Eastside Projects: Two current and local exhibitions
Spaces and Mistakes, and allowing yourself to be human.
NOTE:
This post was written over half a year ago, and I could have easily not posted it. It does not have a deeper reflection of topics it covers. There are starting points that can be discussed further, and initial thoughts that will be developed over time.
But, after some lovely prompting, it is being shared. So thank you to those who encouraged me. I hope the read is somewhat worth the wait. I also wish it encourages you to complete some of the thoughts for yourself, and to share your own opinions and experiences.
Also…I am trying out something new in this post. There are a lot of avenues that I could have explored, and hope to delve into at some point. But it would be too much to explore everything here, and far too much to read. As a result, I am creating sections in the end of my posts where I note down the topics that came up in the process of writing this that I (and you) could explore further, if and when interested. More below.
(Written in April 2025)
I want to preface this by saying these two exhibitions contain more, much more, than what I write about below. I am not intending to review or critique either. This is just a way for me to get back into writing, and exploring what resonates with me when exposing myself to new things. It has been a while since I’ve been to new exhibitions, and a very long while since I have written about one. This is just me rambling about the thoughts I had, and which ones remained after I left the spaces and moments of them. And how are they relevant to parts of today’s massive and untackleable world, how they are relevant to me, because they would bring up different thoughts and feeling in you. But they are extremely relevant, in ways that I can barely scratch the surface of.
The Library is All of These
In a bare grey room are three artworks that speak to the complexities and troubles of our current library systems. Curated by Lucy Grubb, who used to work in a library, the works collectively showcased in simple and abstracted ways that libraries house more than just books, and are for more than book borrowing. (Not that something with that as a sole purpose is any less important!)
A series of drawings and writings on tracing paper and glassine paper (a grease and water resistant paper often used in bookbinding) pinned to the walls tells Jessie Tam’s story of a pair of eyeballs. Inspired by a lump of building materials she happened upon, the story was simple but effective. It tells of home, celebrating uniqueness and identity, and the stories that allow us to create and recognise that.
Storytelling has been done since humans could conceive and tell stories. It is a creative act which inspires people, allowing them to learn about and connect to the world and people around them. They are how people have made sense of this confusing universe. They are how we learn about the mistakes and successes of the people before us, gently reminding us how to be better. To others, to the world around us, and to ourselves. Stories let us have fun, and let loose. Escape from the day-to-day, finding comfort and joy in imagined worlds. They can help us find and create our own identities. Stories lead to community, too, deep human connection and true empathy, opening us up to other mindsets, experiences and outlooks. They are more than stories, and the libraries that house them are more than the narratives they contain. They are spaces for these tales to be found and read and shared, actions which seem to be happening less and less, much to our detriment.
This work is also a gentle reminder to find creativity and comfort in the things around us, whether it be the roads we travel, the greenery we find, or the things that are a bit uglier. Recycling and using what would be otherwise be thrown out, turning them into a resource for self expression, for exploring, and for imagining. We do not need to go far to find or create the tales we need.
Above and to the left of this, Motunrayo Akinola has suspended a ceiling into the room. Victorian style wallpaper is ripping and falling apart, and the ceiling is cracking. The wallpaper is a visual symbol of the lasting effects of the British Empire on the lands it colonised. There are traces of Empire to be found in various ways, across the globe. But, the paper is peeling. There are cracks in the ceiling. Whilst the infrastructure and design that Empire brought is decaying, room for new stories grows. People are telling their own histories, and more voices are being heard. Words are a powerful way for people to make their mark in the world, and to push back against oppression. This is emphasised in the square of light coming through the hole made in the ceiling, titled Hope. It speaks to the younger generations. To their narratives and voices, which can be used to shape their future. There is hope in those who come after us, as long as they are allowed and encouraged to explore the stories of others, and create some of their own.
Finally, Japhet Dinganga has built a tower from brick, concrete, fabrics, newspapers, wood and books. Initially, it appeared to be a metaphor for how knowledge and skill and identity are trapped between layers of building material that makes up so much of our infrastructure. But after discovering that the wood came from school desks, and had marking from the children who had sat at them, the meaning evolved. During times of boredom or anger or joy or love or confusion, people made marks on the wood below their hands. Humans created concrete and brick so they could make buildings and art and roads. We turned animal hairs into threads, and turned those threads into fabric, which we then cut up and reassemble and dye and change in countless ways. We make paper, and use it to print, to paint, to write, to create books and envelopes. Humans have always affected the materials around us. Made marks and altered the things we can, often just for the sake of the act. Buildings are more than the brick and concrete and wood they are made from. They are the marks that have been afflicted on them, and they are the proof of human creativity which inevitably affect how we think when exposed to those materials and buildings.
