FREEDOM – A Participatory Visual Arts Exhibition and Performance at University of Kent This Week

FREEDOM is a participatory visual arts project that brings together community members, students, migrants, and refugees to explore the meaning of freedom through creative expression. Hosted at the University of Kent, this exhibition showcases work created collaboratively by refugees, asylum seekers, migrants, students, artists, and local community members. Developed through a series of interdisciplinary approach-based workshops, participants explored movement, sound, drawing, puppetry, visual arts and architecture. The resulting artworks reflect themes of hope, resilience, longing, social death, mental health, separation, and freedom.

The Creative Process:

Created by Surya Chandra, the Artistic Director of Unity Arts Collective, this exhibition, FREEDOM, is the culmination of an intensive interdisciplinary workshop series, integrating movement, sound, drawing, puppetry, and architecture. The project provided a platform for individuals to translate complex emotional journeys into tangible art.

Central to the development of the exhibition were five "open for all" workshops at the University of Kent and ARK Cliftonville in Margate. During these sessions, participants engaged in physical theatre and puppet building workshops, exploring a spectrum of the complex and emotional journey of refugees through five key phases: Displacement, Flight, Arrival, Detention, and Integration, through movements. These feelings were mapped out on paper and physically navigated using the handmade puppets, which are now integrated into the gallery display.

Participants constructed large-scale puppets and installations using recycled parcel box cardboard and natural bamboo. By prioritising environmentally friendly materials and committing to "reuse and recycling", this project helped to transform everyday discarded items into beautiful, symbolic representations of life and hope. In the workshops, puppeteer James Frost taught participants how to use tools like drills and saws, as well as how to measure and build the puppets from scratch. During the physical movement sessions, theatre exercises are used to explore different emotions. They sketched these feelings on paper and then built paths to guide the puppets, helping them to move through the same feelings they had.

A Participatory Experience:

The ‘FREEDOM’ exhibition is designed as a fully interactive environment. The exhibition space invites the public to engage with the installations and participate in the dialogue. A live performance element further animates the space, utilising the puppets and drawings created during the workshops to tell a collective story of transition and resilience.

Documenting the Journey:

To ensure the methods and stories behind the project reach a wider audience, the entire creative process has been documented. This includes a video documentary that captures the workshops and the evolution of the participants' work, alongside academic analysis and audience interviews aimed at fostering deeper community empathy. They intend to later expand this work by partnering with other museums and universities across the UK.

Ticket information:

Venue: Studio 3, Jarman Building, University of Kent, Canterbury
Exhibition: 16th April, 10 am-7 pm
17th April, 10 am-6 pm
Performance (Work-in-progress): 4 pm
Ticket Prices: FREE
Open to all

For more information, please visit: https://www.kent.ac.uk/whats-on/event/80697/freedom-exhibition-performance

Credits:

Project Director: Surya Chandra
Researcher: Subhadip Mukherjee
Visual Artist & Artist Facilitator: James Frost, Surya Chandra
Puppeteer: James Frost
Performer: Surya Chandra
Multidisciplinary Sound Artist: Jesu Piceno & Ester Ricci

©️Unity Arts Collective

©️Unity Arts Collective