4,500 Participants
Southbank Centre's Art by Post is underpinned by partnerships. A network of 13 delivery partners and a further 156 referral partners were central to the project, referring and connecting people to the project across the UK.
Film shot by James Kinsman and Ed Prosser, edited by Jamed Kinsman
Meet Carol
Carol is a member of the Flying Fish Group. ‘I love painting trees in lots of different ways. In fact, I like making art of, or with, trees in any medium. I recently took up whittling, picking a piece of wood that I wanted to work with and giving it new life in the form of something else; the first thing I made was a musical instrument.'
‘When I’m well enough to do it, I love creativity. I’ve had so many medications to help my mental health, but the only thing that really helps is finding my flow with my art. If I can manage to start something, I manage to get myself into a better place. People with mental health problems may not be able to do 9-5 jobs, but we want to be part of real things.'
Meet Thessa
Thessa is an activity coordinator at a care home in South London. Her team were incredibly stretched as lockdowns meant they could no longer be supported by volunteers; however, Art by Post helped them continue to offer much-needed creative opportunities for the residents.
Nightingale House Resident_s Artwork
Thessa
'Lots of online resources have been developed for people who need to isolate, but in my experience, people with dementia need something to touch – the internet can be confusing and remote for them.'
Photography by Kate Elliott(3)
Thessa
‘My background is in literature & I love to do creative writing with the residents – like word chains, when everyone will say a word or sentence, then we’ll create a poem or a story. Poetry can be very empowering too – we talk about the flow of words & how they make us feel.'
Frustration Station, created by Emily Hall
Thessa
‘We hung a big canvas from the ceiling and shot paint at it with water pistols, letting out our frustration at the virus. We called it ‘Enough Is Enough’. It was very therapeutic.’
Art by Post: The Philharmonia's Hear and Now project (2021)
The booklet Are We Listening? was conceived by Tim Steiner, artistic director of the Philharmonia Orchestra’s Hear & Now project. Hear & Now brings together young people with adults living with dementia. Here they create and perform songs and music made in response to the booklet.
Art by Post booklet covers
The booklet Growing Together was created in collaboration with The Barn and artists Bibo and Brian Keeley. The Barn is an arts organisation in Aberdeenshire and an Art by Post delivery partner.
Southbank Centre Art by Post Logo (2021)
The project is supported by Paul Hamlyn Foundation, whilst the Art by Post exhibition and national tour is delivered in partnership with the National Academy for Social Prescribing, with additional support from the Granada Foundation and Google Arts and Culture.
Carol and Thessa's stories were written by Mina Holland and are available to read in full here.
Mina Holland is Deputy Editor of Guardian Feast. Holland writes about food, lifestyle and culture and is the author of The Edible Atlas, and Mamma: Reflections on the Food That Makes Us.
Southbank Centre commissioned a number of artists to create the booklets; Shazea Quraishi, Rebecca Strickson, Jacqueline Saphra, Seiwa Cunningham, Bernadette Russell, Cherelle Sappleton and Barbara Clarke, Joseph Coehlo & Rob White, Bibo and Brian Keeley, Tim Steiner, Cheddar Gorgeous, Anna FC Smith, Samantha Edwards, Suzie Larke.