OLIVIA, an exciting new project in Ventnor being led by Isle of Wight artists, Teresa Grimaldi and Sarah Vardy, is now well underway with lots of new developments to report.
The project explores the unusual life of Olivia Parkes, known by many locals simply as ‘Britannia’. She lived a precarious life off-grid in a wooden boathouse on stilts just west of Ventnor Beach for around 40 years from the 1920s to 1958.
Community engagement underway
Four community engagement sessions have now taken place: Two with adults at The Better Days and two other with young people at St Catherine’s School.
Those taking part were taught experimental life drawing techniques as preparation for future shadow animation.
There’ll be other sessions taking place at both venues in the next few weeks.
New material!
Sophie Blake from the Longshoreman’s Museum on Ventnor seafront has been able to provide the artists with some new material showing Olivia as a younger lady in the 1920s, ballet dancing and swimming.
Sophie is planning a display in the Museum all about Olivia, so make sure you pop in to take a look when the Museum reopens.
This new material has been a real coup for the project, as it’s been pretty hard to find many decent images of Olivia.
Exciting collaboration
There is also exciting news of a collaboration with award-winning local film producer, Rowena Amos.
Rowena is now on board as filmmaker, producer and editor for the animated film that will be showing during Ventnor Fringe Festival (21st-30th July).
The Boathouse building process
Thanks to the hard work and input of several people, the scaled version of Olivia’s boathouse is now almost complete.
Sarah explained the model building process,
“We’re well into the next phase of the project by building a scaled version of the Olivia Parkes boathouse, looking from every angle to recreate the iconic structure in miniature.
“Working with Phil Warren and members of Ventnor Community Shed, the model has become a talking point, a melting pot of creative ideas and lifelong skills of shed members.
She added,
“As we build the boathouse, it is a mix of making something real and playing dolls. Even the men are getting involved!”
Changing perceptions
The building process of the has also changed some of Sarah’s perceptions of how the ‘old lady of the sea’ once lived.
She explained,
“My feelings about Olivia and how she lived in that space have been completely changed through the making process.
“She actually had a fair amount of space in there. Questions constantly come to mind. Did she cook? Did she have a fire? Did she look out of the window? What furniture did she have?”
Sarah added that since starting to make the boathouse, it’s made her ponder on so many other aspects of Olivia’s life.
“For example how on earth did she stay in this structure for nearly 40 years? She must have had some sort of heating?
“Through model making it opens up all sorts of questions – where did she put her clothes? Did she have a mattress? The list is endless.”
Share your stories
If you have any memories, photos or even newspaper clippings about Olivia Parkes, Teresa and Sarah would love to hear from you.
They’re extremely keen to find out more about Olivia’s story and are hoping that News OnTheWight readers may have information to give them a better understanding of her character, background, and possibly why she chose to live as she did.
Get in touch with Teresa Grimaldi by email on: [email protected]
More about ‘Britannia’
Britannia’s hut is featured in the much-loved mural commissioned by Ventnor Exchange as part of Lift the Lid on Island Culture project of the Ventnor Giant, painted by Sheffield artist, Phlegm, on the side of a building in Ventnor’s High Street.
The life of Olivia Parkes is marked on the Ventnor Heritage walk, which was put together by Ventnor Heritage Centre who also have lots more detail about the boathouse that Olivia lived in – read more via their Website.
Find out more about Teresa and Sarah’s collaboration on their Olivia Parkes Blog or follow the project on Facebook and Instagram.
