‘What is Home?’ Installation at the Avents Factory
Here are some lovely pictures taken of an installation built with young people from Crewe YMCA at the Avents Factory, Axis Centre, MMU Crewe last Saturday. Our installation responded to the question ‘What is Home?’ and took a couple of days’ hard work to fill a large drama studio space at the Axis Centre.
The project aimed to invite people to participate in a workshop led by Crewe YMCA, asking participants to think about different aspects of ‘home’ and what it means to them.
Groups of up to 20 participants entered the workshop space and after the last workshop, we had just under two hours to turn the space into an installation complete with a film of the day by Mark Haig. The installation featured a ‘shadow wall’ entrance into our space, a comfy living room area complete with sound recordings, smells and people’s memories, a ‘dream couch’ area filled with origami, a candle-lit washing line with life tips and advice, a large painting of people’s ideas about where they see their future home, and a life-size shelter in which people had answered the question ‘what is home?’
Despite the long days and sleepless nights thinking about what I needed to do and waking up early to write lists, I really enjoyed working on the project. I think we really managed to pull the installation together through good ideas and team work, even though we had very little time to get things done!
Here’s a big, homely thank you to the young people, Chad Healey and Rachel Miller at Crewe YMCA for all their great ideas and hard work. Thanks also to Mark Haig for creating the film and making and manning a Punch & Judy set last minute! Also thanks to the technicians for helping us sort out the space and finally many thanks to Paul Hine for inviting me to be part of his Avents Factory.
Links:
http://www.theaventsfactory.org/index.html
http://www.axisartscentre.org.uk/home/
http://www.myspace.com/video/mark/mark-haig-applied-visual-artists-showreel/17902148
