Home Truths: We Could Write Letters live performance & discussion

About

Experience Jamie Holman and Sana Maulvi's powerful performance, We Could Write Letters, exploring and unravelling the impact of unconscious biases, followed by a dialogue with journalist Emily Steer.

Join artists Jamie Holman and Sana Maulvi in their intimate performance of We Could Write Letters, exploring the deep-seated influence of both unconscious and conscious prejudices in our society. A dialogue with arts and culture journalist, Emily Steer, will follow the performance.

Originally slated for a live audience in 2020, this performance was curated as part of Kick Down the Barriers exhibition by Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery – a response to the troubling portrayal of Blackburn by national press and media channels that characterised the community as extremely segregated.

Holman and Maulvi’s work was commissioned as a direct reply to the two BBC Panorama documentaries, White Fright, defying this misleading perception and authentically reflecting their lived experience in Blackburn.

The result was a compelling series of letters that explored the intricate dynamics of their relationship and delved deep into the profound impact of unconscious and conscious prejudices that exist within society.

Join us for this timely performance as we explore stereotypes through the lens of Jamie and Sana while creating a live space for their work.

A post-performance conversation with Emily Steer will offer a fresh perspective on the project and a fascinating analysis of how art can be a conduit for dealing with difficult issues.

For this Home Truths edition, we hope to illuminate commonalities between individuals and challenge audiences to examine their own lives. We will explore how we could break down the divisions that deny us opportunities to connect on a human level.

About Home Truths

Home Truths is Museum of the Home’s socially engaged initiative and commitment to discuss current issues of home and home beyond the physical space.

The programme brings together writers, creatives, artists, and academics to investigate what impacts individual experiences and understanding of home in the 21st century. Homelessness, discrimination, racism, decolonisation and what they mean for today’s society are just some of the topics past Home Truths have reflected on.

The ideas behind Home Truths centre around discussions some often find difficult to face – but which are central to the experience of home, and the human experience. The idea of “truth” is often contested and subjective. Through reflection, talks, performances and more, we will amplify and highlight how these ideas of belonging vary from person to person.

Home Truths creates a deeper understanding of our society and inspire action. It is a place to learn more, take part in discussions and for us all to find ways of living better together.

About Sana Maulvi

Sana Maulvi is a 26 year old British Asian Muslim freelance artist based in Blackburn. Her practice revolves around creating mixed media artworks focusing on textures created from found objects, patterns influenced by heritage and manipulating the language of colours to invoke meaning.
Sana’s most recent work has been workshop based delivery of abstract art with different audiences at creative events like the National Festival of Making, Blackburn Bureau, Centre for the Arts, Workshops by the Sea in Morecambe, and a recently completed residency with the Burnley Council delivering creative workshops to school students and the elderly. Sana has worked alongside artists to create artworks on different platforms such as the heritage tuk tuk project for Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, in Blackburn market and the Kick Down the Barriers at Blackburn Museum with artist Jamie Holman. In addition, Sana designed the cover of Craig Easton’s photographic publication Bank Top, published by Bloomsbury.

About Jamie Holman

Jamie Holman’s work is multi-disciplinary and is often fabricated using industrial processes or with heritage crafts makers and artisans. Holman produces work as one half of “uncultured creatives”, a collaboration with producer and curator Alex Zawadzki delivering works in public, digital, print and traditional gallery spaces, producing monumental outputs that are informed by the heritage of working class communities, site specific heritage and by historic narratives that lack visibility; in particular the impact of the industrial revolution and the cultures that have manifested as a consequence of its emergence and subsequent decline. Holman works under commission, interrogating history through the lens of personal narratives, exploring archives in order to understand the past, while also engaging communities to understand the present in order to make visible who we were, are now and may yet become.

About Emily Steer

Emily Steer is a London-based arts and culture journalist. She was online editor and then editor of biannual art magazine Elephant for eight years, and has written for titles including Artnet, AnOther, BBC Culture, the Financial Times, Frieze, Harper’s Bazaar, and Wallpaper. Her writing explores the intersection of art and mental health. Emily is currently training to be a psychodynamic psychotherapist and has experience working with clients around suicidal ideation and sexual trauma.

A blurred figure walks across a room in front of weathered looking panels and windows showing a model of a city.

Keep in touch

Sign up to our monthly e-newsletter for the latest news, events and exhibitions.

Subscribe now