We’d like to thank each and every one of you who came together for this year’s T100 festival, T100 Calling!
Thank you for
- Being with us all the way through lockdown and making May Mandalas
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Forming teams of local organisations, artists and participants to design and prepare our seven themed showcase mandalas in Thurrock
- Leading inspiring walks in bubbles of six
- Responding to the call out to join us from far and wide
Thank you to
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Therese Muskus for the inspiration and her wonderful home-grown mandala created at her organic farm in Nairn, Scotland
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Korak Ghosh and his kids in Kolkata, Genrerik Vapeur in Marseille and friends in Chile, Italy, Switzerland for supporting our initiative during this time of global uncertainty.
Despite the constantly changing COVID restrictions, with your support, Kinetika was able to safely deliver T100 Calling creating 7 large-scale themed mandalas, across Thurrock, and we had a great time doing so.
We began with Germination, at the beautiful site of Langdon Hills, working closely with ranger Nick Stanley and the local group of women who regularly walk and forage in the forest. They helped artists Sally Chinea and Hazel Huber gather natural materials that were transformed into a huge mandala, illustrating the abundance of nature. Bob Rigden, of Friends of Langdon Hills, told us why this space is so vital to the local community.
See interviews and more images on the Germination Mandala page.
Next up was Spring Clean in Grays. We’ve been working with Steve Catchpole and his team of Thames21 volunteers for nearly a year to gather, sort and clean items of plastic that have been collected from the Thames foreshore. He explained all about it as we assembled this brightly coloured mandala, with the centrepiece created by Hi Ching, artistic director of Thurrock Festival and the outer areas designed by Kara Thompson with local Thurrock CVS Volunteers and Thurrock Young Carers. We were delighted that The Lightship Café also created their own mandala in the sand at Grays Beach.
Watch interviews and find more images on the Spring Clean Mandala page
A beautiful sunset walk, To and Fro, along the foreshore led by Sarah Waterman, paved the way for our Make Do and Mend Mandala at the little used public space looking out over the Thames to Gravesend. Local T100 Tilbury volunteers, Les Morgan, Winnie Nyamu and Melvin Ndebele cleaned it up, in preparation for an impressive assembly of ceramics inspired by the logo of the Port of Tilbury and designed by Sarah Doyle and Sally Chinea with participation from Thurrock Youth Services.
Hear more about it and see more photos on the Make Do and Mend Mandala page.
The Bata Heritage at East Tilbury is always such a source of inspiration, and this year’s theme In Other People’s Shoes was no exception. Hundreds of pairs of shoes were carefully arranged around the war memorial, and three classes from East Tilbury Primary School took part in sharing their own stories, and writer Sadie Hasler devised an interactive session for us all to think about what it feels like to be in someone else’s shoes.
Hear Sadie speak about her work, and more, on the In Other People’s Shoes Mandala page.
Imagination Our Nation was our next theme at Hardie Park, and certainly Margaret Hall and Jackie Burns stretched theirs with the incredible transformation of crisp packets into an artwork designed to raise awareness of Terracycling, just another amazing initiative in this community park that has gone from strength to strength over the last 10 years.
Watch interviews and find more images on the Imagination our Nation Mandala page.
Renewal, it certainly is at Little Belhus Country Park, where in collaboration with Rural Arisings and designed by John Little of Grassroofco, we shovelled rubble, brick and broken ceramic into the steel frame of this giant mandala, which will soon become a permanent insect habitat. We were privileged to be visited by Richard Scott, who brought wildflower seed all the way from Liverpool, and collectively, with artists Shannon Topliss and Lesley Robinson and a team of Thurrock Young Carers, we scattered buckets of mixed seed that will burst into a riot of colour next spring.
Hear the full story and see more on the Renewal Mandala page.
Finally, our 6th annual festival culminated with Grow Your Own at Purfleet-on-Thames revealing a new set of flags that represent all the many groups that make up this community that, working with PCRL, is all set for change. Zyle Mills from Heavenly Greens alongside artist Sofie Layton, Winnie Nyamu and Gemma White, led on the Fruit and Veg mandala that reflects the diversity of the population here. It is the beginning of a wider conversation about how local people and the artist community at High House Production Park can come together to creatively imagine their future in the next few years to put this little-known gem on the banks of the Thames on the map. See more, including an interview with the local MP on the Grow Your Own Mandala page.
T100 Calling was part of Totally Thames 2020, this is a short film they made about T100.
There is always an upside, and one of the positive outcomes of the limitations of being in bubbles of six, was that we were able to have many engaging conversations around our seven core themes, and we have a long list of ideas to follow up on. During November and December T100 will be listening, working with our inspiring mentors and collaborating with our wide range of local partners to make plans for 2021 and beyond.
Stay tuned in and as always you can get involved anywhere, anytime.
Sign up to the newsletter and get in touch Katie@kinetika.co.uk
Mandala packs are still available to download from here.
Create your own themed mandala and post it online using the #T100Calling tag, you could feature on the T100 Calling social page.
Thurrock 100 would like to extend a huge thank you to its funders and delivery partners. T100 Calling was part of Totally Thames 2020
