Climate and Environment

Social Justice

Carmen Wong is a curiously hungry migrant artist from Singapore+USA, whose work often experiments with embodiment, deep listening and food for convivial collectivism. They are a co-animator of [JarSquad](https://jarsquad.com/), an on-going social art project growing a solidarity economy of communally made jam and preserves that cannot be transacted with money. They grounds-keep the (at-present-fallowing) [care-as-commons](https://www.instagram.com/carecommons/) reading group to contemplate on practices of care in institutions. Carmen is an ever-beginner in qi-going, and growing a practice in healing justice via nonviolent communication.


Introduction 

*"My practice has a foundation in somatics and participatory performance, meshing art and the everyday wherever possible. Since 2009 I have been working on a body of participatory projects that play with food: its symbolic and mnemonic codes, and its interactions with growers, makers, eaters. I am exploring facilitation and invitation as tools for growing participation, and how this might impact practices of belonging, generosity, and care. Water, the hydrocommons and hydrofeminism are recent areas of interest inspired by the Southeast Asian "mandi bunga" ritual."*  

About Carmen Wong 

Carmen is collaborating with Dr Clemence Scalbert Yucel from [The Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies](https://arabislamicstudies.exeter.ac.uk/) on the Streatham campus in Exeter. Together they will be creatively exploring Clemence's research into Kurdish migration, belonging, and food citizenship in Devon.

Very little is known on the history of the Kurdish migration or on the ways Kurdish migrants have made Devon their home. This multidisciplinary project will look further into how, through food-related practices such as purchasing, growing, importing, foraging, sharing, running a restaurant, residents of Kurdish descent may develop a home and a sense of belonging in Devon and the UK while maintaining relations with their home countries.


About the fellowship 

Clemence Quote 

It is hoped that the Creative Fellowship will help develop new ways of researching belonging(s) and homemaking through food, help engage in original ways with new disciplines and help develop creative and participative research methods engaging the community. 

Alongside this, it will also support the engagement activity by working with and alongside the community and the exploration of the rich Kurdish collections of the archives at the University of Exeter.

The project will run over five weeks between January - July 2025 and we will continue to update this page as the fellowship progresses.

Aims of the fellowship 

Carmen Wong quote 

## About the Creative Fellowships 

Arts and Culture Creative Fellowships offer creative practitioners the opportunity to engage with innovative academics and professional services staff across the University of Exeter’s colleges and campuses. The Creative Fellowships are designed to benefit both the Creative Fellow and the host, providing inspiration for new approaches to creative practice and generating fledgling ideas that could be the springboard for future initiatives. 

About the Creative Fellowships 

Left: Dr Clemence Scalbert Yucel. Right: Carmen Wong. Credit: Steven Haywood 

carmen and clemence

*Artist* Carmen Wong  

*Host* Dr Clemence Scalbert Yucel, The Institute for Arab and Islamic Studies, Streatham Campus  

Follow Carmen Wong 

[www.experts.exeter.ac.uk/704-clemence-scalbert-yucel](https://experts.exeter.ac.uk/704-clemence-scalbert-yucel)

Find out more about Clemence Scalbert-Yucel

Food Citizenship: Researching belonging(s) and homemaking through food

History and Heritage

[Chris Hoban](https://chrishoban.com/) is a Devon based musician, performer and lyricist who has worked extensively in the UK and abroad. A singer who plays guitar, piano, piano accordion, ‘cello, mandocello and guitar, he has performed and worked alongside many artists including Billy Bragg, Jarvis Cocker (Pulp), KT Tunstall, Jerry Dammers (The Specials), Kate Rusby, Chris Difford (Squeeze), Steve Knightley, Phil Beer, Miranda Sykes and Jim Causley.  

Chris has written regularly and performed occasionally with the Devonian folk roots band ‘Show of Hands’, adding songs such as Hallows’ Eve, The Old Lych Way, Katrina and The Padre to their repertoire. He is also a highly regarded choral composer and arranger for amateur, community and professional choirs.

