Published Tuesday 21 July 2020 at 9:57
An exhibition will bring people together to “Kick Down the Barriers” and challenge the misconceptions that surround Blackburn communities.
The year-long project, led by Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery, will explore communities that have been publicly labelled as “segregated” and “divided” on national press, media and social channels.
Kick Down the Barriers will bring together artists and writers to create authentic representations of the communities and will take place through a series of artist residencies within perceived “segregated” communities.
The work will be supported by a group of writers whose research will be published to challenge the labels that have been imposed onto Blackburn town.
Sophie Skellern, project lead and co-producer, said:
I developed the project after seven years of arts project management work in Blackburn. I became deeply frustrated whilst watching the 2017 BBC Panorama documentary ‘White Flight’. I know this frustration was shared by many. The documentary did not represent the Blackburn I know, the place I have lived and worked in.
Kick Down the Barriers came out of this shared frustration, as a way for Blackburn residents to redefine their own narratives of the town.
Coun Mohammed Khan, Leader of the Council and Chair of the Our Community, Our Future board, said:
This exhibition is a creative response to the inaccurate comments that are sometimes made about Blackburn. We know they aren’t true and this exciting project aims to challenge them through art and photography.
This exciting project complements the work of our social integration programme and it’s great that local communities have the chance to get involved.
In the run-up to the exhibition, the artists, writers and photographers involved will be giving interviews on Radio Lancashire every Tuesday and Thursday at 11:20am to talk about their work in progress.
Find out more about the project on the Museum website, or check out their Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.
If you would like to get in contact, email: kickdownthebarriers@gmail.com