Interactive Installation (2024)

This interactive artwork invites participants to engage both physically and mentally, as they reflect on self-belief and perseverance while climbing and reading the poem. Watching people interact with this living artwork has been inspiring and humbling. It’s a testament to how art can create spaces for personal and communal reflection.

Viewing the wall and the climbers it’s possible to see some of the types of holds used and moves needed to navigate the journey, but what you don't see is the text of the poem embedded within the textural elements of the route. The climber encounters the poem not only through the text read but also the shapes and positions their body is required to make. Unlike most routes this climbable artwork includes various different types of holds, a resting place, text, a mirror and ends with the choice to either descend down the easy way or attempt the impossible leap.

This artwork was commissioned by People United, The Co-Design Studio, and the Kent Refugee Action Network (KRAN) to create this climbable artwork, inspired by a poem written by KRAN members and poet Yomi Sode, which has been installed at F51 climbing centre in Folkestone.