Telling Tales: Alight
Project Title:
Telling Tales: Alight
Project Location:
Smethwick
Date of Project:
August 2007 - January 2008
Project Participants:
- Smethwick Town Team
- North Smethwick Development Trust
- Smethwick Bangladeshi Youth Forum
- Albion Estate Detached Youth Work Project
- Bangladeshi Islamic Centre
- Smethwick Heritage Centre
- Brasshouse Lane Community Centre
Artist:
Jaspal Sehint
Project Funders:
Neighbourhood Renewal Fund, Sandwell Partnership, Sandwell MBC.
Project Overview:
The north and south of Smethwick are divided by a dual-carriageway and the local Town Team could see that the community groups operating in the north of the town were doing great work but, due to their geographical position, had little opportunity to share it with the rest of the town or each other as they seldom collaborated or mixed.
Five community groups were brought together: the North Smethwick Development Trust; the Smethwick Bangladeshi Youth Forum; Albion Estate Detached Youth Work Project; Bangladeshi Islamic Centre; and the Smethwick Heritage Centre. As the project took place during the winter, the theme of light was seen as a strong one by all of the groups. Light is something that all communities and religions celebrate, especially during winter festivals such as Christmas and Diwali, so it seemed the ideal medium to use to celebrate a shared pride in North Smethwick and the local community as a whole.
Multistory worked with the five groups to find out what is unique about North Smethwick, why they enjoy living there and to produce images that celebrate the area and its community. Participants of all ages worked together to create a storyboard, telling the story of the area, its history, its people and its landmarks.
Local animator, Jaspal Sehint, used the storyboard to create a light animation that was projected onto the roof of the Hawthorns Metro station throughout the festive season, welcoming people to the area and giving a positive representation of all of the communities that live there.
The collaboration and shared goal meant that members of the five groups worked together for the first time and this has resulted in an increased sense of community in the area and a desire for future partnership working to take place.
Below are a selection of images from at the Telling Tales: Alight project.
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It was great. It’s unreal, quality was amazing.
March 21, 2008 at 3:16 pm
Pretty damn smart, it’s cool.
March 22, 2008 at 3:16 pm
The B66 at the start, I did that.
April 22, 2008 at 3:17 pm
It was amazing. Absolutely Brilliant, really impressed.
April 22, 2008 at 3:18 pm