Tibetan Sand Mandala and Butter
Sculptures 2009
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The Weslyan Chapel, Broadmead |
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A Buddhist monk travels to England to work on a traditional sand mandala. There are children's workshops in butter sculpture and the mandala itself once completed will be offered to the river in a Puja ceremony.
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| The Lounge |
| Ina Hume ~ Vanishing Rites |
The My Story project was coordinated by Vanishing Rites with partners Black Carers Project and Avon Youth Association. Ina Hume is the founder of Vanishing Rites and a participatory media practitioner and campaigner on indigenous rites.
This audio visual piece tells stories from three young girls who came to Bristol as refugees from Africa. The stories highlight some of the difficulties faced by refugees leaving all they have to start a new life. |
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| Tom King |
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Tom King is currently undertaking an MA in photojournalism and documentary photography at the London College of Communication . Two of his recent projects, focusing on the individual situations of asylum seekers and refugees, are presented in the exhibition.
Tom was introduced to the Pierian Centre by John Easterby who is Director of Photography at LCC and curator of last year’s Tom Stoddart exhibition at Temple Meads. |
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Project 1: Una Familia |
Polo Medina and Cecilia Vasconez came to London with their son Jefferson and daughter Alejandra from Ecuador in 1999. Two years after their arrival their third child Priyanka was born. It’s been a long struggle but just over one year ago the family was finally given permission to stay indefinitely in the UK. With a secure future the children can concentrate in class and realise their ambitions. The family can also finally think about seeing Ecuador once more. |
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| The Freeman Room |
Anne Frank and You ~ The Scribble Wall and the Hope Tree |
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The ‘Anne Frank and You’ exhibition took place at Bristol Cathedral during May and was a huge success, receiving over 10,000 visitors. The life and fate of Anne Frank was presented with a strong focus on the issues of identity and moral choice we face in 21 st century Britain.
Visitors were invited to think about their thoughts, feelings and reactions and to share these by writing or drawing on a ‘Scribble Wall’ or by leaving a message on one of the leaves of a ‘Hope Tree’. The results of this process were displayed, and there was the opportunity for people to add their own voice. |
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Visible Thinking |
Visible Thinking is a new Bristol-based company set up as a vehicle for carrying out research into innovative ways of engaging children in learning. Sandra Barefoot, one of the Companies Directors, ran a series of workshops for children at the ‘Anne Frank and You’ exhibition held at the Bristol Cathedral. Sandra focused on children becoming documenters, using the frame of the notebook and camera for children to express their thoughts.
The images displayed in the exhibition document these sessions and begin to give insight into a child’s eye view. If you would like to find our further information please visit our website at www.visiblethinking.ltd.uk |
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Ricky Romain & Heather Fallows |
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Artists Ricky Romain and Heather Fallows have been running creative workshops with primary and secondary school pupils using the diary of Anne Frank and the works of Charlotte Salomom, together with poetry and prose from concentration camp victims, in juxtaposition with extracts from the Declaration of Human Rights.
They used examples of their own work to guide students towards the creation of individual diaries, journals, notebooks and sketchbooks. These used images and text to catalogue feelings and observations of injustice and the abuse of human rights within modern society. The project also took into account a wider interpretation of these themes to include playground bullying, torture and war crimes. It also embraced a broad range of artistic techniques and styles.
The work on display in the exhibition was the outcome of these workshops displayed alongside the artists’ own work. |
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| The Well Room |
Caravanserai Hospitality Network ~ Bedrom Installation
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The hospitality network is a group of people offering destitute asylum seekers in Bristol somewhere to stay. The network is connected to Bristol Refugee Rights Welcome Centre, a voluntary organisation that supports the legal and practical aspects of individual 'guests'. Hosts offer spare rooms to destitute asylum seekers for anything from three weeks to three months or longer and some also provide meals. A link-person from the network is available to all parties concerned and facilitates regular three-way conversations.
The aim of the installation, and the network as a whole, is to raise awareness of the unjust political processes which result in forced homelessness and to show the act of offering accommodation to be primarily one of solidarity rather than simply charity
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Bristol Refugee Rights Welcome Centre |
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The 'Welcome Centre' group will be exhibited 20 drawings and paintings, this is what they say about their work :
The pictures are by men and women who attend a drop-in centre for refugees and asylum seekers in Easton, Bristol run by Bristol Refugee Rights.
Most of these artists have not done any art as adults at all. Some have done a little at school.
One of our users, Tashi, was an artist in Tibet and his expertise is very evident.
