St Clare Hospice and Parndon Mill launch collaborative arts project to engage ethnically diverse communities in The Unspoken Conversation
Explore your understanding of death, dying and loss at a series of creative art workshops being run by St Clare Hospice in partnership with Harlow’s Parndon Mill this summer.
The Hastingwood-based end-of-life care charity has collaborated with Parndon Mill on its ‘The Unspoken Conversation’ project to host a total of 12 free art workshops between Sunday 7th July and Sunday 18th August.
Each workshop has been designed to explore the personal and cultural responses to death, dying and bereavement within ethnically diverse communities in West Essex and East Hertfordshire.
Happening in Parndon Mill’s Project Space and an Artists’ Studio, the workshops offer the chance to get creative using a variety of mediums, from embroidery and glasswork to papier-mâché and print, and many more.
The sessions will be led by various local and international artists, including designer Sumithra Alkegamage, glass blower Jon Lewis, glass and ceramic artist Ewa Warzyniak, sculptor Stephen Gatonye, illustrator Corrina Dunlea, and fine artist and poet Suman Gujral, among numerous others.
All of the artwork created as part of ‘The Unspoken Conversation’ project will then be showcased in a public exhibition in the Gallery at Parndon Mill , running from Sunday 13th October until Wednesday 20th November.
St Clare Hospice project lead Chloe Rich said: “St Clare’s catchment area, which spans the whole of West Essex and its border with East Herts, is richly diverse with people from many different faiths and ethnicities, particularly in Harlow where this project will be based.
“However, as a Hospice we know that there are significant cultural and language barriers that prevent many people from ethnic minority groups from accessing our services, care and support. “The Unspoken Conversation project is therefore an invaluable opportunity for us to strengthen existing relationships – and develop new ones – with minority ethnic groups locally, whilst also enabling many more people to open up, express and publicly share (and exhibit!) their own thoughts and feelings about death, dying and loss and what it means to them in new andcreative ways.”
The creative community at Parndon Mill passionately believe that we can communicate across all cultures, ages and beliefs through the creative process. We do hope that you will come and get creative with us this summer.
The Unspoken Conversation has been funded by Hospice UK’s Dying Matters Community Grants Programme, which funds new and creative ways to spark important conversations in communities across the UK.
Full details about all The Unspoken Conversation workshops, including how to sign up to attend, can be found at https://stclarehospice.org.uk/the-unspoken-conversation/. Alternatively, you can email Chloe Rich at chloe.rich@stclarehospice.org.uk for more information.
