By Anthea Mustard SOUTHMEAD MAKE SPACE PROJECT
A successful partnership between the Southmead Development Trust and We The Curious inspired an invitation for Southmead to become part of a special arts project.
Last April, Will Hunter from We The Curious rocked up to a Team Southmead meeting to propose co- developing an exhibit that represents Southmead to be displayed at We The Curious, and also a work of art to be placed in Southmead. It sounded interesting, so we drew together a working group of residents.
One Sunday in May we were invited to a swish opening lunch at We The Curious and here we selected ‘A Question’ for potential artists to answer. We began interviewing artists to work with us and chose Charlotte Biszewski. Throughout June and July we held a series of meetings to develop ideas. The We The Curious team and Charlotte also gathered thoughts from residents at the Southmead Festival. We hope as many voices will be incorporated into the art as possible.
We have now all met several times to collaborate on ideas for a piece of art to encourage visitors to make the ‘journey’ out of the City Centre to Southmead, as they did to see the Gromit, and also to discuss how we would like to see Southmead represented in an interactive art piece to be displayed at We The Curious from next February.
During the Autumn we will be collecting stories about life in Southmead through individual interviews and drop-in sessions. We want to record all stories with an aim of celebrating the diversity of the area, the good and bad, as well as the changes over the years.
In November we hope to set up a test day when everyone will have an opportunity to try out initial designs for the interactive artwork. The details will be listed on the The Mead’s website or in the next printed edition.
If you are interested in taking part or in telling your story email: antheamustard@gmail.com or telephone 07837 977 086.