Certain themes crop up in the pictures very often. A group of our users are young Kurdish men from northern Iraq. They often do pictures of their homeland; the mountains with a river and a farm with animals and fruit trees. One of them told us that this picture was often a subject for boys at school, while girls did a different subject, perhaps a wedding.
Some pictures are more clearly political or express emotions - rage and homesickness .
Other pictures are perhaps more decorative - patterns, trees and flowers.
The art group meets weekly and is run by volunteers who are not art teachers. If people are stuck for an idea I may say "why not do something about you country - your house or your
farm?" Other times people know straight away what it is they want to do. We do not
analyse the pictures, we hope doing them just gives pleasure, to the artists and to us.
Naomi Roberts and Judith Wainwright
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| The Music Room |
| Tom King |
Tom King is currently undertaking an MA in photojournalism and documentary photography at the London College of Communication . Two of his recent projects, focusing on the individual situations of asylum seekers and refugees, are presented in the exhibition.
Tom was introduced to the Pierian Centre by John Easterby who is Director of Photography at LCC and curator of last year’s Tom Stoddart exhibition at Temple Meads. |
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Project 2: Refused
Shahriar is a failed asylum seeker who, after fleeing Iran and leaving his home and family, was sleeping rough in one of England's northern cities. One year after coming to the UK he lost everything. His case was refused, his financial and housing support was withdrawn and, without a work permit, he spent his days searching for food and a warm place to stay.
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| Behnaz |
Behnaz is a Kurdish asylum seeker whose previous work, exhibited at the Pierian Centre, was painted using instant coffee, the only material available to her at the time. She says that art is her most reliable friend and gives her the courage to explain her pains and problems.
This will be the 5th year of Celebrating Sanctuary at which Benhaz’s artwork is being shown and these digital images represent a new stage in her work. |
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| CLICK THE IMAGES BELOW FOR LARGER VIEWS |
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These images are of some of Benhaz’s earlier artwork, which is beautiful and compelling, full of feeling for things lost and left behind. In the past, as with these images she used coffee on paper when she couldn't get paint.
CLICK THE IMAGES BELOW FOR LARGER VIEWS |
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| Map of Origins |
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In the Music Room there was a world map for visitors and exhibitors to add a spot to show their country of origin. The results showed that people involved with the exhibitions had origins in 67 different countries.
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| The Landing |
| Tom Stoddart |
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Tom Stoddart is an international documentary photographer for whom the subjects of displacement and refuge are the recurring themes in his work.
This banner is part of the Pierian Centre's permanent collection and represents the ground breaking 'I Witness' exhibition at Temple Meads Station, as part of Celebrating Sanctuary 2008. This marked the beginning of the relationship between the Pierian Centre and John Easterby and our ongoing commitment to art in the public domain.
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CLICK THE IMAGES FOR A LARGER VIEW |
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| The Healing Room |
| Annie Davenport ~ Peace Movie ~ Peace Edit |
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Annie has been involved in the Sanctuary exhibitions since the beginning.
Last year she created a movie for the exhibition in response to the situation of oppresion of the Tibetan people by China, which is often ignored or sidelined by our national press. The Dalai Lama visited this country last year and unlike any other head of state, hardly merited news reports of any sort.
PEACE MOVIE ~ What can individuals do about war ?
They can either fight in them or they can oppose them.
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The second half of Peace Movie, "Prayer for Peace" is being shown at this years exhibition.
This film shows the creation of a flower mandala and the peace ceremony that followed. The film is calm and meditative and is there to give the viewer time to think and reflect.
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| Ugyen Choephell |
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Ugyen is trained in the traditional art of tibetan thangka painting – buddhist scroll paintings. He still works in this medium but his other passion is his contemporary art. Over the last 2 years anticipating the spotlight on tibet and china in 2008 he created an exhibition of digitally enhanced images entitled ‘What if…?’ This has been shown in India, South Africa and UK. The pieces shown here are from that exhibition and explore issues affecting tibetans in today’s world. |
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| CLICK THE IMAGES FOR LARGER VIEWS |
| For more information on ugyen’s art please visit www.tibetalivingtradition.co.uk |
| or for thangkas please visit www.thangka.co.uk |
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| James Pagella |
James Pagella grew up in Nepal, with Tibet in sight over the Himalayas. As a child, a lot of his friends were Tibetan refugees and he was influenced by their experiences and culture. These paintings are James’s response to their plight in being expelled from their homeland and their strength in overcoming obstacles to create new lives. The paintings depict the search for sanctuary in the face of oppression and war. |
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