Postcards from Shepherd’s Bush

Duffy, London, Babylon

POSTCARDS FROM SHEPHERD'S BUSH

Header image: Ritaj Wardi makes her artwork.

Postcards from Shepherd's Bush

Shepherd’s Bush Families Project is a local charity in West London set up in 1988, supporting families under housing stress or who are homeless by providing a safe, secure drop-in centre for children as well as a full range of emotional and practical support services.

In a series of workshops designed to give the children space to create in different ways, some of the material from the ‘Postcards from the International Authors Forum’ event held at King’s in 2019 was used. The children were able to connect with their own identities and with the work of the artists and writers around the world to make new work.

From Shepherd's Bush to South Korea

Abigail Michael would like to be an artist herself. She felt passionately about Oum Jeong Soon’s project, Another Way of Seeing, finding her own responses to what she learned, and writing a series of letters to Oum. Oum Jeong Soon is an artist who works with blind people to explore the question of ‘what is seeing’, and to dispel the prejudice that the visually impaired cannot do art. In return, Oum posted Abigail a letter and several of her artists’ books.

Abigail Michael with drawing representing the work of Oum Jeong Soon.

Abigail with her drawing representing the work of Oum Jeong Soon.

Abigail's postcard.

Abigail Michael with her artwork and writing.

Another young person, Ritaj Wardi, created a piece inspired by some of Oum Jeong Soon’s own images of elephants.

Ritaj Wardi making her art.

Ritaj's art in progress.

Ritaj's finished art.

From Shepherd's Bush to the Solomon Islands

Amro Ziyada has many interests. Christina Kuper, from Solomon Islands but now working in Geneva, came to London for the World Service event to present the work of Solomon Islands Creative Writers Association (SICWA).

Christina brought a copy of a collection of SICWA members’ writing, Talemaot, which explores many aspects of life on Solomon Islands through creative writing. The poem 'Winds of Change' by Chelcia Gomese depicts the impact of the weather on daily life in Solomon Islands, which is much more perilous than in the UK. A collection of hundreds of islands, the sea and its often dramatic response to weather is a constant feature of Solomon Islanders’ lives.

Amro wrote his own version of the poem, discussing a topic that is a daily feature of many Londoners’ lives.

Amro's poem.

Winds of Change by Chelcia Gomese

From Shepherd's Bush to Iraq

Photographer and documentary maker Mouayad Sary documents aspects of Iraq, particularly those aspects of culture, history and diversity which are at risk of being lost, and are easily obscured by the picture of Iraq we might build from mainstream media. His photography celebrates Iraq’s heritage: the ancient civilisation of Babylon; the simple and ancient way of life practiced by the Sabean Mandean people in the Southern Marshes; the River Tigris in Baghdad.

Rozhin Salhi, who is also from Iraq, created this piece, and wrote Mouayad a postcard.