw around.

Patrick Bright

That’s right, Jonathan. We’ll all be singing each other’s praises, that’s for sure.

Jem Badhuri

Any failings will be attributed to the project leader. Glad it’s not me. Will Alyson and Cameron be doing long essays?

Alyson Lang

We have to submit an essay to graduate. I’ll be positive about the project leader. He was the best thing about it.

Cameron Wesley

Why call it ‘the long essay’ for God’s sake? Puts everyone off. Call it ‘the main essay’ or ‘the course essay’. ‘The LONG essay’ gives it an air of dread and gloom. That’s going in my introduction.

To: Mae Blackwell

From: Gela Nathaniel

Date: 6 May 2024

Subject: Royal Hastings MA installation

Dear Mae,

My course admin is making plans for the MA examination, of which your installation is the pièce de résistance . Please may I check you’re happy for us to photograph the tunnel and the centrepiece once it’s in place at your headquarters? Only we can’t fully assemble it here.

In addition, it would be fabulous to have a short film of guests interacting with the installation. I can make this film myself. In fact I can also film the group as they build the piece, which would work very well – especially as I’m supposed to help them as little as possible! Once the structure is in place, I’m going to suggest the students make themselves available around the piece, to answer questions from your guests, perhaps explain how RD 8’s history inspired them, etc.

Would you, or one of your colleagues, be happy to be interviewed on-camera about how valuable to a corporation a collaboration such as this is? I’m thinking beyond this year now, as next year, hopefully, I’ll be seeking another private enterprise to sponsor a real-world artwork.

Please let me know your thoughts as soon as possible.

Very best wishes,

Gela

To: Gela Nathaniel

From: Mae Blackwell

Date: 6 May 2024

Subject: Re: Royal Hastings MA installation

Dear Gela,

I am afraid there is no possibility of you speaking to our employees. As for filming our guests, that is absolutely out of the question. The invitations clearly state that photography is not permitted on RD 8 property.

We have not yet discussed the role your students will play on the day of the event. We would prefer that they assemble their artwork an hour or two prior to our first guests arriving, then vacate the premises. However, as the installation hasn’t been built to the health-and-safety standards required by a free-standing structure, I feel they should be present to ensure it doesn’t collapse or items fall off it.

While our presentation takes place, they may move to the kitchen with the catering staff. Once the guests have gone, around 9 p.m., they will have until 11 p.m. to break the installation down and remove it. Alternatively I can arrange for it to be destroyed in our incinerator. Let me know.

I hope this isn’t too much of a problem.

Mae

Doodle message group [Private] Gela and Hannah, 6 May 2024:

Gela Nathaniel

Hannah, I am apoplectic and have only you to sound off to. Mae won’t let us document the event! I appreciate they have sensitive commercial concerns, but it’s hardly in the spirit of the collaboration.

Hannah O’Donnell

No photographs or film?

Gela Nathaniel

Mae says ‘no possibility’, but I might be able to sneak some shots between set-up and the moment we have to clear off to the *kitchen* (yes, with the staff). Unless we need to stand by to ward off a collapse! That’s how much faith she has – in case ‘items fall off it’!

Hannah O’Donnell

Oh dear! Can they set it up in the studio and take pictures there?

Gela Nathaniel

Surely she can’t object to a few basic visuals, if there’s nothing sensitive in the shot? They took us to the place, Hannah. It’s a plain old 1960s function room on the outskirts of an HQ , not Menwith Hill!

Hannah O’Donnell

No problem. Look, the examiner will understand, I’m sure.

Gela Nathaniel

Mae even said they’d incinerate it for us afterwards. Thanks very much. Why not cut out the middleman and take it straight there!

Hannah O’Donnell

Can the material be set up here at the college afterwards? I’m thinking that we have spaces it might work in. You can photograph it and film people from the college ‘experiencing’ it.

Gela Nathaniel

You’re right Hannah. That’s a great idea. I’m simmering down now. Right, time to think positively and productively, like I’m always telling my students.

