Heard And Not Seen

We had our celebration event last night, a big thank you to everyone who made it down. A good time was had by all with lovely food and company.

There have also been some brilliant facilitated discussions within the Heard And Not Seen exhibition at Ward End Library. We’ve had the pensioners group from the library meeting the women of the afternoon tea group from Washwood Heath Childrens Centre and today members of the Sahali group and Irish centre coming down. These discussions within the exhibition has given everyone the time to reflect on the work and then discuss with each other thoughts and ideas surrounding all religions and communities.

The feedback so far has been that having the quiet space within an environment like the exhibition to interact with each other and the work, has given new opportunities to connect with each other in unexpected ways. Just what we like to hear.

We’ve had lots of fun working with  the women from Washwood Heath Children’s Centre over the past 10 weeks, taking photographs of hands doing unexpected things within the home and community.

Heard And Not Seen (or HANS as it’s affectionately known) has been a way for the group to express thoughts, feelings and reflections they have about their faith, community and homes. It has lead us all to question and really interrogate where and how faith is positioned within our identity as a person and also as a wider group within a community. Some topics that arose from the weekly workshops was the perceptions and assumptions we make of each other and the fact that that these can only be discussed openly  within a environment of understanding and tolerance.

As with all things understanding and tolerance, however is only the first step of the journey.

Tonight is our Celebration event for all the hardwork put into the exhibition of Heard And Not Seen at Ward End Library. Do come along, we’ll be open tonight from 6pm-8pm.

Here is some footage of our magnificent branch in creation.Thanks to Sarah for all the sanding and scrubbing to help create the final piece.

We’re blogging live from the exhibition this week about all things Heard And Not Seen. Do join in adding any comments or questions you may have about the exhibition or pieces made.
We’ll be adding images taken through out the workshops and images from some of the participants homes.
Well it’s been a productive day with visitors to exhibition leaving comments in the visitors book like:
“I particularly liked the tree/branch of messages-very thought inspiring, some happy, some sad. The beadwork was lovely” and also “Very interesting thought provoking. An understanding of Islam is a good way to move forward with another culture of society in our neighbourhood. Wonderful.”

We’ve been busy working with Washwood Heath Children Centre’s Afternoon tea group to create a thought provoking and reflective piece of artwork.
Combining textiles, labels, found objects and new technologies within the workshops, the ladies have found a way to express their thoughts and feelings about their home and local communities.
The above images are a sneak peak of what’s on display so do come down this week to Ward End library to see the work in the flesh. (So to speak).
Within the exhibition we also have the interactive installation pieces with some newly added content from members of the group. We are open for the rest of this week (except wednesday & sunday) 11.30am-5.00pm, with a celebration event this Thursday 12th May 6pm-8pm.
See you there.

We’re happy to announce the opening of Heard And Not Seen at Ward End Library on Saturday 30th April at 11.30am. For the exhibition we have been working in partnership with Washwood Heath Children Centre afternoon tea group to create an artwork and provide facilitated discussions for local residents to meet and share stories.
There are also a series of free facilitated discussions accompanying the exhibition. Please see the HANS site for booking and details www.heardandnotseen.com

The exhibition runs untill 14th May 2011

Here’s some images from our ‘Be Seen’ scarf day.  As you can see, much fun was had by all and we had a host of great conversations with people from as far off as Mexico, while our Mitra snapped away.   Part of the Heard and Seen Exhibition.