Staff and companions of Emmaus South Wales were delighted to attend an art exhibition based on the theme of home and identity at The Riverfront in Newport.
Run by The Romani Cultural & Arts Company as part of its Gypsy Maker project, the art exhibition: Cas Holmes ‘Places, Spaces, Traces’, explores what home means and encourages the audience to do the same. Textile artist, Cas Holmes, explores her Gypsy heritage through her work, and what home means beyond a location.
Speaking on the exhibition, artist Cas Holmes, said:
“The works produced for Gypsy Maker 4 embody the time I have had to reflect on my Romany heritage. I am interested in the commonalities that we share as people, the need for a place of our own, family and food. Through migration, changes in our working lives and increasing opportunities to travel, our certainty about who we are and where we fit in has become unsure.”
Many of the people supported at Emmaus South Wales have previously experienced homelessness or the uncertainty of temporary accommodation – sometimes both. Three residents attended the exhibition alongside Emmaus South Wales Chief Executive, Jemma Wray, who said:
“Three Emmaus residents and myself attended the exhibition. None of us in the group still live in the place we grew up and between us came from four different nations. During the journey from Nant Lais to Newport we began to talk about what home and belonging meant to us and at the exhibition we took part in a workshop where we stitched words or pictures onto handkerchiefs of what we see home as – some of these words included ‘loved’ and ‘safety’. We shared stories and memories during the workshop along with Cas and the other attendees. Importantly, none of the discussions or memories that we shared were about being homeless, which I think illustrates that homelessness is not an identity. No one is a ‘homeless person’ and not having somewhere to live doesn’t define or identify that person.”
To find out more about Gypsy Maker 4: Cas Holmes ‘Places, Spaces, Traces’, visit here.