The Monthly speaks to local community artist, Lesley Cherry, about “Testimony” – Part 1 – How the project came about

How did the “Testimony” project come about?

As a socially engaged artist, I developed my practice working with a wide cross section of communities across the country, on funded projects addressing paramilitary murals, social housing, education, public art, interfaces and community planning. Through this work, I developed relationships with individual members of the communities and their own personal stories informed my practice and creative output.

I applied for Arts Council funding last year and I received a SIAP award to produce a series of work visually interpretating a selection of women’s stories. Throughout the year, I met with the women, listening and working with them on creating pieces for the exhibition.

And this project documents the stories of women?

Much of my work has been amplifying the voices of women, looking at issues which are very much from the female perspective. I look at domesticity, the politics of the home, issues which arise in women’s lives in particular.

I have worked with men, particularly when working on removing paramilitary murals for example, and it can be very patriarchal. From my own perspective though, I have always resonated more with women’s stories and specifically working-class women’s stories, understanding their needs, fears and aspirations.

Why do you have that approach?

Traditionally, in this part of Ireland, society is very patriarchal, and so women’s voices really do not often get a hearing. Now I would say that working class women can be quite forthright and quite vocal, but despite that, their voices are often not heard. It is changing, but I am sorry to say it is still i a section of the population that doesn’t get as many opportunities to express themselves.

You are looking at the question of the working class and the question of women within that class?

Very much so. I worked on a project a few years back called “Making the Future” and one of the programme headings was “Women in the Archives” and it was clear that the vast majority of the history, was written by men. It has been well documented that women were written out of history, but this is being addressed.

For me, it is also the small stories, often very personal stories, that I want to look at, as much as it is the wider history.

And who were the women you were working with on this project?

They were women I have worked with in the past on other projects. Women from the New Lodge, from the Shankill, from the Kilcooley Estate in Bangor. I had worked with some of these women on a quilting project, or when I was the Artist in Residence in the New Lodge, and some are friends of mine

I am not using their names, they are anonymous, because I wanted to protect their identities given that some of the stories were very personal. They are not all bad or tragic, some are inspirational, but I have built up a trust with these women and it was essential that trust was maintained.

To see more of Lesley Cherry’s work see the links below

lesleycherry.wordpress.com/about/1361-2/

flaxartstudios.org/flax-art-artists/lesley-cherry

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