When thinking of libraries, they house so much. Books, and what those books contain. They hold stories and knowledge. They are witness to memories being made, connections forming, and knowledge passed between humans. They are spaces where humans are, and should be, allowed to be themselves. Where will people learn to crochet and sew. Where will they find a free space to be indoors and warm in winter, whilst socialising and fulfilling emotional needs everyone has. Where will parents take their kids to expose them to stories and facts about the world, teaching them to be curious and creative. Where will the teenagers find solace in free books, free stories that allow them to escape a but from the world they are in, full of unending pressures and rapid change. Adults who need to learn how to pay their bills, or make doctors appointments, or apply for jobs. Where will they find the humans who teach humans how to exist in the system of our places. And who will do it kindly, without judgment.
These exhibitions tell of stories, and of spaces. They may not be directly related to libraries, but that just emphasises how much our libraries do. Our libraries are struggling. Many are facing closure, reduced opening hours, and cuts to staff. But that’s a bigger topic (for which resources can be found below). Here I want to focus on libraries as spaces. They are vital resources that are more than just places for books. They provide a place for warmth, for leaning. For belonging and community. Growing up, my local library was my most treasured resource, and continues to be. It gives me access not only to the stories I love most, but new stories I have yet to discover. They give me, and many, warm and quiet places for a moment of peace and solace. Quiet community. Places where workshops and bookclubs take place, allowing people to come together and find connection. They help people live their lives, vital in an ever changing and rapidly expanding world of technology and new systems. They are spaces for warmth, for healing, for freedom, for ease. Spaces that allow people to be free and to create.
A little thing you could do to help is use your libraries. The more they get used, the more proof there is for funding applications, and the better case there is for them to be saved. The simple act of showing up, living in solidarity with our communities and our services, can have the biggest impact. The libraries get used, you get things for free and without commitment, the people who rely on those services benefit the most. Go get a library card, and use it! (For online, good join the library and find your local council website. Or you could go in person, and get your card immediately, as well as some books, dvds, and anything else on offer).
Perfection is a lie
The second exhibition of the evening struck me in similar and different ways. Summed up by my friend as we left the space: ‘that video just talked about everything I’ve been thinking for the past few weeks.’ ‘That video’ documented the works of artist Alice Theobald as she worked with a group of children, aged 10-11, and an adult group, too. The insights and words of the children seemed too old for them. They told of the worries of money, of affording to feed children, of the dangers and traps of social media, and the impossibility of achieving a perfect life. However, these hard truths came dotted amongst montages and scenes of the children letting loose, and having fun, and just…being kids.
Perfection, the idea of it and the pursuit of it, was broken down in the words of Theobald which overlayed the video at times. A handful of truths stuck with me after leaving the gallery. How we are taught growing up that mistakes are to be avoided, as they are markers of failure, which itself is marketed as a bad thing. This should be rerouted, and taken back to how our bodies and instincts react to failure. Learning to walk is an excellent example. When we (as babies) fall, we get up and try again, taking lessons from each time we do make mistakes and fail. Theobald suggested we should ‘celebrate that drop’, take the fall as a lesson. We should be continuing to learn and fail and fall and try again, otherwise we would stop leaning, and that is far scarier than anything, especially in the world of accelerating technology and AI, which is taking away our ability to think for ourselves (but that is a conversation for another time, but here is a good article to start you thinking). There is a shame in trying and failing something as an adult, a shame that should be re-written to be celebration. Why should we not celebrate our falls, when the systems around us capitalise on them, profit off of them and sell them back to us. She used the ChuckleBrothers as an example of companies selling us our failures, marketing them as entertainment. But again, this is in shame, and we are to laugh AT them, not with them and move on. Learning is a skill, one that we are not longer being taught and given fewer opportunities to practice. We are being given more and more convenient ways to live our lives, but the result is a society that is deskilled, lacking independence, and untrusting of our selves. When we learn, when we fail, that is when we become stronger as people.
It was also encouraging to see the children celebrate the mundane, the everyday. At one point, the children got up one by one, speaking a small sentence on stage in front of everyone, and they were clapped and cheered for it, no matter what they said. Because doing that, getting up and speaking to a group of people, saying something that reveals a thing about yourself, is scary and should be congratulated and praised and encouraged. Even when one boy got up, stumbled and said with complete honesty and vulnerability ‘I don’t know’, he was met with the same enthusiasm and energy as those who spoke more, and differently.
Some take-aways, for me:
‘Mistakes are a part of our culture’. Our human culture. We have to make mistakes to learn. This project illustrated the importance of teaching humans that making mistakes is normal, its good. As long as we learn from them. The words coming from the children towards the end gave me hope. They spoke simple and enjoyable truths.
Celebrate the successes, whether big or small. There is courage in the big things and there is course in the small things. Enjoy the mundane. Congratulate the daily and routine tasks, and the deviations from them, no matter the size.
