Meet the Artist: Barbara Gardner-Rowell
Remembering Together: East Lothian have appointed their artist to co-create memorials with communities. Meet Barbara Gardner-Rowell.
Barbara Gardner-Rowell is a socially engaged artist, living in East Lothian. After graduating from Edinburgh College of Art with a BA Combined Studies, Art & Design in 2014, she developed a collaborative practice working across textiles, installation, sound and performance to explore narratives of identity. She recently completed the MA Art and Social Practice with University of Highlands and Islands, where she engaged in participatory research on lived experiences, narrative analysis and listening as a transformative practice.
Barbara says:
Image credit: Kathryn Follon
“My approach to is to build on recent practical experience, where I discovered a valuable role for myself as an active listener and compassionate witness in the state of flux caused by the Pandemic; where I developed my understanding of the effects of empathetic listening on wellbeing, self-esteem and connection, and where I explored some experimental approaches to a transformative social practice. I will undertake a substantial period of groundwork through dialogue, taking care to maintain a strong ethical approach of respect for the communities and individuals who contribute.
Building on all my experience of dialogical practice to date, my aim is to design and create a series of simple art processes as ‘portals’ to person-centred co-created spaces, welcoming spaces where individuals feel safe and comfortable in communicating and expressing their personal lived experiences and articulating aspirations for creating memorials; spaces for listening and allowing voices to be heard.
The aim is to promote increased feelings of empowerment over our own stories, connection with our communities, and to create tools to help us to live with loss. Activities will be selected for their focus on process rather than outcome. A series of ‘in the moment’ experiences will be offered, that allow a person to participate fully in that moment, cognitively and emotionally. Monitoring and evaluation strategies, both quantitative and qualitative, will be built in to the activities from the outset, through frequent feedback opportunities, observation, informal interviews and reflective practice.”
“This programme presents an exciting opportunity for me to offer my services as a social arts practitioner to the community in the co-creation of ideas for an enduring legacy for East Lothian. I am looking forward to providing welcoming creative spaces in the community for participants to share stories and ideas. My aim is for the experience to be a positive part of the healing process, offering tools to help us to live with the loss of loved ones, and developing awareness of being part of something much larger than we tend to perceive day by day in our individual lives.”