Most recently, Chris co-wrote the RNLI bicentennial 2024 Christmas single ‘[Pull Away](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehv5z80ZwOY)’ with James Studholme of ‘Police Dog Hogan’. Having taught music & drama in schools for over two decades, he continues to work as a music educator within neurodevelopmental (early years and SEN schools) and neurodegenerative communities (residential care homes, as a 1:1 music therapist).

Also an educator, Chris specialises in projects which have a strong historical or natural aspect to them in order to explore connections between other environments and times and our own.


Chris Hoban Introduction 

My approach as a songwriter is to focus on the narrative voice; this often belongs to someone (or something) else. What is it they are experiencing? How do they see and inhabit their world? Where is the resonance for us, as listeners - and for me, as a creator?   

Lyrics that invite the listener in are axiomatic to me when creating songs; stepping into someone else’s shoes, their location or drama is an experience to which I have become increasingly drawn. The central story is key.   

Melody usually arrives naturally, evolving organically around certain phrases. Inspiration for both comes from a very wide variety of sources and life experiences; having been lucky enough to have lived and worked in Brazil, Africa, Australasia and Scotland, sung in choirs (both Anglican and Catholic) and worked within a wide range of musical genres in the UK, my output ranges from choral settings of evensong liturgy, gallery carol arrangements and community choir compositions to songs that sound at times like traditional folk ballads, at others with a strong tinge of Americana.   

I prefer working with pen and ink, pencil and manuscript; my brain does more interesting things with a tactile, hands-on approach to creativity.

Image credit: Rex Preston Photography 


About Chris Hoban 

Chris Hoban previous work 

Chris Hoban Quote 

### About the Fellowship 
'Wills as Windows onto Past Lives' sees Chris collaborate with Dr Laura Sangha from the University's Department for History and Archaeology. Laura is one of a team of researchers at the University and The National Archives currently working on the Leverhulme Trust funded project ['The Material Culture of Wills, England 1540-1790'](https://sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcultureofwills/).

This four year project uses cutting edge digital technology to transcribe 25,000 manuscript wills to examine these changing attitudes to material culture in England in the 250 years before the Industrial Revolution. The team are working collaboratively with a community of volunteers to develop Handwritten Text Recognition software and to correct and check the auto-generated transcriptions.

Chris and Laura will be working together to creatively explore the different dimensions of the project and discover more playful and experimental ways to look at the source material. Chris will also be keeping a blog about his experiences of the project which will be sharing on this page throughout the fellowship.   

The project will run over five weeks between January - July 2025 and we will continue to update this page as the fellowship progresses.


About the Fellowship 

NTA Visit FEB 2025

Laura Sangha quote 

Throughout his Creative Fellowship Chris is keeping a series of reflection diaries sharing more about how he and Laura are collaborating and how his ideas are progressing. 

Reflection Diaries

### The Material Culture of Wills Research Project - March 2025 Update

The Material Culture of Wills Research Project - March 2025 Update

Material Culture of wills Project Update 

# Print Workshop

This workshop took place in conjunction with the fellowship *Wills as Windows onto the Past* on a sunny afternoon in May, taking place in the Creative Quadrant of the University of Exeter's Business School. Participants included staff and students, and it was run by Emma Molony from Double Elephant Print Workshop.

Participants were given a unique opportunity to design and print their own illustration to a accompany a new song of their choice, written by Chris Hoban inspired directly from the wills of people in early modern England. The workshop followed the historic tradition of creating mass-printed ballad sheets, which incorporated woodcut images depicting the subject of the song - whether that be love, crime, politics, tragedy, humour, history, death - to attract potential buyers, and adding layers of meaning to help people interpret the music that they accompanied.

