With Lancaster Arts I reflected on questions of belonging and identity through meeting people living in Lancaster and Morecambe. Working with ethnically and culturally diverse communities in Lancaster, Morecambe and the surrounding rural area considering the theme of duality – what it is to be ‘of’ more than one place.
As an artist of mixed-race heritage, I am fascinated by what represents home, paying attention to when I do and don’t feel that I belong in any given place or community. These questions of dual identity and what it is to belong have been in my thoughts for a very long time.
Following community meetings and workshops with
migrants, refugees and asylum seekers, it became apparent that there is no singular experience of Belonging - the only common thread was that throughout people's journeys to belong somewhere, it was connecting to other people and the sharing of stories and experiences which began to engender a sense of belonging in the present. This lead to the creation of a series of
ceramic cup sets with each cup functioning as an invitation to be used for
making connections whilst listening to one another, while sharing a moment of
the journey towards belonging. The two cups represent differing journeys and
experiences, while a shared saucer represents the moment in which those
journeys cross paths and are shared with each other. These objects seek to be
decorative, functional and symbolic and were gifted to each of the community participants
at the end of the exhibition period to be taken forward in their ongoing
journey towards belonging.
Further information can be found here and here
