BECOME is a video-based art installation project directed by the illustrious film producer Frank Conway (The Field, Summer Fling). It investigates the experience of illness and its powerful effect on the mind, body and perception of an artist. Fred Conlon was diagnosed with a brain tumour called Glioblastoma early 2004. 70% - 80% of the tumour was removed, which resulted in Fred being physically incapacitated, unable to work in his beloved form of sculpture, and very dependent on other people for almost every aspect of his life.

BECOME is an exploration of the profound effect that this encounter with illness and the medical world has had on Fred, as a person and as an artist. His spirit has been rooted in the spiritual pulse of the landscape, his form of artistic expression rooted in the physically arduous shaping of stone, and his abiding interest has been in the process of change, from birth to death. Fred has suffered transformation and is enriched by it.

His sudden and traumatic encounter with illness has generated a deeper level of understanding about humanity and about the goodwill of people. It is a tribute to the care, goodwill and generosity of the medical/ caring profession in hospital and at home.

In all my experience with the medical/caring professions, in hospital and at home, I could say to them that I have been carried along in the shadow of their goodness.

BECOME is an exploration of this transformation on many levels. Fred has undergone and embraced the change from the person he was to the person he is now. He has had to embrace the fact that his work has had to change to accommodate the new person he has become, a change to which he cannot reach a conclusion to at present. It is a record of him and the 'dealings to find this new person'.

The installation will take the form of projected images on three screens, with sound being a major component. One screen will show Fred in his present condition, in an empty room, sitting silently looking out beyond the camera. It will be a moving image with all the elements of a classically expressed portrait.

Opposite this screen will be two screens side by side with imagery extracted from the transcript of his conversation about the nature of what has become of him. These images will be expressed in a manner evocative of memory, engaging with the spectator in a visceral way. They will express the physicality of his previous sculptural work, the landscape that has been such an influence on his spirit, the effect of being in hospital, the sounds of people 'going through their personal agonies' that he likened to the sounds of the wild; the operation, the impact of the suffering of others, the care of the medical profession. Fred likened the effect of his illness to being struck down like Balor of the Evil Eye. Restrained by his physical impairment, he has created penetrating images that resonate this experience specifically for the installation.

Sound will be a major component of the piece: the sounds of the landscape, of sculpture being made, the sounds of the wildlife, of the hospital, of Fred's own voice, and of music, all interweaving with the imagery. The two screens side by side will sit opposite the screen with the image of Fred, so that the spectator will stand between the image of artist and the arc of his experience, a man who had to embrace the change in his life in a deeply spiritual and profound way, helped by his belief in himself and his belief in others. The intention is for BECOME to do a service, in that it might help people with similar problems cope with change.

Frank Conway, January 2005