AN ARTIST will be working with Firstsite to create an artistic memorial to commemorate victims of witch hunting.

New Geographies is an exciting £600,000 Arts Council-funded project, commissioning ten artworks spread across the country.

As part of this project, artist susan pui san lok will work with Firstsite in Colchester on a series of works encompassing moving image, sound and sculpture.

The finished pieces, inspired by sites such as St Peter and St Pauls Church in West Mersea and St Osyth's Priory, will commemorate the hundreds of women persecuted as ‘witches’ in the seventeenth century by the ‘Witch Finder General’, Matthew Hopkins.

Lok’s project will "explore the continuum between the folkloric and historic, and how narratives of the magical, mystical and murderous converge – and

where wonder and fantasy turn to fear and violence."

Via an international open call, artists were invited to submit proposals for artworks inspired by the nominated locations.

Hedley Swain, area director for the south east at Arts Council England, said: "Arts Council’s strategy is about great art and culture for everyone.

"This project is therefore particularly exciting in seeing so many people from across the east get involved, nominating places that are special to them for one reason or another.

"It has put people who live in and around these places right at the heart of the work.

"The artists selected are all of the highest quality and I am very excited to see what they will create and how the landscapes and communities of the East of England are revealed through their works."