common ground: culture, climate and social justice
In July 2019 D6's Lead Producer Andrea was invited to lead a round table discussion at Julie's Bicycle's event Common Ground: Culture, Climate and Social Justice. The day was a chance for cultural organisations to come together and explore the role of the arts in tackling the climate crisis from the perspectives of people of colour, ahead of the new podcast series The Colour Green.
Andrea presented our current programme There is Beauty in this Journey, which seeks to reclaim the positive and too often concealed narratives around migration, diversity and cultural heritage. In the shadow of both Windrush and Brexit, these narratives are inextricably linked but used to divide and subjugate our citizens and neighbours as ‘other’. With our programme and organisational practice we have been exploring notions of 'de-growth' and co-production, looking at sustainable, valuable and responsive relationships with participants and artists. As part of There is Beauty in this Journey we have continued our work with artist Henna Asikainen to explore these themes alongside landscape justice, what it means to have access to nature, and who this access is available to.
"It is often the case that refugees and asylum seekers are housed in the most deprived parts of a city and often in inadequate housing and with limited financial support. Effectively they are confined to the urban spaces in which they are housed by a lack of both economic and cultural resources. Means to access the rich natural and cultural environment of their new living environment is too often a rarity, closing down the opportunities of a common ground for a dialogue with the host community. My recent participatory projects have sought to address this aspect of the migratory experience - a sense of being ‘out of place’ and alienated; searching for belonging and beginning to lay down roots through the discovery of environment, culture and natural landscape."
-Henna Asikainen
With the link between migration and the climate crisis ever increasing an intersectional approach to the environment is vital; the arts are an essential tool for sharing and responding to these lived experiences. You can find out more about this topic by tuning in here to The Colour Green podcast series, produced by Julie's Bicycle and hosted by Baroness Lola Young.
Andrea presented our current programme There is Beauty in this Journey, which seeks to reclaim the positive and too often concealed narratives around migration, diversity and cultural heritage. In the shadow of both Windrush and Brexit, these narratives are inextricably linked but used to divide and subjugate our citizens and neighbours as ‘other’. With our programme and organisational practice we have been exploring notions of 'de-growth' and co-production, looking at sustainable, valuable and responsive relationships with participants and artists. As part of There is Beauty in this Journey we have continued our work with artist Henna Asikainen to explore these themes alongside landscape justice, what it means to have access to nature, and who this access is available to.
"It is often the case that refugees and asylum seekers are housed in the most deprived parts of a city and often in inadequate housing and with limited financial support. Effectively they are confined to the urban spaces in which they are housed by a lack of both economic and cultural resources. Means to access the rich natural and cultural environment of their new living environment is too often a rarity, closing down the opportunities of a common ground for a dialogue with the host community. My recent participatory projects have sought to address this aspect of the migratory experience - a sense of being ‘out of place’ and alienated; searching for belonging and beginning to lay down roots through the discovery of environment, culture and natural landscape."
-Henna Asikainen
With the link between migration and the climate crisis ever increasing an intersectional approach to the environment is vital; the arts are an essential tool for sharing and responding to these lived experiences. You can find out more about this topic by tuning in here to The Colour Green podcast series, produced by Julie's Bicycle and hosted by Baroness Lola Young.