Improvise, and use improvisation as a method and a life strategy. When you are met with something new, try it. See how it goes and adjust and adapt as necessary. When you are met with someone who tells you how they have done something wrong reply with kindness, especially if that someone is yourself. Stop when you want to, and when you need to. And allow yourself to step away from things.
A new word that I was introduced to, a concept that I can now give a name to: Atelic. Telic meaning with a definite end and objective. So atelic being something without an end, without a defined end result or purpose. Doing something for the sake of it. Atelic processes are good for us.
A lot was packed into this video, far too much to cover in depth here and I have not included everything that struck me, and stuck with me. But the takeaways are important and significant regardless. Mistakes are to be expected, encouraged even, as an involved and active way of leaning. And to teach those younger than us, those older than us, those around us, that mistakes are okay, and to celebrate the lives of those around us. This will lead to healthier and balanced people, aware of the effects of an ever tough, ever competitive, ever digitised world.
Alice has actually shared the video for free, but it is only up until 24 November 2025. Head on over and watch it. You will have different thoughts and responses than me, and some of the same. Got find out what they are.
Finishing thoughts
Like I said at the start, this was not an intention to review, or overview, or assess. But I do recommend the actions of turning up to exhibitions and shows. Highly. See what you feel, see what parts of those spaces and exhibits speak out to you. Open yourself to the idea of them, without any thought of what those ideas could be, and let yourself be affected by the human, creative actions. Take what you want to learn, and leave the rest for others. These specific exhibitions touch on several current issues, each can be explored and discussed for hours on end. The most important takeaway I had from both of these: art and spaces that allow us to explore and be exposed to different ideas and methods and people are things we need more than ever. We are living in a world that is not prioritising our human needs. Our human need to work and to actively make an effort to do things, and then celebrate the effort itself, regardless of the results.
We are losing the spaces that allow us to be human. We are no longer being taught that our innate human actions and mistakes and emotions are okay. To learn, to connect, to be in peace, surrounded by the evidence and actions of others’ humanity and creativity. We need to create our own. Make our homes into those spaces, and make ourselves into those spaces. For ourselves and for others. Give ourselves the space and the time to be human. To explore and improvise, and allow the mistakes and the missteps that will inevitably come with that. Celebrate our actions, recognise the trying was enough. And give those same allowances and celebrations to others, too. Encourage them to give it to themselves, too. I encourage you to start reading, seeing, thinking, and feeling. And most importantly, sharing with others. Sharing space, time, words, whatever you can give. Do not be afraid of connecting to others, to yourself, through mistakes and words and stories and the wonderfully mundane aspects of our human lives.
Share your thoughts:
Click this button if you want more (occasional) things from me:
Links:
Sign up to the Birmingham Library:
https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/info/50163/library_services/1540/library_membership
Lucy Grubb:
https://lucygrubb.org/
Jessie Tam:
https://www.jessietam.com/
Motunrayo Akinola:
https://www.instagram.com/m.o.akinola/?hl=en
Japhet Dinganga (no links were found, but a search pulls up several projects)
Alice Theobald (the video will be on the homepage until 24 November 2025):
https://alicetheobald.party/
Eastside Projects:
https://eastsideprojects.org/projects/the-library-is-all-of-these/
Libaries:
https://www.countycouncilsnetwork.org.uk/councils-reduce-library-and-culture-spend-by-almost-500m-since-2010-new-analysis-shows/#:~:text=The data shows:,24 compared to 2010/11.
PULL SOME THOUGHT THREADS:
This is the new bit. I will share here one or two resources I have interacted with that I have found as good starting points to get thinking about different ideas. Sometimes, I will not find resources, but will just share thoughts and ideas that have caught my attention, and warrant a deeper dive into. Share your own resources and thoughts, if you wish.
The history of human storytelling. Here is a brief article, but there are countless examples of how and when humans have told stories.
The power of fiction and of words. Human creativity, especially in written formats, has been used as protest and resistance, as well as unity and community cohesion, for centuries. Our stories being told is what keeps our histories and our identities alive. I often think of how much has been lost because of the narratives that have been erased, either deliberately or as a result of time and distance. It is important that we record, we write, we read, and we listen. There are some more obvious examples of protest or resistance literature (a search of either of those terms provides a good start point), but even the fact of recording down a culture or mundane stories is powerful. An erasure of our words is an erasure of our identities.
Birmingham Resistance Library is a good place to start, too: https://www.instagram.com/birminghamresistancelibrary/?hl=en
Architecture and humans. This podcast series got me thinking a lot about how architecture can play a role in our daily lives, especially if we live in a city. There are so many topics to explore just in these three episodes, but it is well worth a listen.