4 minute read
The World Reimagined
The World Reimagined (TWR) is a dream, a desire and a conscientious series of artistic and cultural interventions. A social experiment exploring the potential of art and inclusive storytelling to raise awareness, spark dialogue around issues of equality and lack of cultural cohesion in the UK.
TWR is the brainchild of co-founder and chairperson, Michelle Gayle of East Enders fame and supported by fellow co-founder Dennis Marcus. Together they initiated this nation wide, globally minded project embracing cross-cultural collaboration.
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TWR is a history, racial justice and equality focused arts, cultural and education project. Seven cities are participating namely Bristol, Swansea, Birmingham, Liverpool, Leeds, London and Leicester. It’s multi dimensional in nature consisting of free, guided arts trails, a 22-week schools project and an online education resource accessible to all.
These globe sculpture art trails (think Wallace & Gromit) are located around each city until October 2022. Each sphere was allocated to an artist who was given creative license to interpret the Journey to Discovery theme ascribed to them. Here to tell us more is Chantel Thompson.
Greetings Chantel. Introduce yourselves and tell us your TWR story?
Chantel: “ I’m Chantel Thompson. My role at The World Reimagined is as partnership officer and I also composed the secondary learning resources. I’m generally based in Accra in Ghana, where I work with emerging visual artists. Before this I was a teacher in London and in the Seychelles.
Great! Tell us about the artists and the process?
Chantel: “The majority of our artists are UK based, but there are a few international artist involved from the Caribbean. Our movement is driven by a series of transformative artistic experiences. These are expressions searching, reaching for and questioning dynamics around racial justice, human and Earth dignity. We awaken visions of equality via the medium of authentic cultural expression. We commissioned 103 artworks done by 100 artists each interpreting one of our nine themes. Five of those artists are based in Jamaica, Barbados, Dominica, Trinidad and Tobago and The Bahamas. We were able to invite them to do a residency in the UK. Commissioning each to do a globe for the trails thanks to the support from the Arts Council UK.
What are the barriers undermining racial harmony, justice and equality in the UK?
Written by //Kabbo Ferdinand
Artist: Jasmine Thompson. Title of the work: “Foundations”, 2022
Chantel: “ I would say that racial justice’s biggest barriers are lack of understanding, empathy and deep rooted mistrust. The truth is most of these issues stem from the legacy in trafficking of our enslaved ancestors of Afrikan descent.
Breaking down some of these barriers starts with education and in understanding our current reality. We must interrogate this legacy to understand how this came to be. Evaluate the impact and the after effects. So we can initiate processes that will enable us to learn and move forward in a more cohesive manner. The trust issue that exists between cultures requires patience and lots of work. We live in a capitalist society that drives the economy. Led to believe that competing with each other is acceptable, but it’s got us nowhere.”
How do we break down some of those barriers?
Chantel: “We believe collaboration and coalition is one of the ways to evolve. In terms of education, we are offering people a platform that enables them to step into the conversation. We trust that people will start acknowledging that change is needed.
Our Journey of Discovery is the process through which the experience is stimulated. Using the visual language the artists’ interpretations created on the spheres as the medium to explore these themes. Each sculpture has information and QR codes on it. Allowing all to become immersed in the experience. There are 238 schools involved. 178 completed the globe sculpture programme and 60 engaged in the poetry programme. We also ran a Poetry competition with winners being selected to feature in TWR Anthology. Celebrated poets the like of Benjamin Zephaniah and John Argard were commissioned and submitted works that are in line with our ethos. The Anthology will be published in October 2022.
Our educational resources are fundamental to our objective. Evidence suggests that learning about racial inequality and justice at a younger age can improve cultural cohesion in the future.
We also have adult educational resources and community outreach programmes. Working alongside organisations doing the work is part of our ethos. In collaborating we share resources and experiences that will enable our social engagements to become sustainable.
I’m proud to be part of the project. I’m a school resident artist and sculpture tour guide via our tour organisation, Active Archives: Equitable Future alongside the gifted Cleo Lake. We’ll be running Bristol tours all through October, so sign up and join us.
I’ll leave you with the words of one of our mottos; “Together we can create a future in which all can say: I am seen.”
One Love!
Artist: Michele Curtis. Title of the work: “Ascension”, 2022
