Craftivism and Chat in Merton plus portraits of members of Merton CIL

A recent poster for Merton Centre for Independent Living (CIL), a charity run by and for Disabled people.

Craftivism is a combination of the words ‘craft’ and ‘activism’. 

By taking part people feel included and empowered and it builds community. Plus, it’s fun!

I worked from a sketch that was created by the client, to echo a similar piece of work I did for Merton CIL to celebrate their 10 year anniversary:

An inspiring group of really great people, helping each other and the wider community in Southwest London. Merton is the borough where Wimbledon takes place and is a very diverse borough.

As well as this poster I also drew these portraits of participants:

Open University Research into Ageing Well in the Bangladeshi community in East London

On Saturday I was asked back by Dr Manik Deepak-Gopinath from the Open University to live scribe at this celebration and reflection event in London at the end of this 3 year project.

The hope is that this thorough research and findings will accelerate policy change at the highest level.

An emotional day, still so much work to be done, so this is just the beginning.

This research project was a big collaboration between the Open University and several other stakeholders, for more information and to read the final report click here:

https://www.housinglin.org.uk/Topics/browse/HousingOlderPeople/DiversityMatters/amar-bari-amar-jibon/

And a snap of the original in situ, it measures 2.25m x 1m:

Cafcass 25 year celebration

This year Cafcass is 25 - lots has changed in this time, mostly for the better for children and hopefully this will continue, even as the pressure on this service continues to build.

I listened to this event as a recording and had time to think, reflect and draw. 

Not the usual mad scramble of live drawing, and I much prefer it!

Below is the full banner image with excerpts underneath. The contributions by the FJYPB https://www.cafcass.gov.uk/children-and-young-people/family-justice-young-peoples-board are my favourite and very much inform what I draw. My aim is to constantly put children and young people at the heart of these images, because their futures are dictated by the process of the family court.

University College London (UCL) Illustrating a Grand Challenges research project

This research project is a development from the previous one, Cultural Understanding:

The changing world and a lot more turbulence in the world calls for more understanding of each other both internally within the university and externally. A big 5 year project - this was a scoping exercise to advise the new provost on the direction staff and students think it should travel. 

I was given notes post-event to work from but the event itself was a morning of guided discussion.

 

Best for You - Research led by Imperial College London

I was asked to attend a conference centred on the research of the efficacy of a new mental health pathway ‘Best for You’ that has been piloted in northwest London. A similar approach has been mirrored in Denmark, their ‘Best for Us’ initiative, and so the two cohorts came together to compare and contrast methodologies and share best practice, in order learn from one another.

An inspiring day, but sadly in both countries there are so many young people who are suffering, even in Denmark which is meant to be one of the ‘happiest’ places on our planet. 

These images were partly scribed on the day and then finished post event - it was a jam packed few hours and a huge amount of data and ideas were shared, hence the volume of drawings!

Building Diversity in East Midlands Children's Services Staff

I was asked to scribe at this day of celebration and learning. The East Midlands is a very diverse area and it's important that children's services staff reflect that, also at senior levels. This was an event to keep moving forward with this aim. 

Place Based Giving - Explaining what it is!

I was asked to create a representation of the Place Based Giving project that London Funders https://londonfunders.org.uk/ fund. 

This is a wonderful initiative, giving local communities the ability to steer projects and fund projects that make the most impact, from business mentoring to supporting local food banks. 

The poster will be used to create more ripples around the work they do, and hopefully get more funders on board! Here's hoping!

Thanks to Louise Kavanagh for asking me to get involved: https://purposefulmarketing.co.uk/

A peek behind the curtain: as part of the commissioning process I worked with two stakeholders, there were several iterations and sketches with notes coming back and forth, like this one below before we decided on the final design.