Claudia Sneddon and Joe Morris - Contemporary Art Practice

Claudia Sneddon, aged-21 from Linlithgow and Joe Morris aged-27 from Helensburgh, started working together in 3rd year after sharing a studio space.  

For their final year show, ‘Olive and Anya in Heteroland part 3’, the creative duo bring drag personas, Anya Rhythm and Olive Sudden, together in a film set in its own, queer domestic setting that they describe as a crack in the walls of heteroland.

Claudia and Joe both went to college before attending Grays. Claudia joined in 2nd year, whilst Joe started the following year as a 3rd year direct entry. They both chose Contemporary Art Practice as it gave them the chance to explore their creativity without being tied to one discipline. 

In their final year degree film, they create an an atmosphere that merges camp humour and surreal, grotesque discomfort with a grim but glam style. They look at the intersection and historical relationship in media between queer identity and horror.

Speaking about their work, Claudia said: “We reference drag culture in a duo lip sync performance that descends into madness, losing ourselves together in the chaos of unadulterated FUN. Humour and kitsch style are important to us as we poke fun at ourselves when broaching serious topics, to make the work enjoyable and accessible.  

“Challenging the boundaries of our identities, we explore queer comfort zones within the heterosexual matrix through performance, video and language but our DIY attitude leads us to use many other mediums when developing the settings and costumes for our work. 

As to anyone thinking of joining Grays, Joe said: “Just go for it!  It is a really creative space that allows you to go in any direction with your work. Moving forward, we plan to keep working in the same open, playful way that we have been.  We will be getting a studio space together where we can continue to be silly and make things.”