FREEDOM: A Participatory Visual Arts Project
is an innovative participatory visual arts project by Surya Chandra, Artistic Director of Unity Arts Collective. This aims to bring together refugees, asylum seekers, migrants, students, and community members to explore the meaning of freedom through creative expression. Through a series of workshops, participants will create sculptural human figures representing a wide range of emotions connected to journeys, uncertainty, hope, resilience, and belonging.
Take part in this project
The project creates space for voices that are often unheard, encouraging dialogue, empathy, and a deeper understanding of the human experiences behind migration. This project is about building a shared space where people from different backgrounds can reflect on freedom, express their thoughts, and actively contribute to a collective work of art.
The sculptures created during the workshops will form part of a public exhibition at the University of Kent, fostering connection, reflection, and conversation between communities.
Visitors are encouraged to:
Themes of the First Phase
The first phase of FREEDOM focuses on the lived experiences of refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants as they navigate the UK’s asylum system, using art to give form to often invisible challenges. This phase explores:
Time
The experience of indefinite waiting, bureaucratic arbitrariness, and the loss of control over one’s schedule and future
Mental Health
Trauma, self-harm, substance use, and the psychological effects of isolation
Home/separation from families
Emotional and physical distance from loved ones and familiar environments
Social death
The erasure or devaluation of identity and existence within systems of control
Political paralysis
The lack of agency within governmental and asylum processes
Shape the conversation
Through engaging with these themes, participants express their experiences into sculptural form, creating artworks that communicate resilience, hope, and humanity. Visitors are invited not only to observe but also to become part of this creative conversation by contributing to a shared sculpture, making the exhibition an evolving and interactive expression of community.
The project will also contribute to an academic article and a documentary video, raising awareness of refugee, migrant, and asylum seeker experiences and mental health challenges, and extending the conversation beyond the exhibition space.
Unity Arts Collective
A graduate theatre company at the University of Kent focusing on creating innovative and experimental theatre that transcends linguistic and cultural barriers, fostering a collaborative environment where diverse artistic disciplines converge.
Want to get involved?
Below is the schedule of the exhibition and development period (Subject to change).
The studio will be open at these times & Kent students and collaborators will be present developing human sculptures - you can witness or participate in the creation of this artwork. If you know when you plan to attend, or want to come in a group, please advise in advance so we can prepare to make your experience really worthwhile!
Development period:
1st week
- 16th March, Monday - 2pm - 6pm
- 18th March, Wednesday - 10am - 6pm
- 19th March, Thursday - 10am - 6pm
- 20th March, Friday - 10am - 4pm
- 21st March, Saturday - 10am - 6pm
2nd week
- 23rd March, Monday - 2pm - 6pm
- 24th March, Tuesday - 10am - 6pm
- 25th March, Wednesday - 10am - 6pm
- 26th March, Thursday - 10am - 6pm
Exhibition:
- 27th March, Friday - All day
- Performance: 5 pm (20 -30 min, max)
- 28th March, Saturday - All day
- Performance: 5 pm (20 -30 min, max)
