A new exhibtion at National Trust property Croome Court by Artist Kashif Nadim Chaudry called, What is Home’, is inspired by a period in Croome’s history 1948 – 1978 when it housed a residential school, St Joseph’s School for Boys. Kashif collected and curated extraordinary testimonies through expertly crafted workshops and conversations, which have resulted in an artwork of artistic and social significance.
The exhibition is the culmination of two years of very careful planning and partnership work by the team at Croome. They collaborated closely with ex-pupils and children in care at each stage of the project, learning from their unique life experiences.
Rona one of the participants involved in the project commented on her Blog.
“Seeing the young people sharing their memories and their objects which remind them of home so bravely and willingly made me so proud. They are beautiful and incredible and their stories are so powerful.”
Arts Connect supported the What is Home? project by undertaking research designed to help arts and culture learning and engagement professionals to teach challenging and difficult subjects to children and young people.
Rachel Sharpe Creative Partnerships Manager at Croome said: ‘Working alongside the research project gave us the scaffolding to build this exhibition. Working on a challenging history can be scary, this research project held our hands, made use bold and gave us the confidence to be truly innovative.’
Susan Goodwin Associate Director at Arts Connect commented: What is Home? is one of the most extraordinarily moving and inspiring projects I have experienced. It has been a privilege to work with Rachel and her team whose gorgeous work here has informed the development of guidelines for others embarking on arts and culture projects that cover challenging and difficult subjects.’
The research report executive summary will be found soon on this website and the full report Challenging Conversations, Teaching challenging and difficult subjects to children and young people in Galleries, Museums and Heritage sites, will be launched at an event on the morning of 23 May at Midlands Arts Centre, Birmingham.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
