Learning City Quilt

Unlocking the Creative Learning City is a project from Brigstow Institute by social scientists Magda Buchczyk and Keri Facer ‘promoting the health and social well-being of local South Asian people (Dhek Bhal) to ask how a range of approaches, including participatory art practice and storytelling, can support the social wellbeing and health of ageing South Asian residents in Bristol.’

An embroidery workshop was facilitated with the women’s group at Dhek Bhal, a day centre for Asian older people, to explore formal and informal learning opportunities in the city. The workshop invited the women to identify a sentence which represented a significant learning experience for them (such as ‘I learnt to drive’; ‘I relearnt the Quran in Bristol’ etc) which they then embroidered onto a colourful patch. Each patch was sewn into a collective quilt which was exhibited at Hamilton House in Bristol as part of the Learning City: A Self Portrait exhibition curated by Magda Buchczyk.