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Voices is a community poetry project led and facilitated by writer and performer Ben Norris, with photographs by Ben Harriott, in collaboration with Inspire: Culture, Learning & Libraries. It was supported with funding from the National Lottery through Arts Council England.
The aim of the project was to use the power of poetry to give people a voice who might otherwise rarely be heard.
Ben Norris worked with four very different groups across Nottinghamshire to develop a body of poems that express their experiences, stories and feelings. The groups included elderly people living with dementia, adults with learning disabilities, refugees, and people living with or affected by mental health issues.
Lens-based artist Ben Harriott visually documented the sessions, and poetry and images resulting from the project were curated into an exhibition, and published in an anthology.
Voices toured Inspire libraries between 2019-2020, and we hope it will return to libraries once we can reopen. In the meantime, a virtual exhibition has been created for audiences to explore and enjoy at home.
The following coverage by NottsTV gives an overview of the project and its aims. The interview was recorded when the Voices exhibition appeared at Arnold Library in 2019.
About Ben Norris
Ben Norris is a poet, playwright and actor from Nottingham. His second pamphlet of poems Some Ending was published with Verve Poetry Press in May 2019. He is a two-time UK national poetry slam champion, and has performed everywhere from Latitude Festival to the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall. His debut solo show The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Family, won the 2015 IdeasTap Underbelly Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival before touring the UK and Australia, and his first short film, commissioned by Channel 4, was nominated for a Royal Television Society Award. Ben is currently under commission from BBC Films and BBC Drama to develop his second short film, and has two plays in development. He is a Creative Associate at Nottingham Playhouse, and also plays Ben Archer in The Archers on BBC Radio 4.
"Working on the Voices project has been a great privilege. I’ve heard a wealth of stories, some from people starting out on a journey, some from people reflecting back on one, and many from people doing both at once. It’s been consistently surprising and inspiring. . . I thank [the participants] for their honesty, their bravery, their willingness to try new things, to make themselves vulnerable, and to open their lives to me." Ben Norris
www.bennorris.net
About Ben Harriott
Ben Harriott is a lens-based artist from Nottingham. His work has been commissioned by New Art Exchange and he has been an artist in residence at Thoresby Gallery. Previous exhibitions include Beyond the Barber's Blade and Footsteps.
Through his camera, Ben seeks to reveal the unseen and little-known, and aims to transform images of daily life and make them extraordinary.
