Lou Miller: We Dream of Our Freedom

Sat 25 Oct - Sun 8 Feb

Manchester-based artist and activist Lou Miller has collaborated with children from St Vincent de Paul Catholic Primary School in L1 to explore their vision of freedom. The resulting exhibition transforms the voices of the children, aged 8-11, into a series of textile banners, clay, and print works for adults and children alike. Miller's practice has a strong collaborative focus, exploring themes of community, work, health, and social change. For We Dream of Our Freedom, the gallery will become a community studio, inviting audiences to share their own ideas of freedom and respond to the children’s vision.

We Dream of Our Freedom is part of Our Freedom: Then and Now, a UK-wide, locally-led arts and creative programme from Future Arts Centres, which is producing 60 new pieces of work reflecting on what ‘Our Freedom’ means to local people and their communities, following the 80th anniversary of VE/VJ Day.

The themes of the project resonate deeply with the Bluecoat’s own history. Not only was the building severely damaged during the Blitz, but for the last 100 years as an arts centre, the Bluecoat has championed creativity, and the freedom for artists, and everyone, to express themselves freely through their art.

Free entry

Alongside Lou Miller's exhibition, our drop-in creative space offers a chance to explore the theme of freedom in your own way and at your own pace.

On non-workshop days, visitors are welcome to engage independently with postcard making and contributing to a communal zine.

Take inspiration from the poem Freedom Road by Simon Armitage, which you can view here, reflect on personal memories of freedom, imagine futures of freedom, or simply take a quiet moment for creativity, this space is yours to use. Take a seat, pick up a pencil, and let your imagination roam free.

OPEN CALL

Artist Lou Miller wants to try and create a community of voices, sharing our unique perspectives on the world, so she’s asking people to submit audio files responding to the following question:

‘What does FREEDOM mean to you?’

Your audio will be added to an ongoing loop of voices from all around the world, all contemplating the same question, within the exhibition space. The audio will play for the duration of the exhibition, and we’ll add new voices to the loop as they’re sent to us.

You can talk about anything you like: places, people, books, music, buildings; about feeling free in the world (or not); your hopes and fears for the future of our society; your personal dreams of freedom. These are all just suggestions; anything that comes to mind when you think of FREEDOM is exactly what we want to hear.

We won’t publish people’s names – everything will be anonymous – so please feel free to share whatever you like.

We’d like to include perspectives from people of all ages, so if you have an older relative, or a child who might struggle with recording themselves, please help them out so we can include their voice.

Please keep in mind that these messages will be for children's ears, as well as adults, and we ask that you refrain from using swear words or any derogatory language. Your message may not be used if it is deemed inappropriate.

TO SUBMIT:

Please send an audio file of no more than 3 minutes to: ourfreedom@thebluecoat.org.uk or marketing@thebluecoat.org.uk

The audio should be clear, but it doesn’t need to be recorded with professional equipment – direct from your phone or computer is fine.

You can record on an iPhone in the Voice Memos app, and in the Voice Recorder or Recorder app on an Android phone. Once you've finished, tap on your recording, then tap the 'Share' button (a square with an arrow pointing up). Select 'Mail' from the list of sharing options to open a new email with the voice memo attached, then fill in the recipient and subject before tapping 'Send'.

Please label your audio file with your name to help us with processing the submissions.

We’d love to know the name, age and location of the speaker - we won’t publish this information, but it’s helpful for us to know what the project reach is in terms of age and location.

The deadline for submissions is 6pm on Wednesday 8th October.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Please Note:

By submitting your audio as above you are consenting to have your voice included in the exhibition and associated promotional materials. We reserve the right to remove any audio clips at any time. Data included as part of the submission (including name, age, and location) will be recorded by the artist for logging purposes for the duration of the exhibition. Data included as part of the submission (including age and location) may be recorded by the gallery and artist as part of the exhibition report.