This was my first session working with the group so I was intrigued to meet everyone and see what might unfold…
Janpal, Jane, Minz and I were joined by Andre, Harish and Kuldip. Also Ellen from Ealing council who was only 2 days into her new job there. The week before I had asked Jane and Minz to ask participants to bring in an object that reminded them of home or India/Africa etc. It’s a task I’ve asked people to do before in other projects and it’s always an exciting moment when the objects first appear… Objects like photographs tell a story immediately. They remind us of experiences, people, memories. They hold histories and are made up of a range of materials that also have their own stories too…
However, before we began the object-work we tried out what I described as a ‘fun task’ but that I later found out made the hearts of several people beat faster! I basically asked the group to get into pairs and draw/sketch each other directly onto a large shared piece of paper that covered the table like a table-cloth/open note-book. Again, this is a task I’ve used and experienced in many a workshop… It’s not about how good you are at drawing (although there are clearly some people in the group who have this skill), but about really looking and getting to know someone in a different way - how often do we get to really stare at someone else we don’t know that well? It was also a chance for those who don’t regularly put pen or pencil to paper to have a go at something different. There was lots of laughter! And lots of great sketches produced… Harish was delighted to discover that she could easily produce something, and Jane said that her drawing was the best she’d ever done.
So then we moved onto the objects… Two people in the group had remembered to bring in things. I also brought in around 12 objects for people to use. Here are some of the moments I remember being shared as we discussed them:
• Andre being immediately drawn to a pine cone and it making him think of a tree planting project in Southall he was part of. He explained that ‘a tree brings joy’ and urged everyone to ‘plant a fruit tree in your garden.’
• A general discussion about nature lighting everyone up - the benefits of it, how to care for it. We discussed a trip out as a group to somewhere green, something we’ll definitely organise when the weather gets warmer.
• Kuldip talking about the farm he grew up on in India and sharing a story about how once when he’d gone to take a watermelon from a field a snake had reared up to surprise him…
• Andre describing fruits such as papaya and mango.
• Harish sharing what the light from a candle meant to her.
• Minz producing three objects: a gargoyle looking head which had originally been part of a sitar, a statue of a cow and some bells made to be worn by a dancer.
• The cow being particularly evocative for Kuldip.
• The bells being something both Harish and Ellen were drawn to. Because of their sound. Because of their associations with dancing.
• Andre sharing a fragment of the poem ‘Leisure’ by WH Davies: ‘What is this life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare. No time to stand beneath the boughs. And stare as long as sheep or cows.” and this leading to a discussion about time - how time in the UK is different to he way time is perceived and approached in India… Andre also reminded us that we were all currently travelling at 1000 miles per hour (as the earth spins).
• Janpal showing a photo of a fruit and vegetable market in India on his phone (another brilliant object that we all pretty much have relationship with nowadays). Everyone in the group was struck by the colours in the image… the mounds of vegetables.
• Jane’s notebook - full of memories inspired by objects.
Towards the end of the session I invited everyone to draw their object and record a word or fragment of text beneath it whilst people had a go at individually photographing their object of choice… This second time people were invited to draw there was no hesitation…
It was an exciting first session for me. Gentle, slow and full of rich conversation and storytelling…
As we were packing up we asked Andre to record his journey to the UK from Mauritius on the map from the previous week as he’d missed that session. As he did this we learnt about his first experiences in the UK as a young man of 18…
Next week, also led by me, there will be more object work but this time involving COLOUR.
Sheila Ghelani, 01.03.20