ROSCOMMON YOUNG CARERS X BLOOM | THE ART PROJECT
Location: Co. Roscommon
Key Message: The Art Of Caring. Caring for another person is a spectacular and beautiful act that should be celebrated!
A collaboration between Bloom | The Art Project and Roscommon Young Carers group to produce 3 murals, that would represent what being a carer means to them.
We had the honour of being invited to Co. Roscommon, to help facilitate and develop a mural for the Roscommon Young Carers group. This is a really beautiful initiative set up to provide a safe space for children and teenagers in the area, who have loved ones that require their support and care, to come together. Within the group, there is open discussion about what it means to be a carer, what they like and dislike about it and how all this makes them feel. Sometimes, when there is a family member who requires more care and support, those who care for them may forget about themselves, or not receive as much attention as they need. So it is important to make them feel special, heard and seen.
Over the course of the year we had facilitated some workshops with this group on self-love and therapy through journaling through art. These all tied in well with this project “The Art of Caring” because, as we learned from this group, that caring for yourself and looking after you, is just as important as caring for others.
We had three walls to fill with art inspired by all the carers. Prior to us planning the murals, we sat in on some activities with the group where they discussed their feelings, what they would like to see and what they would like to say. We took this info and used it to create a design that represented them.
Wall 2: “I Care for me, I Care for you” For this mural we used umbrellas to represent how caring doesn’t mean forgetting about yourself. You are a priority and you must look after your needs too. The silhouettes were the outlines of a few volunteers from the group. They then went on to fill in each silhouette with words that represent every and any aspect of being a carer.
Wall 3: “Caring Angels” Similar to guardian angels, carers have the responsibility of watching over someone and making sure they are okay. We wanted to celebrate all the carers in the group by creating a piece of art that they could stand proudly in front of, and one that would send a strong message to the community. The background was then decorated with everyone’s hand prints. It was a really lovely collaborative piece.
We loved being involved in this project. We were totally impressed by the talent, enthusiasm and kindness of all the kids and teenagers. They all deserved to be acknowledged, appreciated and celebrated and we hope that we achieved this through these murals!