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Chris Barber, Resident Organist, The Musical Museum
Photo: Leila Houston
Photo: Leila Houston
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Encrypted Sounds of Wellbeing combines community engagement, collaboration with a broad cohort of artists, public involvement and the commissioning of new work by selected artists. Having developed the concept and secured funding before the pandemic hit, Leila adapted to the restrictions, moved the project online in order to keep it going through lockdown and presents it here as an online exhibition. There is also an IRL counterpart, which can be viewed at The Exchange Bar, 50 Rutland Street, Leicester, LE3 1RD from 10th to 18th October 2020.
The isolation/togetherness motif finds a parallel in how Leila balances technology and community in her practice. Having grown up in a community centre run by her parents (where she lived with them onsite for 11 years), she feels strongly about the role of environments where people come together to work, create or simply meet and share experiences in an authentic, unmediated exchange. Coronavirus and the resulting restrictions have obviously curtailed these for the time being. The places where we used to meet face to face and shoulder to shoulder - the pubs and dancefloors, galleries and theatres - are now all online; virtual spaces. A blessing and a curse in these socially distanced times. |
Artists: Leila Houston, Courtney Askey, James Chantry, Echolocation, Ash Eddy, Kirstey Eggleston, Ashley Fitzgerald, Glenn Fitzpatrick, Daniel Gray, Jack Halford, Beverley Isaacs, Kate Jackson, Kerry Jackson, David Johnson, Khush Kali, Paul Mazzitelli, Johnny McJohnston, Mike Millward, Zory Rubel, George Sarell, Georgia Ward, Anonymous Artists.
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Encrypted Sounds of Wellbeing
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The artist cycles along a canal path. We are attached to her handlebars and though our view shudders and shakes, we can see how closely she skirts the waterside edge. She pedals faster, negotiating the gentle curve and the jolting bumps of the towpath, seemingly heading downhill at speed. But it is silence that crashes into the birdsong, before returning again to the haunting strains of an eerily upbeat Wurlitzer organ.
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The Young People Making Places group participated in a series of online workshops as part of the Encrypted Sounds of Wellbeing project, facilitated by Charnwood Arts and led and delivered by artist Leila Houston.
Leila states: "The group were very enthusiastic and had some incredible ideas and thoughts to share on what they were thinking about Maslow‘s theory of needs". |
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The fantastic drawings are by a group of young creatives from diverse backgrounds who are based at Charnwood Arts. The group participated in a series of online workshops as part of the Encrypted Sounds of Wellbeing project, facilitated by Charnwood Arts and led and delivered by artist Leila Houston.
This project was formed to provide opportunities for young unaccompanied asylum seekers and young refugees. The public then got involved by colouring-in the activity sheets, using the key based on an interpretation of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. |
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A project put together by Leila Houston, supported by Silver Vine Arts. This project is supported using public funding by Arts Council England. Organised as part of World Mental Health Day 2020.
Special thanks to artist-led Silver Vine Arts and other professionals who have supported this project: Kerry Jackson , Courtney Askey, Khush Kali, Zory Rubel, James Chantry, Melissa Fletcher, Elizabeth Dyer, Alex Machin, Ben Fredericks, Elisabeth Gaunt, Anna Lucas, Daniel Kelly, Johnny McJohnston, R10, Two Queens, Charnwood Arts, LCB Depot, The Exchange Bar.
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