Community Project

Draw Hope

in

Community Project (2023)

Draw Hope is an inspiring collaborative art project that invites participants with lived experience of self-harm or suicide* to create unique, personalised tree mural using their footprints and handprints. Through various creative mediums, including drawing, painting, collage and text, individuals can document their past experiences and future aspirations. The project aims to promote creativity and self-expression, and welcomes participation from all, including remote contributors who can submit their work anonymously.

The Draw Hope project is part of the Kent County Council’s Hope Community Arts Fund, which has supported over 15 different arts projects in the past five years. These projects have shown the positive impact that the arts can have, boosting confidence and providing a safe form of expression for participants.

Completed tree artworks were exhibited at the Turner Contemporary alongside works from other Hope Community Fund projects before embarking on a tour around Kent. This showcase coincides with the Baton of Hope journey, which aims to be the largest suicide awareness and prevention initiative in the UK, fostering necessary conversations and prompting appropriate actions.

Through a series of workshops, participants were guided through the creation of their own personalised tree using their own footprints and handprints and exploring a diverse range of creative techniques and mediums. Footprints form the trunk of their trees, while the branches and leaves take shape through the outlines of their outstretched arms and hands. Each footprint depicts a significant milestone in their lives, symbolising the steps that have brought them to where they stand today. Additionally, the handprints showcase their hopes and dreams for the future.

This project has served as a profound journey of self-reflection, empowering individuals to contemplate their past experiences and the limitless possibilities that lie ahead. Our stories are ongoing, and we continue to grow, with boundless potential awaiting us. Every tree created becomes part of a collective forest, together, they serve as a poignant reminder of the inner journey that each and every one of us embarks upon.

Read Article - A Show of Hope for Kent and Medway
Read Article - The most powerful antidote to despair is hope

This project is a grantee of the ‘Hope’ Community Arts Fund from the Kent & Medway Suicide Prevention Programme.

The HOPE Community Arts Fund has been selected as a winner of the Kent Mental Wellbeing Awards for 2023. More than 220 nominations were received this year from across Kent, Medway, Bexley and Bromley and the judging panel chose this project as one of the 30 winners.

PAST EXHIBITIONS

Launch Event
Turner Contemporary, Margate
Tues 18th Jul 2023

Fremlin Walk, Unit 10, Maidstone
24th – 28th Jul 2023

Chatham Library and community Hub
31st Jul – 4th Aug 2023

Trinity Theatre, Royal Tunbridge Wells
7th –11th Aug 2023

Cathedral of Community

in ,

Community Project (2021)

The vibrancy and character of an area is created by its people, the community that dwells there. To celebrate a place is to celebrate its people. The Cathedral of Community is a colourful spectacle dedicated to these people. A building will be taken over, its windows filled with tissue-paper stained glass portraits of the people behind the businesses and organisations of the area. Visible by day but also, more excitingly, lit up at night to create a dazzling attraction. This project removes the visual barrier of physical walls to allow us a glimpse inside at the staff, teams and workers behind the scenes.

 
 

Chatham Intra Edition (May 2021)

FEATURING: Naked Products Co and Retrosential, Sun Pier House, Kalikas Armour fashion label, Sparked Echo, MESS ROOM, Ben Sad Art, Blue Dinosaur Animation, With Love and Lace, Dead Pigeon Pub, Lounge 44, Sniper308, Miss Ava's Millinery, Poco Loco, Studio Eleven Tattoo and Piercing, Hilary's Electrolysis, Jane Pitt, Unravel & Unwind CIC, Dockside Studio / Neville Mountford-Hoare Photographer, No. 64 Coffee and Brunch, Hulkes Lane Darkroom & Studio, Cafenetics, Jet Stream Tours, INTRA arts & Granite Gym.

The Intra Edition was part of the High Street Heritage Action Zone Cultural Programme Pilot, co-funded by Historic England and The National Lottery Heritage Fund, and supported by Arts Council England and Medway Council. Read about the other 5 commissioned projects here.

PAST SHOWINGS

Ebb & Flow Festival
95- 97 High Street, Chatham
21-23 May 2021

Part of the High Street Heritage Action Zone Cultural Programme Pilot, co-funded by Historic England and The National Lottery Heritage Fund, and supported by Arts Council England and Medway Council.

Gillingham High St Edition (Aug 2021)

FEATURING: St Mark's Church, Salvation Army, Buskitivity, Gillingham Eco-Hub, Street Angels, Mythologic Escape Room, Medway Fit, Park Run Boyce's Bakery, Taylor & Co Accountants, Buskers Tim & Ruth Parfitt, The Super Hot Chilli Company, Miss Grace Jewellers, Unravel & Unwind, Crops and Bobbers, Market Supervisor, Gillingham Library, Buxton Dance and Drama Studios, Bike Warehouse & New Look.

This edition was commissioned for the Gillingham POW! Arts Trail - in partnership with MESS ROOM and Mark Barnes. Along with other local artists, they have created a public gallery that will fill the high street with artworks themed on local legends, heroes and everything that makes Gillingham special. The artworks will be available to see from Saturday 28 August 2021 in and around Gillingham High Street. Read about all the projects here.

PAST SHOWINGS

Gillingham POW! Arts Trail
New Look, Gillingham High St
Aug - Oct 2021

Commissioned for the Gillingham POW Arts Trail by Medway Council in partnership with with Medway artists MESS ROOM and Mark Barnes

Parquet Picioare

in ,

Installation (2019)

Parquet Picioare is a site-specific installation designed especially for St Margaret with St Columba Church, Leytonstone. Using the building’s architecture as a starting point, and inspired by the Romanian Orthodox community who also worship at the church, Parquet Picioare reflects the strong sense of fellowship and community fostered here.

Picioare is the Romanian word for ‘feet’ and the aim of this piece it to create a community ‘footprint’. The individually made wooden tiles feature the outlines of the feet of people from the wider church community. While each tile is different, their coordination within a larger pattern symbolises a unity which permits difference.

Commissioned by Art+Christianity
With special thanks to Sam Pearce, Andy Millest and Frank Whittaker