TACTILE

Dates:
February - March 2024

Location:
YMCA North Staffordshire

Funded by:
British Ceramics Biennial

This work is the continuation of Tactile Project Space, the engagement & community space of the British Ceramics Biennial. More information here.


Following the warm reception of the Tactile Project Space during BCB 2023, Sarah Fraser, Joanna Dawidowska and I were asked by the British Ceramics Biennial and YMCA North Staffordshire to deliver a similar project working with the young people at the YMCA, as well as Sanctus,  a support group for refugees and people who are seeking asylum in the UK.



After our first visit, we quickly noticed that there were existing flower beds dotted around the YMCA building. Over subsequent weeks, we worked with a group of young people to map out what was already growing in the beds to better understand the ecology of the campus. Through walking, drawing and identification, we created a map of the plants on site and allocated a number to each bed. Later, we reproduced the map through riso-printing.

For each numbered beds, the group made a decorated slipware tile.


Alongside this process, we joined the weekly meeting of Sanctus with a tile-making stall. Those who visited the meetings to collect food and other necessities could join us to plunge their hands into clay, compost and sawdust, to sow seeds and decorate tiles. These would later become a wildflower meadow.

THE CELEBRATION

The project concluded with a celebration event, where residents and visitors could use our iso-printed maps to find plants from the drawings made by the group and assign them to the numbered beds. These now had the numbered tiles made by our group, attached to their sides.




The seed-bomb tiles made during the Sanctus sessions became planted in a long bed outside of the main entrance. More tiles were made and decorated on the day by visitors and volunteers, and together we laid them in intricate patterns resembling Victorian floors.