Venture Arts artist Sally Hirst has been an Artist in Residence in the School of Creativity on a Thursday since March 2023, where she has been gaining inspiration from the exhibitions and collections at the Whitworth. Sally has also been planning a PLAYTIME session which she will be leading in August. Sally will tell you more about her experience so far and future plans for her residency below.

I am an artist from Venture Arts, I like all different types of art but mainly do textiles and illustration. I am interested in refugees because I grew up in a foster family and many of my foster siblings were refugees.

On the first day of my residency, I watched the film Familiar Phantoms by Larissor Sansour and Soren Lind. I found the film multi-sensory because of the visuals and sounds that sometimes-caused vibrations. I also liked how the film really set the scene to transform you into a different place. I found the film very powerful and made me think of the importance of different objects and how they can have meaning to people. I thought about the different objects that my foster siblings liked.

It was perfect timing that the Traces of Displacement exhibition was on during my residency because I am exploring refugees and it’s great for ideas. Even though I have been to this exhibition many times I am always discovering something new as there is so much to take in.

We had a tour of the exhibition with the curator Leanne Green, it was very interesting because some of my favourite pieces I wouldn’t really notice if I had not done a tour. I was really inspired by an artist called Kani Kamil who embroidered the hands of women. She found their pictures in an archive from Northern Iraq and her art protects their identities but still reveals a lot about how they might be feeling. I did my own version of Kani’s work by drawing pictures of my foster siblings hands and it really shows off their unique personality but also age and what they might be feeling.

On the 10^th August I’ll be leading a drop in workshop for young people and their families. This workshop was inspired by my little foster sister who was a refugee and had very few toys but enjoyed building houses out of cardboard. She said everyone is welcome at her house. It shows you don’t need many things to be a sharing person. I want to encourage families to build their own cardboard houses whilst learning about refugees.

So far I’ve learnt a lot on my residency. I’ve learnt how to plan a meaningful art project. Before this residency I wouldn’t spend a lot of time researching and my work didn’t have as much meaning. Being here has meant I have had the time to really plan. I’ve had Venture Arts facilitator Laura as a mentor and she has helped me learn how to research and I’ve applied these skills in my own socially engaged practice.

I’m excited to continue developing through this residency.  At the moment I am working on designs for a playhouse that I want to create. I will spend time experimenting with techniques such as embroidering text onto fabrics. The playhouse is inspired by my little sister who built a cardboard house. The playhouse to a child will look fun and playful but to an adult there will be a deeper meaning.

I’d also like to host a cardboard house making workshop for adults in the future to help adult find their inner child again and to get some interesting conversations going.

Please come to the School of creativity to ask me about my work, I am there most Thursdays or alternatively follow me on my Instagram. @MySensoryArtyWorld

Thank you for reading my blog, I hope you enjoyed it!