Community projects
Alexander & Kiran direct and organise community projects including creative workshops, locally inspired murals and exhibitions to engage young people into the arts and provide a platform to disadvantaged and marginalised communities.
Grandbabs
Our residents have found the entire process of working with the young artists on Grandbabs extremely valuable. The need for intergenerational projects could not be stronger especially in the wake of the pandemic and both generations have come to understand one another more throughout the project. What started as an art project developed into so much more and ultimately concluded with friendship, understanding and intergenerational connection.
- ExtraCare Charitable Trust
Grandbabs - The Project
A&K worked with over forty people aged 18 to 95 to create this portraiture and film exhibition at the Birmingham & Midland Institute. Grandbabs involved almost a hundred senior citizens and was created to inspire intergenerational discourse and open communication channels between young and senior Babs!
Working creatively alongside ten young people aged 18 to 22 from across Birmingham, several from marginalised and disadvantaged backgrounds to create two short films and twenty-five hand painted portraits with the seniors most important piece of advice to the next generation.
Visiting two care homes and a retirement village we interviewed over thirty residents and nearly a hundred residents during the course of the project. We’ve been invited back for annual talent show, presentation ceremonies and even for a Christmas dinner. Residents from both care homes and retirees from the village visited the exhibit and were absolutely thrilled to be involved.
Grandbabs has united people across the city from carers to students, retirees with volunteers creating lifelong friendships whilst sharing important discussions around the act of giving and receiving care, ageing, and dying, youth engagement and mental health.
Art is long, life is short.
Chris, 90 a care home resident who collaborated on the project said;
"The whole experience was engaging. It made you feel important, you know, having somebody come and interview you and ask if they can paint your portrait. You don't usually have the young ones interested in your life, but the fact that they did and were so patient and considerate the whole time. I really appreciated how they wanted to listen and value our life stories and put them into a form of artwork."
Kanye, 18 from Erdington, said about the project;
“I’d rather have a paintbrush as a tool than a blade but there isn’t enough projects like this to get involved with. Meeting and speaking with the seniors has given me perspective and provided more positive role models into my life.”
Laura, 25 a carer from Edgbaston Manor Care Home commented;
“Grandbabs' was an amazing experience to be a part of. The team were so understanding and patient with the residents, as well as showing enjoyment of their life stories. This type project is valuable to the older generation. They cherish moments like this, where their life stories and opinions are valued and listened to. We have become more of a generation where we listen to social media, rather than our seniors. This project helps connect the two generations together through art and conversation."
Lisa, 76
Hagley Road resident Lisa Fewtrell, 76, who appeared in a portrait with her dog Holly commented;
“It was interesting, they worked so hard on the picture and my dog, my little Holly, I thought it was all brilliant having the young people there, it was a dose of medicine it really was. I have lung cancer and I have days when I feel no good for anything, and I thought if I felt OK I’ll come to the event. I live by a quote of never losing your own pride and taking pride in what you do, and this was written on my picture.”
George, 87
"It was a nice time. I enjoyed it because the young people took a real interest in the stories that we told. When I went to see my portrait, it was such brilliant time. We watched our interviews and viewed the portraits. The team have such a talent, they really captured everybody's features and personality."
Archie, 86
Archie suffers from dementia and his carer Laura commented on the project;
“In one session, the team showed the residents the incomplete versions of the portraits. The reaction from staff and residents was wonderful, I could see the joy in their faces. It made them feel important and seen. I noticed this project made me connect to the residents more, as I heard about their past experiences that they have not previously mentioned. It also helped me to see how the world is from their perspective and the difficulties that they face that we would not necessarily know about today.
This type project is valuable to the older generation. They cherish moments like this, where their life stories and opinions are valued and listened to. We have become more of a generation where we listen to social media, rather than our seniors. This project helps connect the two generations together through art and conversation."
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Tom & Archie
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Sheila & Kiran
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Shirley & Jacob
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Kanye & Lisa
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Shirley & Mari
Artworks for the Guardian play
Workshops at the Deaf Cultural Centre
Community Theatre Group -
The Guardian play
Alexander & Kiran were asked by Nadia Rathika an actor and leading voice in the deaf community to create artwork for her directorial debut the ‘Guardian’ play by InteGreat Theatre a community theatre group for Deaf & hearing adults, based in Birmingham.
The play was shown on Saturday 23rd July 2022 at Crescent Theatre in Birmingham and supported by Birmingham City Council and Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022. We would like to thank Nadia, Philip Freeman and all the team involved in creating this honest, thought provoking play that genuinely moved the entire audience.