To: Mae Blackwell

From: Gela Nathaniel

Date: 6 May 2024

Subject: Re: Royal Hastings MA installation

Dear Mae,

That’s rather disappointing as I felt this collaboration would enable the MA group to see their work in a real-world situation, being enjoyed by corporate guests and appreciated by their client. However, of course we will adhere to your in-house guidelines and would never think of doing otherwise.

Regarding the fate of the installation post-event. Please do not incinerate the students’ hard work! We will take the materials back to Royal Hastings, with a view to assembling the piece again for our department and the wider college world to enjoy. This will work as some additional promotion for RD 8 and its exciting new technology.

Many thanks again for supporting the college and its grateful students.

Gela Nathaniel

To: MMAM ( FTP )

From: Gela Nathaniel

Date: 6 May 2024

Subject: Logistics

Dear all,

Me again! While you’re busy with Assignment Six and the final project, I’m thinking ahead to the event. Mae and her team are very excited at the prospect of seeing the installation in situ and have been making plans for how it will get there and what will happen to it afterwards.

A corporate organisation with health, safety and security concerns will have certain rules that must be adhered to by outside contractors – that’s us. Jonathan, could you liaise with Mae’s PA , so we’re across everything? I suspect we will have to obtain access passes beforehand and register whatever vehicle and company we hire to transport the materials to the location.

Difficult as it is to think beyond the event right now, we also need to decide what happens to our materials afterwards. We’ll have to dismantle it that night (Mae has set aside a two-hour time slot) and I suggest bringing it back to RH in the first instance.

Plenty to think about, talk over and plan for. Good luck!

Gela

Doodle message group MMAM ( FTP ), 6 May 2024:

Jem Badhuri

I thought RD 8 would want it in their foyer permanently.

Gela Nathaniel

They’d love to. Only they don’t have room and our installation, as good as it most certainly will be, does not conform to their strict health-and-safety responsibilities.

Ludya Parak

If they’ve paid for something and want to kick it literally straight in the bin, then it’s up to them.

Jem Badhuri

They won’t bin it.

Ludya Parak

By the time it’s been ‘experienced’ by RD 8’s drunken guests it’s going to look pretty smashed up.

Jonathan Danners

Ludya’s right. We want people to interact with the piece. If it’s unfit for human consumption by the end of the night, then our job is done.

Gela Nathaniel

I’d love to set it up at Royal Hastings, but logistics may dictate otherwise.

Alyson Lang

Controversial suggestion coming up: shall WE bin it? RD 8 have a ginormous incinerator.

Jem Badhuri

No! Apart from all the hard work some of us have put in, think of all that wasted material. It wouldn’t be eco-friendly.

Patrick Bright

Is burning it safe? We have a lot of resin components.

Alyson Lang

Let’s make a ritual bonfire and dance naked around it, in celebration of the monster’s demise!

Jem Badhuri

Those of us who’ve worked day and night don’t consider it a monster.

Ludya Parak

I can take some resin components home for the kids to play with in the garden.

Alyson Lang

BIN THE BEAST.

Jem Badhuri

I’ll keep it. All of it. No one take anything off it.

Patrick Bright

Are you sure, Jem? Where would you put something that huge and unwieldy?

Gela Nathaniel

Let’s finish the piece before we decide its fate.

Jem Badhuri

Dad can clear a space in the garage and park his car on the drive.

Doodle message group [Private] Jonathan, Ludya and Jem, 8 May 2024:

Jonathan Danners

Logistics for the day. I’ve booked a Luton from a local company. If we do all the loading ourselves, we’ll only have to pay for a van and driver. Royal Hastings to RD 8. Invoice attached, Jem.

Jem Badhuri

How do we get there?

Jonathan Danners

Luds, will you take us and any additional bits and pieces?

Ludya Parak

OK. But get permits for both vehicles. Remember the attitude on the front gate last year.

Jonathan Danners

Jem, set aside some budget for Ludya’s charge receipt, post-event.

Ludya Parak

Have you told the van to wait and return?

Jonathan Danners

No. He’ll drop the stuff and leave.

