Reflecting on Freedom with Our Communities
Reflecting on Freedom in Our Communities News Item Image
Trinity has spent the summer delivering the first phase of engagement activity for our involvement in Our Freedom: Then and Now, a national project reflecting on what ‘our freedom’ means to local people and their communities, following the 80th anniversary of VE/VJ Day
Bristol's City Poet, Sukina Noor, led a series of creative writing sessions through July and August with support from Trinity’s curator, Edson Burton, to gather local people’s thoughts on their notions of freedom. Working with Caribbean Elders from Golden Agers group, Aidbox Community women’s group, our recent Art for Wellbeing cohort, and two open calls, we have been deeply touched by the depth and breadth of experiences shared.
“This session was profound and deeply rewarding... There was some powerful sharing around race and racism, and important witnessing of the experience of forced migration,” Creative Writing session participant
These words have now been passed on to local visual artist Sonja Burniston, who will take them as inspiration for the second phase of this project. Collaborating with participants, Sonja will work with our community through September and October to build a large-scale, thought-provoking exhibition of billboard art and placard poetry, to be launched in November by an intimate poetry sharing and celebratory gig.
Join us and join in – dates and activities below;
Placard session
Thurs 11 Sept - 12-3pm
Sonja will support participants in selecting words or lines of their poetry to write on placards. We will explore the urgency and impact of protest placards by making our own and see how it feels to write our own words BIG and BOLD!
Trinity's Community Day Celebration
Sunday 14 Sept 1-4.30pm
Join Sonja at Trinity's Community Day Celebration as she holds an open call session, inviting you to respond to 'Freedom' as a starting point in creating a shared large-scale fabric banner. You can learn a fabric printing technique, using heat transfer dyes and collage to make beautiful, bold prints.
September Print Workshop sessions:
Thursday 18 Sept, 10.30am-1pm
Drypoint Etching - Drypoint is an intaglio printmaking method. It involves scratching an image into plastic and cardboard plates with a variety of tools; these scratches then hold the ink, which you print onto paper by running it through the press. Sonja will guide you through the technique and help you explore variation in mark-making and inking.
Wednesday 24 Sept, 10am-12 midday
Heat Press Fabric Printing - We will be cutting paper that has been coated with heat transfer ink and creating designs which can be heat pressed onto our fabric. This is a really satisfying and fun technique which creates a layered print that has a similar look to screen prints.
Wednesday 24 Sept, 2 - 4pm
Heat press Fabric Printing - same as the morning session, just another timing option.
Big Carve - Lino carve & print
Saturday 4 Oct, 10am-12 midday
Sunday 5 Oct, 1-3pm
Work together to carve out a large central design, created by Sonja in response to collaborative work shared so far.
Exhibition Launch: Poetic Placards & Billboards
Monday 17 November (Time TBC)
Launch Our Freedom exhibition of art and poetry, supported by City Poet Sukina Noor, Trinity's Edson Burton and visual artist Sonja Burniston. Marking 80 years since the end of World War II, the project captures diverse reflections on what freedom means to us today.
Thursday 25 November, 7.30pm
A celebration of music from around the world, featuring songs from over 7 countries. Dovetail Orchestra exists to provide a welcoming space for refugee and asylum-seekers, building connections through music and supporting musical learning on a regular weekly basis.
