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The Shake – Community Conversations
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Future Garden by Dumbworld co-created with Participation and the Practice of Rights
Multi-media production company Dumbworld collaborated with Participation and the Practice of Rights, people in the asylum system, mental health activists and people living in housing distress. Future Garden asked how the needs & rights of humans for shelter can coexist with our need to care for the planet we live on.
The former Mackies factory site in West Belfast, where an estimated 2,000 children live in housing stress, is to be developed as a greenway with no additional housing provision. Dumbworld & PPR asked “Why can’t we have both housing & environmental protection?” Future Garden is the story of two gardens. The Mackies factory owner’s 12-acre private botanical garden at Helen’s Bay … and a Future Garden which does not exist yet. It is a speculative project of co-curation imagining a future garden for the Mackie's site in Belfast; the plants that could grow here & the ethics of care that could underpin it.
Sam's Eden by Thomas Wells in collaboration with The Rainbow Project
Sam's Eden is a new queer publication project by artist and curator Thomas Wells. The project looks at queer visibility in cultural spaces through workshops and exhibitions. This project commissioned by the MAC and in collaboration with The Rainbow Project, looked at access to a number of creative mediums such as dance, mark-making, performance, and architecture through a number of facilitated sessions. The content of which will be featured in the second issue of this publication Sam’s Eden is a project that aims to highlight contemporary queer practice and the intersectional relationships of queer experiences.
Hope is a Thing with Feathers Kerrie Hanna in collaboration with Action Mental Health
Northern Ireland has a mental health crisis. Department of Health statistics show a massive 25% higher overall prevalence of mental health problems in Northern Ireland than England. One-in-six young people have an eating disorder and one-in-ten deliberately self-harm. The Department recognises “the powerful contribution that arts and creativity can make to mental health”.
Participants fromAction Mental Health collaborated with visual artist Kerrie Hanna to create illustrations provoking hope, creating community as an act of resistance, feelings of belonging and issues around living with and managing mental health diagnoses. Participant lead discussions centred on the power of acknowledging there is no magic 'happy ending' in life - there is a daily commitment to showing up, to exploring inner worlds, and to the power of artistic expression to move us forward. Kerrie & participants co-designed two images presented on public billboards throughout Belfast during Mental Health Awareness week in May 2023 for 2 weeks.
Weaving the Present, Shaping the Future by Khaled Barakeh in collaboration with Participation and the Practice of Rights, and Anaka Womens Collective
To shed light on the living conditions faced by individuals in the asylum system in Northern Ireland, the MAC Belfast hosted an exclusive performative dinner and socially engaged artistic intervention titled "Weaving the Present, Shaping the Future" created by artist Khaled Barakeh in collaboration with Participation and the Practice of Rights and the Anaka Women's Collective as part of the MACtiviate project "At The Table". The project featured several artistic elements: a curated dinner, AI image-generated photographic works, a socially engaged workshop that resulted in eleven photographs, and a fashion show.
The event was a unique opportunity to examine and discuss the issues faced by people in the asylum system who seek safety in Northern Ireland and highlight the resilience and skills of artists, creatives, designers, teachers, accountants, scientists, mothers, daughters, and brothers who risked their lives for safety. All collaborators involved in the event have fled conflict zones and now live in temporary accommodation run by a private company below basic standards (Mears Group). They receive £9.11 per week to live on, and none have the right to work. They receive second-hand clothes that don't fit their bodies, culture, or personality.
The event was a curated dinner that opened channels among people in the asylum system and stakeholders while having a dinner cooked by professional chefs caught in the asylum system. The guests were made pledges to change the system. Speakers included the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission Chief Commissioner Alyson Kilpatrick, Rt Hon. Lord Mayor Cllr Ryan Murphy, journalist Paul Gosling and activist Twasul Mohammed.
Chosen sentences from the stories of people in the asylum system covered the tablecloth to spark significant discussions. A factsheet outlining the Asylum System was crafted, serving a dual purpose as functional food napkins. To turn them into financial value, the artist signed these napkins as a limited edition to push people to keep them as a reminder.
Several bodies of work were created throughout the project which were used to lobby for change.
Stitched Stories
Socially engaged workshop, 11 photography works and a fashion show
In partnership with Participation and the Practice of Rights and Anaka Women's Collective, Barakeh cooperated with eleven asylum seekers artists and three local fashion designers in a six-week workshop. Together, they transformed their given second-hand clothes, personalizing them to reflect their individual styles and utilizing them as a powerful medium for self-expression.
Another set of clothing was flattened and stitched together to construct a long passage, which participants used as a catwalk to present their custom-designed outfits to protest their conditions in a fashion show format.
Participants are Ahmed Osama (Sudan), Anfaal Almughallis (Yemen), Asraa al-Tmimi (Yemen), Hind Adnan Ali (Iraq), Mahsa Jahangirpour (Iran), Melav Rahim (Kurdistan), Omima Hasabelrsoul Ahmed (Sudan), Omaia Mortada Abdalla (Sudan), Raha Shafiei (Iran), Saba Barhoum (Syria), Salwa Alsharabi (Yemen).
A Missing Camera
'A Missing Camera' is a photographic work generated using AI technology, inspired by collected lived experiences and testimonies of individuals caught in the asylum-seeking system in Northern Ireland.
The project ventures into uncharted territory, where momentous moments of people's narratives are analyzed and transformed into visual testimonies. These moments, where a camera was missing to be captured, become an act of reclamation, where the absence of a camera during these pivotal moments paradoxically becomes the catalyst for their artistic representation. The missing camera metaphorically embodies the gaps in documentation and presentation.
In a world grappling with the implications of image faking and manipulation, 'A Missing Camera' invites contemplation on the potential of AI technology as a vehicle for amplifying marginalized narratives and challenges preconceived notions of truth and authenticity, where actual reality is way far more surreal than any fictionalized reality. 'A Missing Camera' transcends the realm of traditional communication and storytelling, forging a new form of visual expression that empowers and elevates the voices of those historically silenced, surpassing cultural, linguistic, and geographical boundaries.
