Over the past two years, members of Poverty Truth groups in Glasgow and Greater Manchester have been taking part in a collaborative research project with Wren Radford from the University of Manchester about everyday experiences of poverty and inequality.
The project came about through conversations with Poverty Truth members about the way that aspects of their experiences can often be labelled and categorised, and then separated out from each other as being ‘about’ food poverty or homelessness or mental health. We wanted to explore what happens when we start by reflecting on people’s everyday experiences – both how inequalities play out in daily life, but also the ordinary actions that people take every day to survive, challenge, and change inequality.
We began the research will a small steering group helping to design how the research would work. We recognised that during covid, many of our usual methods of meeting over a cuppa wouldn’t work! So we decided on using creative journals for people to record their thoughts and reflections, alongside small group workshops over Zoom.
Everyone interested in taking part was sent a journal, and art pack, and some prompts. People were invited to write, draw, collage, or voice record their responses. We then met over Zoom in small groups, to share and listen with each other. In these sessions we would respond to a couple of prompts about our daily lives; people would write, draw, or think for a few minutes on their own before sharing what they wished to with the rest of the group. There was laughter and tears, and a lot of encouragement for each other in what was being shared. In the groups, people expressed that it was good to have time to hear each other, and that sometimes it can be useful to take time to explore the various aspects and complexities of our daily lives. We spoke about the importance of seeing the differences but also the resonances between our experiences.
Out of these conversations and journaling, the group has produced a creative resource book ‘Filled to the Brim’. The book reflects the creative expressions that people bring to their ordinary lives and offers a space to engage with a range of different experiences that make up each of our days. We are hoping to share this to encourage and inspire our conversations, creativity, and action in addressing the impact of poverty and inequality.
The pages in the book are digital re-creations of journal pages or discussions in the workshops. This gave us the opportunity to reflect on what we wanted to share, and how to present the differences and continuities in our perspectives. We also wanted to avoid the sense that anyone can claim to fully know us directly by looking through the booklet. Rather, we advocate for continuing to listen to and learn with one another and that collaborating to address inequality requires space and time to get to know the complexities and creativities of people’s ordinary lives. As one of the pages in Filled to the Brim reads:
‘These journals partly reflect that
there’s more to our lives
than what people think of
as ‘poverty’.
We still live,
we still have our lives.
The poverty is always there,
like a backdrop,
to the daily goings on
we have as human beings.
Life is not
a static thing.’
On Tuesday the 27th September we will be holding
an online launch for the book, where you can hear more about the project
process, and for you to discuss some of your initial responses to the book. PTC
will also be working with printed copies of the book over the coming year. You
can register for the launch on Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/filled-to-the-brim-launch-tickets-412748290247
You can also view the digital copy of Filled to the Brim
here:
http://lincolntheologicalinstitute.com/filled-to-the-brim/
