Posted 16 October

Facilitating Articulate Artists Cate Gunn and Laura Montag, worked with 12 young people from Clock Tower Sanctuary to create (RE)IMAGINED SPACES, including their outdoor exhibition Brighton Greenways on show until Oct 28th. Artistic Director at Articulate, Lynn Weddle tells us more about the work...

Could tell us about Articulate and the series being exhibited with the Clock Tower Sanctuary collective?

Articulate is a Brighton based arts organisation working children and young people living in or temporarily exposed to deprived and precarious circumstances. We give these young lives a creative space to explore, express and enjoy themselves through art.

Our activities use art to build a sense of self-worth that results in enduring personal resilience. We work here in the UK and overseas.

Our (re)imagined spaces exhibition ran at Onca on the Barge at Brighton 8th to 13th October. As well as our exhibition at the Barge we have installed photographic works in the arches at Brighton Greenways which will be hung for al to see till the 30th October. The Brighton Greenways is a “nature corridor” connecting Brighton station with the New England development area. It’s a quiet, green space in the heart of the city. We spent time photographing the quiet spaces in the city and wish to present our work in such spaces.

We also have a street exhibition outside the Brighton Youth Centre, on Edward Street. The group wished to install work in outdoor spaces where the work was inspired and made within.

The exhibitions show photographic work made as part of our 12 month long project with homeless and insecurely housed young people in Brighton and Hove. We worked with artists Laura Montag and Cate Gunn in collaboration with Clock Tower Sanctuary the project was funded by Arts Council England.

Are there sub-themes within the individual works on show or have the group worked together under the main message?

“Our photography invites us to consider what different spaces in the city mean to us.”

We worked collaboratively to experiment and present own personal narratives of spaces in the city. Considering: How do spaces hold stories or memories? Where are our secret spaces? A space that holds a memory for us? A space that we feel calm in?

As we navigate through a city, there are places we pass daily without consideration. What might these areas mean to someone else? Is there a hidden story? A first kiss? A place of sanctuary for someone? Was there a witness to another story, or is it where someone might sleep…?”

How do you / the collective feel photography connects us?

Here is how one of your young photographer’s experienced the project:

"You don’t need to be a photographer to enjoy photography. It can be a kind of therapy. Photographing in open spaces helps me to feel calm. When I am in open spaces there is a feeling of a bigger picture.

When I am taking photographs it feels like it breaks down layers that you have to work through, whether it’s pain in my body, if I’m feeling tired or annoyed, or my mental state that day - taking photographs allows all that to fade away" - Participant

Who can get involved with this project and how?

The project has now sadly ended but we shall be exploring ways to funding the project to continue in the future longer term, is has such a great uptake and interest, so watch this space.

Follow ARTICULATE on social media for future work:

Instagram: #articulatearts

Facebook: Articulatearts

www.articulate.global

What’s next for this project and it’s artists?

The young people involved in the project are being supported to continue their photography by having access to cameras, both disposable and digital to carry on making their creative work. Together with the Clock Tower Sanctuary we are seeking funding to carry on with the project longer term.

Articulate as an organisation have future projects being set up with Safe in Sussex, a women’s refuge in Littlehampton and with KHORA a community centre in Athens, Greece working with refugee families and their children.

ARTICULATE are currently in residency on our Instagram so you can catch work form their current project, check it out here.