Giving voice – art meets activism in local artist Karen Vost

Photo courtesy of Gordon R Peden: Karen and her dog Bibi on the Arts Barge

GIVING VOICE

Writer

Russell Chater

The Recorder meets Karen Vost, local artist and activist who is fighting the good fight, and using art and art therapy to enable a range of voices to be heard

Imeet Karen Vost at the Churchill pub for an interview that descends into a mini pub crawl, involving knocking back negronis while her lurcher Bibi looks on patiently. I leave feeling a little squiffy but also brimming with content. It occurs to me that this is Karen all over: she gets the job done, but makes it fun and does it her way. And what a range of jobs she has. From teaching primary school children to supervising MA students; helping refugees and asylum seekers to being a practising artist; working with young people on the autistic spectrum to being a (foster) mum. Her various roles are as admirable as they are exhausting.

Local parents will likely be aware of Ramsgate Arts Primary School’s reputation, its arts curriculum being particularly highly prized. Karen has played no small part in this, having been head of visual art there since 2018. The aim is to integrate the arts curriculum with the community wherever possible, an ethos Karen innately shares. Relationships have been created both locally and nationally, from the strong links the school enjoys with Turner Contemporary to exhibiting at the National Gallery in London. Such exposure helps demystify art for students, showing them that this world is open to them and that their voice matters within it. “Giving voice” is a driving motivation in all that Karen does.

Describing herself as “childlike”, Karen enjoys being in the moment (something kids do so well) and is “energised” by her pupils. For her, teaching is a symbiotic process, with everyone learning and sharing together. It may therefore come as a surprise to learn that she will shortly be leaving the post, although she will return for occasional community projects. Karen feels pulled to “serve the community that is most in need”. As a consequence of the current political and economic climate, she worries about a “mental health tsunami” that is taking place, with lots of work coming through in and around this area.

During the last six months Karen has been working with unaccompanied asylum-seeking young people at Arts Education Exchange based in Margate, developing an integrated English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) and arts programme. Within this, she provides weekly group art psychotherapy sessions, a safe space to foster connection, creativity and confidence during a time of displacement for those taking part. The programme will continue next year in partnership with Pie Factory Music, a Ramsgate youth charity, and the local NHS Clinical Commissioning Group. Running parallel to this, having completed an MA in art psychotherapy at Goldsmiths in 2004, Karen is developing her practice as an art therapist in local specialist schools for young people with autism spectrum condition (ASC). “Art psychotherapy is a triangular relationship between

client, therapist and the art materials,” she explains. Through the therapy, she helps those with non-verbal communication process memories and difficult emotions. She also acts as a supervisor for current MA students studying at Goldsmiths, many of whom get placements in Kent. “Arts education, community arts and art psychotherapy are vehicles of social cohesion that communities need access to,” says Karen. “Their profile needs to be raised.” In late 2021, Karen became a director of the Ramsgate Arts Barge, a role which will see her share her wealth of knowledge and experience to deliver events and workshops to help the barge become an “arts hub for all” in the heart of Ramsgate’s harbour. “We’re not just skilled in one thing,” she says. “People are fluid and shouldn’t restrict their own development.” She is also playing an active role in the Save the Granville campaign, mobilising support for Ramsgate’s Granville Theatre to continue as a creative space for the community.

So what drives such altruistic work? Karen grew up and lived in the melting pot of south-east London. From a working-class background, she mixed with people from all walks of life. The 90s cultural landscape allowed her many outlets, from hanging out at “squat parties in Brixton to singing at the Royal Albert Hall”. London was her playground, but the rest of the world beckoned, further opening her eyes to different communities and their needs. She has travelled widely, teaching in India (using art psychotherapy to support young people orphaned from the 2004 tsunami) and working in Australia as an art teacher supporting the indigenous community. However, arguably it is

Karen’s role as a foster parent, her experience of autism within her family, and the memory of seeing her mother in prison for three years on a fraud conviction when Karen was just nine that has most informed her work. “I could have been put in care if my grandparents hadn’t stepped in,” she recalls. Her interest in fostering was fuelled by this first-hand experience, what she terms “the precarious nature of families and how they can break down”. Her experiences have necessitated an increased need for empathy and communication and prompted Karen to question the criminalisation and demonisation of people and their fight to be heard. As a result, she has developed an interest in the portraiture of mugshots, a medium which originated in the 1840s. She is drawn to the intimacy, vulnerability, even pride, that these images often evoke. Her resulting lightbox works have been exhibited across Thanet and beyond, including at Turner Contemporary. Her next works will explore early photography of LGBTQ+ communities and “clandestine moments” in photo-booths, historically a space that allowed for safe, curtainedoff intimacy. These will be displayed on the dance floor of Margate Arts Club as part of Margate Pride in August, with a private view 5 August. Since moving to Ramsgate in 2015, Karen says she has “become more political”. Perhaps a sign of the times, but also, she explains, because unlike larger cities, Ramsgate enables you to “see things through, have ownership and to see your impact”. For Karen, art is a catalyst for change, the personal, public and political fruitfully overlapping. “I want to serve Ramsgate,” she says.

▼ Photo courtesy of Mike Goldwater: Karen at the Arts Barge Big Draw event

@karen.vost mugbox.uk margatepride.org.uk

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