Experts in Transient Living – Exhibition now open to the public

 

 

This exhibition is a collaboration between artist, Martin J Gent, Art Gene’s artist and founder-Director, Maddi Nicholson and members of the community: Elisha, Liam, Jafar, Marie & Dawn.

The work shown here in the gallery is the result of this group engaging in a creative process of investigation to explore the expertise of people living transient lives. The process endeavoured to build the participants’ capacity to stand in their own sovereignty and to trust their instincts and knowledge to make empowered decisions and choices.

Exploring from the ‘oblique’, the artists set key starting points to enhance co-creation and empowerment:

• Your story is a given, how do we uncover the new?
• We are not teaching you anything
• You are not ‘lab rats’
• Here is a framework – you lead.

Areas of exploration were: Sleep, Place, Values & Choices, Getting by, and Advice. All of the drawings, text, makes, choices, titles and arrangements are the participants’ choices and their artworks.

In jointly curating Experts in Transient Living, we endeavour to ‘lift up’ the uniqueness of the individuals involved and showcase their ability and capacity to ‘make’ something potent and beautiful.

This work part of a larger research See Me North project.

See Me North

Art Gene has partnered with Northumbria University on one of the 12 projects in the ‘Mobilising Community Assets to Tackle Health Inequalities’ programme funded by UKRI.

‘Making every community asset count: improving health and reducing inequalities for people experiencing homelessness’ is co-led by Dr Christina Cooper, Prof Monique Lhussier and by experts through experience, who together have renamed the project, ‘See Me North’.

The research team contend that creative health approaches have not typically been considered a core part of support services for homeless people. The team is considering the emotional, physical, social and mental wellbeing benefits of being creative and the impact creativity can have on building positive self-image and identity. They hope to show that creativity can play a role in challenging the stigma often associated with homelessness.

Acknowledgements

Thank you to Elisha, Liam, Jafar, Marie and Dawn for sharing their experiences, ideas, enthusiasm and creativity, and to the staff and community at Furness Homeless Support.

Art Gene staff accessed introductory training on Trauma Informed Working before undertaking this project. Thank you to Steve Robson from Women’s Community Matters for delivering the training and to Gracie Rawlings for support.

Open to public 

Wednesday 4th February – Friday 20th February.

Closed Sunday and Monday