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Dr Jodie Hawkes

Senior Lecturer

Jodie Hawkes

About

Dr Jodie Hawkes is an artist researcher and Senior Lecturer in the Theatre Department. Jodie is an experienced teacher of actor training and contemporary devised performance and leads on a range of modules across the Theatre Department including; Acting Skills, Site Specific, Theatre, Politics and Activism, Physical and Visual Theatre, Dissertation, and Professional Development modules. Jodie has a BA (hons) in Acting, an MA in Devised Theatre and a PhD exploring the intersections between maternal performance, class politics and the performance of persona. Jodie is also a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Jodie’s research interests include maternal performance, feminism, class politics and activist practice. Jodie’s artistic practice is undertaken as part of collaborative live art duo Search Party with Dr Pete Phillips. Since 2005, Search Party have made performances for theatres, galleries, public squares, 24-hour parties, high streets, village fetes, parks, shopping centres, across rivers, between bridges and along seafronts. Search Party’s performance work has been shown throughout the UK and Internationally, including ANTIfestival (Kuopio), The National Review of Live Art (Glasgow), Nuit Blanche (Amiens), Plateux (Frankfurt), Junction Arts Festival (Tasmania) and Culturgest (Lisbon). Search Party’s practice has also been disseminated at conferences and in academic books and journals.

Jodie’s work is driven by practice as research and engages in collaborative strategies for performance making and thinking. This collaborative interest has also previously included working with Residence, an artist led organisation based in Bristol and FAN (Family Activist Network), a group of artists and academics and their families exploring the relationship between families and climate change through protest, residencies and artistic activity.

Forthcoming Publications

Co-Editor: ‘Matrescence and Media’ special issue for International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media (2025).

Co-Editor: ‘Mothers, Mothering, Nature & Land’, Demeter (2025).

 

Hawkes, J & Phillips, P, (2024) ‘Playing Kate: Encroaching and enclosing the maternal commons’, in Encountering Environments through the Arts: Interdisciplinary Embodiments, politics and Imaginaries, Edited by Shirley Chubb and Victoria Hunter, Routledge.

Hawkes, J & Phillips, P, (2024) ‘Commoning the maternal: Matricentric feminism and Motherworks Festival’, in The Mother Wave: Matricentric Feminism as Theory, Activism, and Practice, Edited by Andrea O’Reilly, Victoria Bailey, and Fiona Joy Green, Demeter.

Selection of publications

Hawkes, J. (2023) ‘Who does she think she is? Kate Middleton?! Leaky escapes in un-classy maternal performance’ in Mothering Performance, Edited by Šimić and Underwood-Lee, Routledge.

Hawkes, J., McCloskey, P., Duffy, C., Zvensden, Z., Chicago, J.,Townley, A., Lovett, L., and Šimić, L. (2021). ‘FAN Mothers in Our Fragile Social Network against Climate Change’. Journal of the Motherhood Initiative, 12(2), pp. 1-18

Hawkes, J & Phillips, P (2020) ‘Playing Kate OK’ in Maternal Art Magazine Issue One – Stay At Home, Edited by Helen Sargeant. https://maternalart.com/magazine-old/issue-one/

 

Loveless, N., Buller, R.E., Donoghue, D., Drummond, D., El-Sherbini, Y., Haq, F., Hawkes, J., Irvin, S., Kessel, C., Knowles, H. and Lusztig, I., (2016). Contemporary Mamactivist Artists: A Forum on Maternal Activist Art for the Studies in the Maternal Special Issue on The Everyday Maternal Practice: Activist Structures in Creative Work, Summer 2016. Studies in the Maternal, 8(2), pp.56-62.

Hawkes, J & Phillips, P (2019) Postcards from Paris for The Fourth Chapter: On Ecologies for Something Other. https://somethingother.blog/category/the-fourth-chapter/

Hawkes, J, Hornsby, I, Phillips, P, (2019) Drawing Hope for The Eight Chapter: On Solidarity for Something Other. https://somethingother.blog/category/the-eighth-chapter/

Hawkes, J, Phillips, P (2019) I’m Still Standing for the Live Art Almanac Vol.5, LADA.

Hawkes, J, Phillips, P Family Portrait (2017) for Brood: Art and parenting in an age of austerity, Townley and Bradbury (UK).

Hawkes, J, Francombe, B & Phillips, P (2011) Save Me: A Conversation across the City Arnolfini, Bristol, UK,

Hawkes, J & Phillips, P (2010) In Time: a Collection of Live Art Case Studies http://www.liveartuk.org/downloads

Selection of other research

A podcast Interview for Woman Up! (2021) podcast series 3 hosted by Desperate Arts Wives in association with the Women’s Art Library at Goldsmith College. The podcast invites artists, academics, writers, activists, midwives, carers, and mothers to challenge ideals, question assumptions and promote social change. https://www.desperateartwives.co.uk/woman-up-podcast-series-3-episode-1-jodie-hawkes-mother-trouble-makers/

 

A talk for Engage…conversations across performance studies and the maternal, the Maternal Performance Artist Forum (2020) for Performance and the Maternal an AHRC funded research project by University of South Wales and Edge Hill University. https://performanceandthematernal.com/maternal-forums/

A guest blog on All 4 Maternity website (2018), an online platform to support, develop and nurture every midwife and maternity worker. https://www.all4maternity.com/playing-kate-re-staging-maternal-transformation/

A workshop for Maternal Journal (2017) mothers at Cambridge Junction and later published in Godfrey-Isaacs, L., 2021. Maternal Journal: Creative journaling to support mental health and wellbeing. International Journal of Birth & Parent Education, 8(4).

Papers given at conferences

Dr Jodie Hawkes, Dr Pete Phillips in collaboration with Chat GPT, Care-Making in a Careless and Uncaring Environment (2023) University of Chichester Research Conference

Hawkes, J, & Phillips, P, Maternal Care-Making in a Careless and Uncaring Environment, Maternal Bodies: Individual, Collective, Other Symposium (2023) University of Birmingham

 

Maternal and Mental Health panellist at Motherworks Festival (2019).

Hawkes, J, Hornsby, I & Phillips, P (2019) 12 Hopeful Acts: Drawing Hope at Graphic Brighton.

Playing Kate: Her Royal Pie-ness at Digesting Ritual: Food, Waste and the Body – A Multi-Disciplinary Seminar, Ritual and Banquet (2018) at GSA the University of Surrey.

My son and Heir and MotherStuff at Maternal Meets the Performance conference at Edge Hill University (2016).

My Son and Heir at The Application of Performance and the Maternal conference at the University of South Wales (2016).

Toys r us at Performing Place 2 symposium at the University of Chichester (2016).

Selection of recent Search Party performances

STORM (2020) Derelict, Uclan Preston (UK), Salt Festival of the Environment and the Sea, Quarterhouse, Folkestone. R&D and residency (2018) supported by Royal Court Theatre, London.

Landfill and Other Climate Games for Families (2019), Salt Festival of the Environment and the Sea, Quarterhouse, Folkestone.

Playing Kate (2019) Motherworks Festival, Cambridge Junction. For more on performances – see www.searchpartyperformance.org.uk

Research Output

Books

Francombe, B., Hawkes, J. and Phillips, P. (2011) Save Me: A Conversation Across the City. Arnolfini, Bristol. ISBN 9780956888624

Other department members

Abigail Conway
Senior Lecturer
Andy Roberts
Andy Roberts
Showroom Administrator - Theatre (Performing Arts)/Dance
Ben Francombe
Dr Ben Francombe
Head of Department of Theatre

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