N.I.C.H.S
(Northern Ireland Chest Heart and Stroke)
Title of Work: Hand on Heart
Arts Care Project Artist: Jason Parkes
Art Form: Visual Arts – Drama, storytelling, photography and Creative writing
I worked with a number of groups including people at NICHS Lisburn and Newtownards. We did a range of creative activities and the project included some drama, photography, sketching with storytelling at the centre of everything we did.
The aim wasn’t to create visual artworks but I think we have some beautiful pieces all the same worth sharing. The sketch portraits were a really quick activity and not intended for display but there is just something about them that felt worth sharing.
We also took photographs and we have ended up with a series of quite beautiful portraits of hands. Both these visual pieces have meaning beyond the mere image and reflect experiences related to the written pieces.
It was a very conversational project finding meaning in the small things. We looked at life-finding importance in small seemingly inconsequential things-joy, sadness, frustration and as this is a group specifically for people who have had a stroke that was our main point of connection between each other. It is interesting that a group of people who get on so well, support each other so strongly and with such humour and fun may never have met each other without the stroke.
From the initial creative workshop activities and through discussions with the group I have pulled together what I hope is a selection of reflective pieces that convey and give voice to those stories that are sometimes hard to share.
It is important to know that although some may appear to have a single voice they are all created through multiple contributions. The finished poems have been created through a collaborative process-sometimes from taking bits of conversation and sometimes through our storytelling and sometimes more formally. The group were so welcoming and it was a privilege to work with them.
A huge thank you for taking part in this year’s ‘Here & Now Festival’
Sadie, Ian, Margaret, Ian, Leo, Margaret, Norman, Harry, Yvonne, Tony, Ken, Geoffrey, Rhona, Sylvia, Ron, Sylvia, Ann, Brian and Lisa
N.I.C.H.S (Northern Ireland Chest Heart and Stroke)
