Routes of Sorrow: Triggers - Phase 2, Northampton

In 2015, the installation entered its second phase, entitled Routes of Sorrow: Triggers. I added new artworks, including three wall hangings, and a commissioned sound piece by the OXUS quartet. The series of handkerchiefs delved more deeply into the concepts of loss and of chronic sorrow, introduced in the triptych. The images in these quilted squares were meant to provide a gentle reminder of a sorrowful situation or event, and to associate the material used, a soft and cosy square of cotton, with these events, in the mind of the viewer. The nine 'sound scapes' use spoken word interspersed with responses for the string quartet, echoing and imitating the speech patterns.

Alongside the exhibition, I had worked with four academics from Northampton University (Lecturer Wendy Turner, Dr Sonya Andermahr, Dr Hayley Singlehurst and Dr Larrissa Allwork) and an art therapist (Helen O’Loughlin), who brought students and colleagues to the venue. Each collaborator incorporated the subject matter into their talks and lesson plans. All activities were filmed, and shared, for the further advancement of their professional aims and objectives.

Invited students were asked to provide written comments. One student said ‘The focus of the art was sorrow and this helped me to think about sad things that have happened and I realised everyone can feel like this but they feel better. I was glad other people saw some of the same things as me. I thought the writing [on the walls] explained things well.’ Another said ‘I think I learnt about how different objects can mean many things. I liked the hands and bird as symbols and I think most people would understand this about death. …I can see how I will use [what I learned] with children.’ And another said ‘I thought we were using the art as a way to start talking about death and we did that.’ One of the academics, who worked with words as well as the art on display, said in her follow-up report that the experience of her group, composed mostly of people experiencing housing, employment and financial difficulties, led one individual to feel enabled to explore the use of creative writing as a new hobby; another discovered creative writing as a powerful tool for expression.

Art therapist Helen O'Loughlin was also a collaborator for this project. The participants she brought to the exhibition worked in the caring professions, with one retired person. The range of occupations included a school counselor, a mental health worker, art therapists, a service coordinator for counseling with young people, carers for young people related to residents of a hospice receiving palliative care, and a Reike/Rythmic movement specialist. The art therapist’s assessment was that the participants as professionals seemed at first timid to share too much of themselves, and their own personal understanding of the themes they were to depict. As time went on, and before ‘reflection time’ they seemed to relax and began to feel comfortable in the ‘safe place’. Some in the group presented a detached and generalised interpretation of the themes, while others shared personal stories of loss. All were given the option not to show and share. One person did not produce any artwork, stating that she did not have an emotional connection to what she was making with art materials, and that the process did not ‘take her out of her head’. This view was respected and accepted by the group. Comments during ‘reflection time’ included: ‘The onus is on us to always be happy and cheerful but we must acknowledge and respect loss’, ‘Loss is like this damaged heart gripped, solid, heavy and hard and it doesn’t go away – renewal isn’t perfect, the grief continues and re-emerges’, ‘Loss is prickly and can suck life out of plants – anger – but even with renewal all is not finished or ‘wrapped up’ in a neat and tidy way. Need space to live life and for renewal.’

***Click on the Triggers image (three handkerchiefs) to hear accompanying 'sound scapes' by OXUS called Triggers.