Jem Badhuri

I’ll pay for him to wait, then drop it back at my place after.

Ludya Parak

We haven’t decided what we’re doing with it, right, Jonathan?

Jonathan Danners

It might be that we *have* to get rid of it, Jem. Once the event’s over, it’s just a length of damaged fabric covered in paper, glue, paint and resin. I’m sure your parents don’t have room.

Jem Badhuri

I’m keeping the clay head.

To: Central St Martins College of Art

From: Jemisha Badhuri

Date: 9 May 2024

Subject: Employer enquiry re: a former student

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am a gallery owner considering hiring the services of an artist who claims to have studied at your institution. I wonder if you could confirm her claims are true and that the grade she states on her CV is indeed the grade she achieved.

Her name is Alyson Lang and she is forty-four years old, which would make her year of graduation around twenty-two years ago. As Lang may be her married name, perhaps search for someone who spells Alyson with a y?

I would very much appreciate your soonest response.

Best,

Jemisha Badhuri

Doodle message group [Private] Patrick and Jem, 9 May 2024:

Patrick Bright

How are you getting along, Jem? We haven’t spoken so much recently. It’s all gone a bit dark, has it not?

Jem Badhuri

What do you mean by ‘dark’?

Patrick Bright

I mean, we’re all in our personal hell. I’m making resin bits and papier-maché. Trying to work on a sketch for Assignment Six, but there’s that much dried glue and paper fibres, hardener and all sorts of rubbish stuck to my fingers. Can barely hold a pencil.

Jem Badhuri

I’m not in hell. Finished the RD 8 soundscape ages ago. The head is almost done. Enjoying Assignment Six.

Patrick Bright

Good for you. The head looks awesome, by the way. Perfect reminder of humanity for guests who’ve come through the technocentric tunnel unscathed.

Jem Badhuri

What do you think we should do with the installation afterwards? You didn’t say.

Patrick Bright

Best incinerate it. There’s a chap in Schull makes sand art on the beach. The tide comes in, washes it away. The next day he’s back making another piece. Something authentic about ephemeral art.

Jem Badhuri

Whatever they do with the tunnel, I’m keeping the head.

Patrick Bright

Don’t, Jem. Finish the course and leave it behind. You’ve got your whole life ahead of you.

Jem Badhuri

The head is mine. I’ll decide what happens to it.

Doodle message group [Private] Gela and Cameron, 9 May 2024:

Gela Nathaniel

Would be good if you showed your face at the studio in the next couple of weeks. Even better if you help set up for the event.

Cameron Wesley

No can do, either way.

Gela Nathaniel

I need the technicians and admin to see you making the effort to attend. Just once. That way, they’ll back up what I put on your special-consideration form.

Cameron Wesley

I’m not even in the country. Sorry, Gela.

Doodle message group [Private] Gela, Jonathan, Alyson and Ludya, 10 May 2024:

Gela Nathaniel

Everything OK?

Jonathan Danners

Nothing for you to worry about.

Gela Nathaniel

Alyson, can you come into the studio at some point in the next couple of weeks? I take it you’ll be at the event for the grand finale. The others need to see you’re still involved.

Alyson Lang

Ludya’s covering for me in the studio. I might be there on the night – will let you know nearer the time.

Gela Nathaniel

Cameron’s coming, and it’s only fair to the other students that we have a full team for the final-project unveiling.

Jonathan Danners

Cameron’s coming? Has he said for definite?

Gela Nathaniel

Yes. He’s feeling much better. I’ve kept my part of the deal. This is the most important part of yours: the examination.

Alyson Lang

I’ll do my best.

To: Jemisha Badhuri

From: Central St Martins College of Art

Date: 10 May 2024

Subject: Re: Employer enquiry re a former student

Dear Ms Badhuri,

Thank you for your email. I have checked our records and I’m delighted to confirm that yes, Alyson Lang graduated in 2006 from our Bachelor of Arts course with a First-Class Honours degree in Fine Art.

