A   Refracted  View                  

This is a project sharing local stories for The Margate Bookie as part of Estuary 2021.

Our focus is sustainability, environmental and social. Our project's ambition is to enact creative practices that move accessibility beyond how people navigate space and to recognise that universal access gives us a strong aesthetic that enriches all of our lives.

Local artists and the members of the Scrap Store @EKM, in Ramsgate, will co-create experiences that engage with their immediate surroundings. We will consider where we live, how we live and how we might live. These stories will be brought to life through A Refracted View.

So, why refracted? 

An image becomes refracted when light travelling in waves hits another medium, like water. This slows down its progress. Its natural inclination is to find the shortest route, diagonally through one medium to another which creates a different image. The most straightforward example of this is to half fill a glass with water and to stand a pencil in it, and then to look at it sideways. The pencil will appear fractured just above the waterline.

Our project, A Refracted View, presents different perspectives, new ways of looking at things. Our ambition is to disrupt socially constructed ideas of normality, excellence, and productivity.

How do we intend to do this?

We will trigger ideas using walking and thinking through craft. We will share our plans with you through regular podcasts. 

We hope to tinker with our imaginations to create new approaches by working together and engaging with our environment. Our materials will be people ( our artists and the East Kent Mencap members), places (Margate, Ramsgate, Broadstairs, Canterbury, Whitstable and Tankerton) and their stories crafted through a creative deck of walking prompts and flags signaling new directions and possibilities.

You can follow us and our podcast :

https://www.facebook.com/ThreadandWord

https://www.estuaryfestival.com/associated-programme.html

Our artists: Sharon Cavalier, Virginia Fitch, Amy Johnson, Diana Lane, Phoebe McIndoe, Sonia Overall, Elspeth Penfold.