Stitch & Bitch Bilbao

Stitch & Bitch Bilbao is an international group that is passionate about DIY culture and meets at the creative space, Konect Arts (and sometimes elsewhere), on the last Friday of every month to sew, socialize and set the world to rights. As part of our collective, we are interested in fostering the creation of dialogues between different cultural groups to facilitate a joint process of productive and positive learning from and with each other.

Re:Surface

For many people who have been on an inpatient mental health ward, being discharged back to the community can be a time which tarnishes self-confidence and self-worth. Re:Surface was a therapeutic vocational Arts in Health project which supported individuals to gain a better sense of identity through the art of craft. With a specific focus on surface design and the transferability of printmaking techniques to ceramic forms, participants used imagery from their recovery stories to adorn a vibrant collection of ceramic wares, showcasing their abilities and skills.

Pop-In Community Arts Festival

I directed and produced The Pop-In Community Arts Festival for two consecutive years. This event began in 2018 as a collaboration between the Camberwell-based charity supporting adults with learning disabilities, St George’s Pop-In (SGPI), and the grassroots community space, Peckham Levels. It was created in response to the increasing closures of day centres in the London borough of Southwark.

The main aim of the festival was to create an engaging and diverse programme, which was co-produced with SGPI members where people with learning disabilities could choose from a variety of workshops and events that promoted creativity and wellbeing in a safe and positive public space. Doing this could offer attendees opportunities to meet and socialise with diverse groups of people, thus working towards reducing loneliness, isolation and stigma.

Badges for Climate Change

As part of the Summer of Creativity 2019 at Peckham Levels, I designed and facilitated a participatory art project where attendees were encouraged to discuss and make badges or other ephemera around the theme of climate change.

This coincided with The Climate Change Protests, also known as the Global Week for Future – a series of international strikes and protests to demand action be taken to address climate change.

Bethlem Handmade 2

Bethlem Handmade 2 (BH2) was a paid vocational arts-based project focused on supporting service users from South London and Maudsley NHS Mental Health Trust, who were going to or had recently been discharged from a mental health in-patient setting, learn the necessary skills to design and manufacture a saleable ceramics collection..

This project was generously supported by the Maudsley Charity.