Yours sincerely,

Uzma Mira

Doodle message group MMAM ( FTP ), 14 May 2024:

Jem Badhuri

How is everyone getting along with Assignment Six?

Ludya Parak

Too busy with the multimedia presentation. I’ll get an extension. She can’t expect us to focus on the final project *and* these shitty assignments.

Jem Badhuri

In the real world we’ll have to juggle different projects with clashing deadlines. Professional creatives often don’t have the luxury of time. Life is all about managing expectations. Your own and others’.

Ludya Parak

Thanks for the lecture – seeing as you don’t live in the real world and know fuck-all about life.

Jem Badhuri

I know a lot about life actually.

Ludya Parak

Yeah, the view from your ivory tower.

Ludya Parak

Sorry. But until you’ve been awake all night while two kids vomit their guts up, then done your paid work from 4 a.m. until 2 p.m., when you have to start your UNPAID coursework, all while making food and screaming at the fuckers to keep quiet, when you know they’re only rowdy because you haven’t had time to take them out all day, while your mum who doesn’t speak much English is vague about the results of her scan, all while trying to find another flat because the landlord wants to sell your home. Then you can tell me about life.

Alyson Lang

Sorry, Luds. Hope your mum’s OK.

Patrick Bright

Thinking of you, Ludya. Hope the boys are better soon too.

Jonathan Danners

Sorry to hear about your mum, Luds. We’re all tired and stressed out. Let’s chill.

Doodle message group MMAM ( FTP ), 16 May 2024:

Jem Badhuri

Is no one coming into the studio any more? I’ve been the only one here all this week.

Patrick Bright

I haven’t felt like speaking to anyone. Been taking my stuff to the BA studio and working there.

Jonathan Danners

Snap. Can’t stand that place. Went to the Aviator to work on my essay. Thing is, we’re nearly done with the components. The end IS in sight.

Jem Badhuri

Thanks to those of us who ramped up production after RD 8’s feedback.

Alyson Lang

I’m working from home and will continue to do so.

Jem Badhuri

I haven’t spoken to you in person since Somerset, Alyson. Exactly four months to the day.

Alyson Lang

I won’t make the event. My client is hosting a dinner in London and expects me there.

Doodle message group [Private] Jem and Patrick, 16 May 2024:

Jem Badhuri

What do you think about Alyson not coming? Not even to help set up.

Patrick Bright

Concentrate on your long essay, Jem. Let’s just get this course over with.

Jem Badhuri

I looked her up at St Martins. She really did graduate with a First, in 2006. She’d have been twenty-six then. A mature student. I’m sure all the articles say she was twenty-two.

Patrick Bright

Pass your MA , then begin your life. You’re right at the start of it. Don’t get bogged down with other people and their problems. Look after number one.

Jem Badhuri

Alyson has gone, Pat. She’s not been in since you all went to Somerset. If you think she has, then you’ve been tricked, like the rest of us. Someone – I suspect Jonathan – is using her account on Doodle.

Patrick Bright

Saw her myself when I went round to Jonathan’s. She was there. Large as life and quite well.

Jem Badhuri

When?

Patrick Bright

Couple of weeks ago.

Jem Badhuri

You didn’t, Pat. You didn’t see her. I’m not saying you’re lying, I’m saying you were fooled. Because she wasn’t there. You didn’t see her or speak to her, face-to-face, did you?

Patrick Bright

No.

Jem Badhuri

Why did you go round?

Patrick Bright

To deliver materials, so they could make components over the weekend. He said Alyson was there.

Jem Badhuri

Has she left her husband?

Patrick Bright

I understand it’s complicated. But I’m absolutely certain she was there.

Jem Badhuri’s Doodle Diary, 16 May 2024:

Ever since I found out Jonathan is married, I’ve been googling Suzie Danners using every variation of spelling I can think of. Been searching for Jonathan too. The lady called Barbara at his father’s gallery said he did ‘something ecological’. I have to bear in mind that she may not have been told the truth herself.

All this time there’s been one thing that didn’t occur to me. I need Dad to take me somewhere.