Taking a risk with an initially entirely bare gallery, artist Kev Munday had a three month residency in-situ where the Solent Showcase Gallery walls were gradually covered by artwork by the public, the artist, and the groups and schools who got involved. The personal stories of what people wanted to ‘Stand Together’ against, and who people wanted to Stand Together with, were deeply moving.
This ACE funded exhibition was the next step in Solent Showcase Galley’s exploration of art as a tool for connection and experimenting with non-traditional exhibition forms, including outside the gallery space in the form of billboards and street furniture decoration (posh word for rubbish bins!)
The gallery also invited five community leaders from different areas (dance, storytelling, health, music, LGBTQI+) to take over the gallery for a week, and each host events and debates based on the theme of how we can ‘Stand Together’ against discrimination of any kind. In addition, the gallery created spaced where visitors could add comments, create artwork alongside the artist and share their views on what Stand Together meant to them.
The response from the local community was overwhelmingly positive, and over three months, the gallery ran over 45 events, had 4,500 visitors to the gallery and managed to work with over 500 young people and over 35 community groups in the area.
The award-winning show was also nominated for a National Diversity Award in 2019.
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