Sharon Marsden joins presenter Amina Iqbal during the weekly ‘Taleem Kyoun’ radio show on Thursday 26th January 2023 LIVE on Pendle Community Radio - Awaz 103.1FM - to talk about her work in communities across the north of England.

Interview with Sharon on Pendle Community Radio

As part of World Refugee Week 2017 Sharon from verd de gris is bringing two young Afghan boys to talk on Bradford BCB Radio about their incredible and harrowing journey from their homeland - a 5000 mile trek to the UK.

After witnessing their fathers being killed by the Taliban the boys walked alone, at the age of 13, from Afghanistan. They are now 15.

As part of our work with the two amazing young men, Sharon writes with them, paints and listens to their recollections. Sometimes this involves singing songs, often lullabies which comforts them as they long to hear their mother’s voices singing to them, helping them sleep, easing their nightmares. Both boys long for an elusive peace after all the pain and struggle they have endured.

The boy’s mothers made the greatest sacrifice - sending their boys out into the unknown, in the hope that they would reach a safe haven and have the chance of a better life. Below is a ‘sound poem’ the boy’s have created with us … and this will be broadcast as part of the interview on 20th June. 

The soundscape is an homage and a lament to their mothers. All the words are theirs … speaking and singing in Pashto (their native tongue) and English (which they are mastering so quickly). Please spend some time with the thoughts and prayers of these two remarkable individuals … and spare a thought for their mothers who gave everything so that they could be free.

We are very grateful to Deeyah Kahn for allowing us to use part of her beautiful singing of 'Allaho sha Allaho' - Deeyah dedicated this lovely Pashtun lullaby to her mother and the children of Afghanistan.

Jeff Turner's Album

5,000 miles

From the creative dementia project 'Soul Journey': “There is something beautiful and moving and joyous in working with people with dementia, we want this project to capture an essence of that beauty.

This soundscape, 'Walk to Staubs Mill' follows a special journey with one of our friends Jack Mossman, and coming across something hidden, something forgotten, lost to all but a few. 

"Can you see beauty resonant in the decay? ... Nature will always claim back what is Hers, camouflaging it back into the landscape. But what if someone took your hand, helped you pull back the leaves and brushed off the moss ... to show you the real beauty that still lies underneath.”

Soul Journey - the walk to Staubs Mill

‘DREAMS’ is a cross-generational arts project that works with younger and older people to explore aspects of identity, aspiration, ambition and fantasy - through discussion, reminiscence and participation in a series of creative workshops.

This lovely soundscape was made by sound artist Nina Perry with young people from Salford, talking about their dreams and hopes for the future!

Dreams

BEHIND THE MASK is a creative well-being project for women living with depression, anxiety and low self-confidence.  Designed and delivered by SHARON MARSDEN from verd de gris arts it has brought together a remarkable group of women to highlight and celebrate the beauty, complexity and positivity of breaking free!

The women who come to the group are a wonderfully diverse mix, representing the wide variety of cultural backgrounds, age groups and life experiences in communities across Blackburn with Darwen.

“For many individuals this project is a first step to seeking help. It provides a non-threatening environment and in turn a more natural
pathway to building social networks. Alongside the physical benefits it introduces people to other aspects of support that can lead to
interventions around mental health, loneliness and Isolation issues. For organisations supporting clients in more secure settings it enables
them to effectively look at a more holistic approach to mental health.” WAJID BASHIR, BwD Community Restart Team

As part of the creative process Sharon combines many art forms including, visual art, poetry, movement and song, to encourage the women to ‘find their voice’ and speak out with confidence. This soundscape serves as a snapshot of how far these women have come ... and how many they want for themselves going forward into a brighter future.

‘We want to share our stories and the impact of the positivities Behind The Mask has given us. There are many out there who need to
know more about the positive outcomes they can get from a group like this. There is so much more about this group than just coming to a group session, the diversity, the support giving to one another, emotional bond makes us feel like a family, bringing out the best of us through the creativity in us that we never thought we had.” OMOLARA, project participant

Behind The Mask - Voices

A gentle poetic response to Covid-19 from women attending our creative well-being groups ... honest and frank it speaks of the pain and difficulties related to social isolation, emotional fracture and anxiety that the lockdown have brought. 

Some women are on their own, some are in lockdown with families ... all, in one way or another, have a relationship with stress and emotional anxiety. But their words offer a degree of clarity and hope - of moving forward together, drawing strength from each other. 

The most powerful lesson perhaps, is the importance of writing - seeing thoughts and concerns written down on paper ... facing fears and worries and taking stock of where they are and what they want to share about their feelings.

Hope - Many Voices

FIBRE

The word fibre has many different meanings and connotations: a natural or synthetic filament that may be spun into yarn, or used in fibre optics; it is the narrow elongated thick-walled cell used to create our muscle fibre; it has also come to represent notions of a moral adhesive, binding and uniting our social groups in times of crisis.

During the Covid-19 lockdown verd de gris arts have been these exploring notions of connectivity: weaving together threads of creativity (both physically and virtually) with sound artist and composer Nina Perry, poet Katie Atkinson and cellist Helen Thatcher.

The result, FIBRE, is an eloquent and moving soundpoem which captures something of the extraordinary times we have all been living through. Created over a period of 9 months of lockdown from recorded voice messages on their phones, it features the poetry, the musings, the voices of local women from a range of cultures and backgrounds in West Yorks as they move through the darkest of times under Covid, to the re-emergence of hope.

At the heart of FIBRE is ONE VOICE, a group of local women representing the varied social, cultural and ethnic backgrounds of women in Calderdale. All of these women are passionate about the arts and self- expression. They are also passionate about what they can do together to increase opportunities for local women through creative engagement.

FIBRE is about exploring and reflecting on how art can be responsive to, and representative of our ‘over-looked’ communities. Verd de gris’ work is about using creativity to help shape group dynamic and mutual support, as well as offering opportunities for local people to engage the wider community in an open, creative conversation about issues that matter to them. 

In this piece we wanted to show how the arts can be applied to both support positive mental health, and use digital / online ‘spaces’ to offer up new possibilities and new forms of communication and conversation.

Fibre is funded by emergency grants from Arts Council England and The National Lottery Community Fund

Fibre Soundscape

Developing participatory projects with amazing people across the UK ... because culture matters

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