A ‘LIVING archive’ of Easterhouse stories opens with a plea to local people to share their stories of the east end community.
Mining Seams and Drawing Wells is an exhibition supported by Scotland’s Year of Stories 2022 and it kicks off today (Saturday, November 19) with Tenement Salon.
Artists Keira McLean and Joey Simons have worked with residents in Easterhouse and the surrounding areas, as well as Platform group members, to explore the area’s hidden histories, myths and legends, weaving together the personal and collective stories of a community in constant flux.
The exhibition will feature creative writing, poetry, collage, maps, timelines and visual storytelling.
The Tenement Salon opens proceedings with “a cosy afternoon of community storytelling, poetry and film – a sharing of interconnected histories, a chance to see the new exhibition and the launch of a new publication,” explains arts and communities lead Margaret McCormick.
Margaret, who commissioned the project added: “Mining Seams and Drawing Wells is about celebrating interconnecting histories and sharing our stories. Inspired by the coal seams and ancient wells that run beneath Easterhouse, our aim was to unearth the myths, legends and hidden histories that have shaped the community.
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“Keira and Joey have been delivering workshops locally to create the exhibition – including weekly visual storytelling sessions at Platform – and meeting with people and groups to unpick various stories and memories.
“This exhibition shares the voice of a community that has always fought hard to make itself heard. It’s important to keep these stories alive, to document them and to keep sharing. It’s the start of something new and exciting and we hope that people will come along to our opening event to experience it for themselves and grab a cuppa with us.”
Joey Simons added: “Over the past few years, we have worked with Platform and others to document and share the hidden histories of local communities across Glasgow.
“This has included republishing the work of the Easterhouse poet Freddy Anderson and others and creating a timeline of Glasgow housing struggles as part of Martha Rosler’s If You Live Here archive at Glasgow Women’s Library.
“We have worked with the legendary activist Cathy McCormack, who sadly passed away this year, and members of the Living Rent tenants’ union from Dennistoun and Wellpark, as well as many others, to continue enriching this history."
Cathy McCormack was a former factory worker who fought tirelessly for better housing conditions in the scheme where she raised her three children.
She successfully campaigned to win investment from the council to improve the dampness in the area’s housing stock, an issue that was causing ill health and sickness among both young and old.
Cathy spoke at the Houses of Parliament to discuss the link between poor housing and health.
In 1992 she was involved in setting up the pressure group, Scottish Public Health Alliance.
Joey added: “The project also gave us the chance to work with the poets Victoria McNulty and Jim Ferguson, whose writings have long explored the city, and the East End in particular. We hope the exhibition and ‘living archive’ gives people a space to continue contributing their own stories and asserting their own experiences, and questions who gets to tell these stories, and why.”
Mining Seams and Drawing Wells takes place across the exhibition spaces at Platform and The Bridge – with opportunities planned for anyone to add their own stories and memories, swap tales across a cup of tea, and make sure the story of Easterhouse continues to be written.
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The exhibition wall will feature a timeline of new artworks, the library terraces will show archive materials depicting local history from politics, protests and housing struggles and capture recent conversations with Cathy McCormack.
Tenement Salon runs from 2pm until 4pm on Saturday, the exhibition continues until January 2023.
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