A Project for a Fairer Future

What does it feel like to live in one of the wealthiest cities in the UK…and not know how you’re going to pay your heating bill?

What does it feel like to earn a place at one of the world’s greatest universities...and not feel like you belong?

What does it feel like to be a vulnerable person…in an unassailable place?

Everyone has a story to tell, but in an unequal city, how can we be sure all voices are being heard?

The Cambridge Commons raises awareness of and tackles inequality in Cambridge. But to fight something, you have to know what it is…and what it feels like. In collaboration with Pivotal, we commissioned five local artists and a songwriter to create works inspired by conversations with Cambridge people who have experienced inequality. 

The launch event took place on Saturday, January 11th @The Escape Community Space at the Grafton Centre, with the exhibition continuing January 12th and 13th in the space.  The event included:

• Visual and digital arts and commentary from Jill Eastland, Kay Goodridge, Sa'adiah Khan and Elmira and Ramona Zadissa

• Original song performance from singer/songwriter Victoria Jones

• Susan Buckingham, researcher and writer on gender and environmental justice

• Ruth Wood, Project Co-ordinator and Horticultural Therapist for the Cyrenians Allotment Project, which works with homeless people to teach gardening skills and grow organic produce

• Open Mic Storytelling from our accompanying True Tales for Change Storytelling Workshops, led by Cambridge Bard Glenys Newton and artist  Jill Eastland

• The short film A Choice to Look

The Artists

Click on the Artist’s Name to View Their Collaboration with their Conversation Partner

Kay Goodridge

Kay is a digital artist and photographer. She creates and prioritises her own arts practice alongside working as a community artist, teacher, organiser and facilitator with a wide range of groups and organisations. She has been artist in residence at Addenbrookes Hospital, The Leper Chapel, Cambridge Museum of Technology, with CARA (Council for Assisting Refugee Academics) and at Peterborough Prison. She is currently working on digital storytelling projects with Anglia Ruskin University and with Cambridge Refugee Resettlement Campaign.

To listen to a conversation between Kay and her friend and conversation partner for this project, Sally, and preview the work they created, click here.

The Zadissa Sisters

Elmira Zadissa and Ramona Zadissa are sisters and collaborators who were born in Iran, grew up in Sweden and now live in the UK. They work as a team in an  interdisciplinary manner and call themselves ‘Artivists’, a term that  defines their practice at the intersection of arts and politics. 

The  spectrum of their work covers illustration, participatory art events and storytelling as a means for social change. They have co-founded a  number of cultural organisations with the aim of questioning norms and  structures in the established arts and cultural spheres. 

Their  experience of being refugees and migrants as well as identifying  themselves as queers, has left an imprint on their body of work, which  addresses different aspects of these identities.

To see images of their work with their conversation partner, Mrs B, click here.

​The Songwriter

Victoria Jones

Vikki is a teacher, singer, songwriter, recording artist, session singer and backing vocalist. She is the lead singer and songwriter for multi-award winning band Fred’s House, which has toured the UK and China. For her notes on her journey with her conversation partner, Mark, click here.

The Storyteller

Glenys Newton

Glenys, the current Cambridge Bard, qualified as a social worker and worked in an adult community mental health team, child and adolescent mental health in schools and with families in their homes and, latterly, in adoption. She practices and teaches the ancient art of storytelling. For Glenys’s notes on the importance of storytelling, click here.

The Organisers

The Cambridge Commons

The Cambridge Commons is a group focused on raising awareness of inequality in Cambridge. It is the local affiliate of The Equality Trust.

Michelle Golder

The founder, with Peter Daldorph, of Pivotal, Michelle is a filmmaker and producer. She currently co-hosts The 7th Generation on Cambridge 105 Radio. 

The Gardener

Ruth Wood

Ruth is Project Co-ordinator and Horticultural Therapist for the Cyrenians Allotment Project, which works with homeless people to teach gardening skills and grow organic produce across six full-sized allotment plots in the city.

It provides specific horticulture training, supported work experience  and a safe social environment for some of the most disadvantaged people in the city.

Creativity, including creating a sense of belonging and encouraging those involved to design spaces that mean something to them, is integral to the project. For this project, we worked with Ruth Wood to create a slideshow of the project and some of its people. Click here to view. 

The Speaker

Susan Buckingham

Susan is an independent researcher and consultant on gender and environmental issues. With  thirty years experience of academic research, teaching and management,  and fifteen years experience of volunteering in women's organisations, she now works independently on projects which will advance environmental and gender justice. 

 “It  is my deeply held belief that there can be no solutions to  environmental problems without addressing social injustices, and that  social and environmental problems, and their solutions, need to be  understood as interconnected.”

For a short summary of Susan’s talk for this project, click here.

Jill Eastland

A multimedia artist, Jill’s work is strongly research based, usually beginning with a social, political or environmental issue of concern. She is an experienced proponent of activist or protest art and recently has been particularly concerned with issues of homelessness and housing inequality and the endangered planet. She regularly works with marginalised communities, leading workshops and raising awareness through her arts collective, Rebel Arts.

To listen to a conversation between Jill and Katy, Jill’s conversation partner, and preview the artworks they created together, click here.

Sa’adiah Khan

Sa'adiah works as a freelance and community artist from Cambridge, UK, where she studied Fine art & Printmaking at the Cambridge School of Art. Combining her interests in psychology & philosophy with her art in her personal practise, Sa’adiah primarily explores mental well-being, focusing on trust, balance, facing fears and letting go using intuitive 'flow' art. She uses multiple techniques on various surfaces including on upcycled functional items as the results are often highly decorative and she hates waste. She has created a toolbox of ‘Art for well-being’ over the past 8 years, which she teaches through workshops, tutorials and is taking in to schools.

Sa'adiah is a director at Thrifts Walk Studios as part of the Cambridge Art Salon. She has worked on many community projects either as lead artist or workshop facilitator and is also currently working with Oblique Arts, playing an integral role in The Mixed Bag Theatre team.

Her most rewarding project so far has been for a local community group, Chesterton Community Association, as lead artist working in collaboration with her twin sister Samirah Khan & colleague Dan Biggs on a public mural, running inclusive workshops locally to inform the final design ‘Kindness is always in season’.

To find out more about the collaboration between Sa’adiah and her conversation partner, Niyi, and view a TED Talk by Niyi, click here.

The Film

Contact:

cambscop26@lists.riseup.net