The theme of this week’s newsletter is Community – as we celebrate the launch of Ben Judd’s Stanley Picker Fellowship project which brings together students, alumni and academics from Kingston School of Art with local community groups in Kingston. We invited our team at Stanley Picker Gallery and Dorich House Museum to respond to the theme – here is a selection of what Community means to them. What does Community mean to you? It may be a photo, a drawing, an audio clip, a book, an article, or a few words…
Jade Duncan-Knight
Museum & Gallery Assistant
3rd Year Illustration Animation student at Kingston School of Art
“Particularly in these difficult times I think of the community that I’ve found within my family and the people I know of BAME identities. For as much as there has been grief, in lockdown there are now more opportunities with all the time that we have to look at the hurdles that have been overcome and successes of POC individuals. Two of my favourite books I’ve read of this note in the past few weeks have been ‘Becoming’ by Michelle Obama and ‘I Will Not Be Erased’, published by gal-dem. Having a community is something that I believe is of great value since mutual support and appreciation is healthy and uplifting – what is definitely needed when the world appears bleak.”
Maria Val De Los Rios
Museum & Gallery Assistant
2nd Year MFA Fine Art Student at Kingston School of Art
Glenyss Lipscombe
Venue & Events Coordinator, Dorich House Museum
“While we are all spending time at home, virtual communities in the form of Whatsapp groups to support, inform, humour and offer practical help have been really heart-warming, our street Whatsapp being a good example of this. Another great community initiative, local to me in Twickenham and one that I have just signed up to volunteer with: “The Real Junk Food Project”. This to me typifies what great community is all about.”
Read more about the project in this article here.
Alex Stillwell
Museum & Gallery Assistant
3rd Year Graphic Design student at Kingston School of Art
“Working and creating with communities has been a huge part of my time at Kingston University, while studying social design on my graphic design course. I have grown to realise that creative interventions at a community level are an integral part of helping to create a better world, by initiating ideas and conversation through innovative and playful means.
To me a well-functioning community is a sign of a prospering population however large or small.
Attached are a series of photos from the 2019 BeeSpoke event at Tolworth Station. Chay Reuby and I are were invited by The Community Brain to use cycling as a form of play to engage the local community in a forward-thinking pursuit to propose new Bee friendly, environmentally conscious, walking and cycling routes for Tolworth, an area which suffers immensely from poor air quality.”
Zainab Sanyang
Museum & Gallery Assitant
3rd Year Illustration Animation student at Kingston School of Art
“Community to me is created by a group of people, who may share a common interest or belief, but are of different ages, races or religions, coming together.
The time they spend with each other can be spent practicing their shared interest, or merely enjoying each others company.
Community is a second home, a second family, a safe space.”
Rachel Turner
Participation Coordinator, Stanley Picker Gallery
“Donations for families from Richmond & Kingston Communities this Xmas, still blows my mind! 😍”
Kyle Campbell-Pope
Museum & Gallery Assistant
3rd BA Fine Art student at Kingston School of Art
“I think when it comes to Community, what I admire about it is the power of belonging to other people, connecting through this example such as Music where we have come together to enjoy something that we all see eye to eye about. Most of my favourite times have been shared with friends when we go to a show or a festival, knowing that those feelings and memories are related to those great moments.”
Share your interpretations with us on social media by tagging us on Instagram @stanleypicker or Twitter @pickergallery or by e-mailing them to stanleypickergallery@kingston.ac.uk.