This reflection is the culmination of eight months of research and development work within my own practice and in relation to my previous project Statements in Semaphore. Statements in Semaphore was a three year project that used socially engaged practice to invoke debate and conversations around Women’s ‘hidden’ voices.

Some of this previous project was conducted in Aldershot, part of Rushmoor, one of the areas of lowest arts engagement in the South West (Active People Survey) and of which I am a resident. The aim of the R&D was to spend some time researching how the methodology I had been using could usefully engage with my own local community in Aldershot.

I wanted to spend focused time within the community to see how my
project and practice could develop to meet the needs of my own practice, the needs of local Artists and the local community.

THE METHODOLOGY

Providing creative workshops to local organisations in order to access ‘hidden’ groups and to explore these voices within artistic practice. 

These workshops provide the organisations and participants with a creative environment and a place for their own voices/issues to be heard, they also act as an artistic instigator for myself and the other artists. I also provide funded time for the artists to develop their own practice through creating work inspired by or challenging the issues that surface through the sessions. The work created then comes back to the organisations and community through events, creating discussion, debate and potentially local social change.

Over the past three years I have worked successfully developing this methodology with six Artists, three local and national organisations and three Arts venues.

Over these three years I have found that by connecting the needs of the organisation, the participants and the artists, each party benefits and the work becomes useful also to the wider community in which these organisations and artists work.

WHAT MY RESEARCH INVOLVED

I became Associate Artist at the West End Centre to provide me with a local base 1 day/week.

Met with 25 different groups and local organisations 

Attended 10 different events and meetings which led to me connecting directly with:   

Eight different local arts organisations 

and almost 300 local artists and local people!

Shortly into the research period I realised that the name of the previous project and its focus needed to adapt for the locality. The title ‘Statements in Semaphore’ no longer felt relevant and the ‘Hidden Voices’ that need to be explored are far wider than I imagined. ‘Conversations with Aldershot’ became the title of this work going forward.

As part of this research I wanted to immerse myself as both artist and resident in the town and use my practice to do this, or perhaps let my practice become this. Two engagement activities that I undertook were ‘Feets and Thoughts’ and ‘Clothing Exchange’. Both were low fi interactive installations that I had previously created for engagement during my residencies at Platform 1 Gallery in Wandsworth.

‘Feet and Thoughts’ involves me photographing the feet of people I meet with a polaroid camera. I then ask them a question and write their answer on a label that is then pinned up with the photo and creates a growing installation. On this occasion I created the installation across the three-day festival ‘Westival’ in Aldershot. I asked 100 people the question ‘Why do we needs events like the Westival?’, as a way of beginning to gauge what the local views of arts in the area are, and how engaged the audience actually is. People often hate photographs, but I have found they seem fine with having their feet photographed, proud even!

The second activity that I undertook was ‘Clothing Exchange’. This is an interactive installation that I have developed over the past year as a way of thinking about value in exchange between artist and audience. The premise is that I set up a clothing exchange with clothing donated to me, and I offer this clothing to the audience in exchange for something from them. What I have asked for/been offered has varied, from a person’s own clothing, poetry, a traditional African dance, a hug, a story, a secret or an item from their pocket! For this specific event I was in the town centre of Aldershot for the annual Victoria Day. As I was specifically interested in the views and thoughts of residents I asked for memories and thoughts of the town and area, to gain a wider sense of how other residents felt about the town. I had an overwhelming number of participants and filled not only a long roll of wallpaper border (found in a local charity shop) but also many sheets of A4.

The clothing exchange piece started in 2018 when I was working with groups of women from a Domestic Violence Refuge and I wanted to link the work to the uncertainty of the women’s lives, the upheaval, the temporary nature, the reliance on others and the need for independence and mutual support.  Much of the clothing donated to me came from people who had either experienced abuse or witnessed it, and this sense of community is left as traces in the clothing.

FINDINGS

There is a great amount of activity in the area of Aldershot, in terms of voluntary groups, forums and support especially. There are even partnerships in place already whereby artists are working with local groups to provide workshops. However, there are still a huge number of groups and organisations who would like to access this type of service and cannot afford it or facilitate it. There also seems to be a fixed method for both organisations and artists to work, by simply paying artists to offer workshops. There is no support or funding sought out or provided for the artists to develop their own work, and very little time if any for them to consider the social issues that come up when working with community groups, or for them to develop work in response to those issues. 

There is a huge opportunity for both Artists and organisations here which I feel my project and methodology can utilise. My methodology: providing creative workshops in order to access such groups and to explore these voices within artistic practice is one that is welcomed by all those I spoke to, especially within a theme of ‘making hidden voices visible’.

From speaking with many experienced individuals locally there are a large number (as I suspected) of potentially ‘hidden’ voices. From women in refuges that I have previously worked with, to vulnerable families and those suffering from mental health issues, to underrepresented groups in the military part of the town. 

FUTURE

This work has directly led to the development of the new series of work that I will continue to call ‘Conversations with Aldershot’ going forward into 2020. I have confirmed partnerships established with six artists, Rushmoor Council, Wellesley Woodlands, The West End Centre, Hampshire Cultural Trust and Aldershot Garrison in order to work with organisations including Centenary Housing, Home Start, Stop Domestic Violence, Just Wellbeing and Interserve.

My intention is that the work will act as a pilot for testing my methodology with a very specific location focus.  Democratisation is always one of the contexts within my work and as such I would like one of the outcomes to be a template of the work. By providing such opportunities and encouraging local Artists to see what can be done for their own practice by working with other organisations and other Artists (and seeking funding for this), I feel this can not only encourage action from local artists and organisations but actually enables the levels of arts participation in the area to rise.

This template could be used by any other local artists or organisations going forward. There is also potential for this template to also be useful for other artists, organisations and communities around the UK.

Now to gain some funding!!!!


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