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Artwork: Play for Progress x ATMA, SOUNDSCAPE, mural for Centrale & Whitgift Croydon, 2021 (Photo by Emma Brown).
‘Love is a radical political act, and it is at the heart of all that we do.’
— Play for Progress
Play for Progress
Play for Progress is a Croydon-based charity that delivers therapeutic and educational music and arts programmes, advocacy, and well-being support for unaccompanied young people seeking asylum in the UK. The organisation harnesses the power of community engagement in the arts and creative therapies to build healthy foundations for resilient relationships that support and amplify the voices of young people.
Play for Progress X Kalila wa Dimna
During the half-term of February 2022, the Play for Progress community dove into the world of storytelling and explored ‘The Chapter of The Ringdove’ from Kalila Wa Dimna fables. Play for Progress' process of creative exploration is young-person led and never product-driven. The visual and sonic artworks presented are what organically emerged from our exploration of these themes as a community, and illustrate the natural exchange of ideas, creativities, stories, and experiences that emerged from the time we spent sharing culture, practicing self-expression and building relationships with one another.
Visual Arts with Dima Karout
We began our exploration of ‘The Ringdove’ by reading a simplified version of the fable together, first helping one an another with translations, then illustrating it in sketches and paintings. Participants designed the story in three scenes, sketching what portions stood out most for them. They also contributed a sketch of a single pigeon, designing the character they wanted to contribute to our collective flock. Lastly, we designed and painted the canvas triptych as the ultimate illustration of the fable’s main moral - cooperation for the collective good.
Dima Karout is an artist-curator and educator dedicated to creating spaces where art, culture and education meet and interact. Her work advocates for inclusion, cultural diversity, and social engagement; explores the dynamic between artist, artwork and spectator; and investigates how the participatory aspects of art can positively influence research and learning and advance the societies we live in. In the past 15 years, Dima directed mixed media art projects, designed art publications, developed educational university programmes, and curated exhibitions and cultural events in Damascus, Paris, Montreal and London. Today, she is based in London where she collaborated with influential institutions as The British Museum, Shakeaspeare’s Globe, Tate Exchange, The Arab British Centre, Greenwich Theatre, Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Brent Museum and Archives, The Migration Museum and Play for Progress.
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Design the story in three scenes, based on Kalila wa Dimna ‘The Chapter of The Ringdove’, three pieces, acrylic on canvas (Courtesy of artist Dima Karout).
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Design the story in three scenes, work in progress. (Courtesy of artist Dima Karout)
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Design the story in three scenes, work in progress. (Courtesy of artist Dima Karout)
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Design the story in three scenes, work in progress (Courtesy of artist Dima Karout).
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Sketching variations of the story in three scenes, work in progress (Courtesy of artist Dima Karout).
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Design one of the pigeons, work in progress (Courtesy of artist Dima Karout).
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Design one of the pigeons, work in progress (Courtesy of artist Dima Karout).
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Design the whole story in group, mixed media on paper (Courtesy of artist Dima Karout).
Music with Simon Roth
Throughout the visual creation process we explored making musical accompaniment for storytelling and soundscapes based on the story of ‘The Chapter of The Ringdove’ atmosphere, wisdom, and the journey of its characters. Certain words, phrases, and action of the story stood out to us, which you can hear in the accompanying two audio tracks.
The first audio piece was created live at Poplar Union arts & community centre with guest artist Leafcutter John, after a day-long workshop with the young people. The performance features Play for Progress staff musicians Alice Williamson, Jonathan Chung and Simon Roth, as well as live-sampling of five themes created and performed by the young people. These themes represent: ‘Sakawandajeen’ before the hunter arrives, Flying Theme, Cityscape Holes Theme, Friendship Theme.
The second audio piece is a soundscape made of footage recorded throughout the project and as such represents a sonic exploration of the themes and ideas surrounding Kalila wa Dimna fables. Throughout the track you can hear the young people recite poems and stories in both English and their mother tongues, and perform instrumental accompaniments to storytelling, sonic experiments, and digital manipulations that were made using Leafcutter John’s ‘Forester’ programme. Our aim was to represent our exploration of the fable, and welcome visitors into the intimate world of our collaborative work, in which we often explore sound and music as a process rather than a means to an end.
Simon Roth is a multi-instrumentalist musician, composer and curator, known primarily as a drummer in the Contemporary and Klezmer music scenes. He has performed all over the world and features on several critically acclaimed recordings. He has written, released and performed his own work through Mayday Project, Stories and Land of If. He has staged interdisciplinary arts events as Pop-Up Circus (now Soapbox Circus) and in collaboration with JW3, Dash Arts and Brick Box. He works regularly with Play for Progress, a charity that uses music and creative therapies to build healthy and resilient relationships that support and amplify the voices of unaccompanied refugees and asylum-seekers. He is working on his first theatre solo show, ‘Behind the Beat’ (it’s basically Simon trying to set up a drum kit on stage plus distractions). He developed this with Haley McGee during a residency at Canada Water Theatre and The Albany. He has also been learning DIY instrument building with sound artist Leafcutter John and makes radio shows for Faff FM.