Students’ lockdown experience part of artistic self-care showcase

A film portraying the variety of ways University of Reading students coped during the Covid-19 lockdown is part of an upcoming series of artistic activities focusing on different aspects of ‘care’.

In the film, titled Waiting for Flowers to Bloom, six students relay their experiences of self care during lockdown, explaining techniques they adopted through different forms of artistic expression.

The project is one of several in a new Reading Assembly: Care programme on 27-28 May, which is inviting members of the public to join online workshops and discussions with artists and social researchers, and share their own memories and stories of care.

The diverse range of virtual activities also includes a performance telling the struggles of a group of mothers juggling work alongside childcare during lockdown; a live sound-based session in which refugees in Reading delve into what caring for ourselves and others really means; and a student workshop on how to add a creative twist to lockdown daily walks.

"This project seeks to make everyday acts of care that we all experience visible, through a broad range of artistic means." - Dr Anna Kontopoulou, School of Art

Dr Anna Kontopoulou, in the School of Art at the University of Reading who is leading the programme, said: “Caring means different things to different people, whether it be the way we look after ourselves during hard times like the pandemic, or a government’s duty of care to the vulnerable. This project seeks to make everyday acts of care that we all experience visible, through a broad range of artistic means.

“Whether you were a parent with young children trying to work from home during lockdown, or are just interested in new ways of dealing with difficult experiences or helping others, there is an activity for you on this varied and creative programme.”

Reading Assembly: Care is an artistic research platform that connects grass roots community groups, artists, educators, academic researchers and Art, Film, Theatre & Television and Architecture students at the University of Reading, to jointly explore issues around ‘care’.

Waiting for Flowers to Bloom consists of footage filmed by the students of physical activities they undertook during lockdown to boost their moods and health, such as yoga and meditation, footage from a Zoom chat in which they discuss these activities and their struggles, and individual artistic responses to their experiences.

"We hope that viewers will be able to empathise with our ideas of self-care and gain some insight into how other people have been coping during lockdown.” - Emma Narita, MA Creative Enterprise, Theatre Pathway student

Emma Narita, one of the Film, Theatre and Television students involved in the film, said self-isolation during the pandemic had been ‘scary’ at times. She said: “The main challenge we have faced collectively during lockdown is isolation, whether it is for us students or anyone else.

“Although our film specifically engages with student experiences, the themes we explore are fairly universal and we hope that viewers will be able to empathise with our ideas of self-care and gain some insight into how other people have been coping during lockdown.”

Partners in the Reading Assembly programme include international groups of artists, Reading Refugee Support Group, Purple Stars, and young mental health organisation Compass Recovery College.

The activities programme will also mark the launch of a new hub, with all the works and projects presented in a shareable format and providing a long-lasting platform that inspires new ideas.

Find out more about the Reading Assembly: Care programme and register to attend activities at https://sitesb.reading.ac.uk/reading-assembly-care/

Programme of events:

THURSDAY 27 MAY

• 12:00-13:00 Defying the distance: Sustainable letters for loved ones: A workshop-based session of crafting seed paper to create plantable messages.
• 13:00-15:00 Cooking and Care: A workshop exploring the relationship between cooking, comfort and care.
• 16:00-17:00 A Walk With Nature - A workshop to creatively enhance your lockdown daily walks by producing artwork inspired by nature.
• 17:00-18:00 Purple Stars Pandemic Portraits: During the Pandemic Portraits live session, purpleSTARS will introduce recorded video portraits, and invite participants to join in listening, drawing and if you would like to, dancing. Please have some paper and drawing materials with you for the session.
• 18:00-19:00 Waiting for Flowers to Bloom: Life in Lockdown: The screening of this 15-minute short film will be followed by a Q&A with the students involved who will further discuss self-care, studying and creating a piece of collaborative work entirely in lockdown. Please come along and join the discussion!
• 19:00-20:00 ‘ Love and Labor. Intimacy and Isolation. Care and Survival
• A performance between mothers and children in a state of lockdown Performance by Maternal Fantasies collective, accompanied with Q&A with artists Isabell Spengler, Magdalena Callenberger and curator Anna Kontopoulou.

FRIDAY 28 MAY

• 12:00-13:00 Architecture Cares: Please join us in this workshop, where we will be reworking the map of care Architecture students have created, remapping the city of Reading together.
• 15:00-16:00 Menstrual Care Charter: Join us for a 10-minute live performance entitled Menstrual Care Charter, followed by an interdisciplinary Q&A with Menstrual Care Charter’s artists and menstruation experts on 28th May 3-4pm.
• 17:00-18:00 Sounding Out: Listening Session: Join us for Walking the Wing, an audio play about incarceration during the COVID 19 pandemic created with men serving prison sentences, prison staff, and people with lived experience of the criminal justice system. The audio play will be followed by a Q&A with the makers.
• 18:00-20:00 What is the sound of care and solidarity’ - Open listening session with Reading Refugee Support Group (RRSG) and Ultra-red sound artist activist collective.