24 Apr DHA – A six week project
Every Thursday for the last 6 weeks I have been an artist in residence at the Drogheda Homeless Shelter for men. As a group we were tasked to co-ordinate a number of artworks to ‘improve’ the environment and to take any willing participants on the way. It was a drop in format with some structured outcomes and some more experimental elements designed to be flexible.
I took inspiration from some of my cast shadow photo images and wanted to explore how communal living and the label of homeless affected the residents. Sessions were to be casual to suit the ‘drop in’ format.
We started with doodling some 3D shapes and sketching, collaging them together to create a group piece. We took some photo portraits and used them to create some partial portraits.
A number of the men began to engage independently making things of their own design, as gifts for others or for their rooms. It was a relaxed, sociable and productive 6 weeks and the experience of spending time with each of the men and listening to their journeys was very grounding and inspiring for me.
