The Southbank Centre’s Art by Post project launched in May 2020 to provide free creative activities to people across the UK at risk of social isolation, loneliness and digital exclusion. The project commissioned 17 artists to make 11 activity booklets, sent to over 4,500 participants with the help of numerous referral partners.
A network of delivery partners were central to the project, including HOME, who referred participants from Manchester and surrounding areas. Art by Post booklet 10, You Exist, was produced in partnership with HOME, and co-created with artists Anna FC Smith, Samantha Edwards and Cheddar Gorgeous.
To celebrate the community that has formed around the project, a selection of participants were photographed on their doorsteps, including some based in Manchester. These portraits celebrate the positive impact of creativity on people’s health and wellbeing.
The portraits have been displayed in an outdoor exhibition at the Southbank Centre in London, at the Arts Centre Washington in Sunderland, on billboards and bus stops across the UK and now at Inspire Gallery, HOME.
The selection of portraits feature photographs by Robert Darch, Eoin Carey, Kate Elliott, Elle Brotherhood, Kuba Ryniewicz, Rosie Barnes, Colin Thom, Guy Oliver and Elena Gallina. A new selection of portraits will be displayed from Thursday 24 February.
Selected artworks created by the Art by Post community have also been curated to form an exhibition that is touring the length of the country. An online exhibition simultaneously showcases the full collection of over 600 artworks, audio recordings of participants reading their poems and films that tell the Art by Post story from the perspective of the participants.
These exhibitions make visible the creative spirit and talent of the participants, and the dedicated artists and organisations that have supported them. Please visit southbankcentre.co.uk/artbypost to view the full range of artworks by our participants.
The exhibition tour continues to De Montfort University in Leicester, Thursday 3 February –- Saturday 19 February 2022.
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.
The Art by Post project is supported by Paul Hamlyn Foundation. Project delivery partners are Age UK Oxfordshire and Camden, artsdepot, The Barn, Beacon Arts Centre, Dulwich Picture Gallery, HOME, King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, NAPA Arts in Care Homes, Nightingale Hammerson, Philharmonia Orchestra, Platform and Sunderland Culture.
Image credit: (Left – Right) Kate Elliott, Eoin Carey, Kate Elliott