Expression and Empowerment: Utilising Collective Mural-Making to Nurture Children in Diasporic Communities
Abstract
In our increasingly complex global and local communities, the visual arts hold a powerful vitality for connection, inclusion, expression and empowerment. With the value of the arts firmly established in early years education and care, this essay considers the potentiality of collective mural-making beyond the early years setting and toward the wider community. The essay cultivates a specific focus on the Somali diaspora community in the neighbourhood of St Paul’s (Bristol, United Kingdom). Drawing on my personal experiences as an early years educator and artist living in this visually vibrant neighbourhood, this essay is framed around a speculative community mural-making project. Through this exploration, I hope to provide rationale and motivation for future projects involving shared art-making experiences.
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