Print Workshop

Print Workshop Images

Print Workshop Images 2

Print Workshop Images 3

Print Workshop Images 4

Print Workshop Images 5

### About the Creative Fellowships 
Arts and Culture Creative Fellowships offer creative practitioners the opportunity to engage with innovative academics and professional services staff across the University of Exeter’s colleges and campuses. The Creative Fellowships are designed to benefit both the Creative Fellow and the host, providing inspiration for new approaches to creative practice and generating fledgling ideas that could be the springboard for future initiatives. 


About the creative fellowship 

Left: Chris Hoban. Right: Dr Laura Sangha. Credit: Steven Haywood 

Laura and Chris

*Artist* Chris Hoban   

*Host* Dr Laura Sangha, Department for Archaeology and History, Streatham Campus 

Find out more about Chris Hoban 
[www.chrishoban.com](https://chrishoban.com/)

Follow Chris Hoban 

[www.bsky.app/profile/lsangha.bsky.social](https://bsky.app/profile/lsangha.bsky.social)

Find out more about Dr Laura Sangha 
[www.experts.exeter.ac.uk/1881-laura-sangha](https://experts.exeter.ac.uk/18811-laura-sangha)


Follow Dr Laura Sangha 

Will as Windows onto Past Lives 

Health and Wellbeing

[Daksha Patel](https://dakshapatel.co.uk/) is a multi-disciplinary artist who works across a wide range of media, materials and technologies. Her inter-disciplinary projects have engaged with Biophysics, Applied Mathematics, Environmental Modelling, Parkinson’s Disease research, Linguistics and Neuroscience. Research residencies within academic institutions such as King’s College, London, regularly inform her practice. She has an ongoing interest in scientific processes of mapping, measurement and visualisation, and has made work with Lidar scanning, photogrammetry, bio-sensors and creative coding.   

Daksha collaborated with [Clare Saunders](https://politics.exeter.ac.uk/staff/saunders/), Professor in Politics and Head of Department for [Humanities and Social Sciences](https://www.exeter.ac.uk/departments/hass/penryn/) for the University of Exeter in Cornwall. Based at the Penryn campus, the department is an exciting interdisciplinary endeavour that fruitfully interweaves insights from the disciplines of History, Law, Politics, Modern Languages and Literature. Their work examines societies, cultures and justice in the past, present and future. Academics there work broadly across humanities and social sciences, and with other disciplines, to help make the world a better place for all.

Together they explored environmental justice, a social movement which aspires to put justice for people, organisms and eco-systems at the heart of solutions to environmental problems. Central to the project, the pair creatively explored 'deep forms of environmental justice'. Deep forms ensure that negative environmental externalities are prevented at source, while also deeply respecting people from all backgrounds, treating people as equal partners, recompensing those damaged by pollution, the need to rebuild communities and to educate. 

You can find out more about how the collaboration unfolded in a process film below. 

About the artist

Process Film

Clare Saunders Quote 1

# Diverse Voices Workshops

In March 2023 Daksha and Clare invited students from Tanzania, Sri Lanka and the UK to take part in a series of Zoom workshops exploring environmental justice means to them. 

Through the use of sharing images, these workshops encourages participants to collectively explore their thoughts, feelings, concerns and ideas about how we can ensure that environments, ecosystems, species, and indigenous communities are respected in human decision-making.   

You can dicsover more about each session in a blog written by Daksha [here](https://www.artsandcultureexeter.co.uk/news/diverse-voices-international-conversations-exploring-environmental-justice). 


Diverse Voices Workshops

Diverse Voices Workshop

Clare Saunders Quote 2

# Wicked Patterns and Sticky Maps Workshop 

This transdisciplinary workshop at ESI (Environment and Sustainability Institute) used creative mapping methods to tease out the meanings, values, definitions, challenges and benefits of Environmental Justice. The terms ‘wicked’ and ‘sticky’ in the title refer to complex problems that are continually changing. ‘Wicked’ and ‘sticky’ issues can be difficult or even impossible to solve, they do not have one single solution and need close sustained attention involving an understanding of many interdependent factors. Some of the questions we asked during the workshop included:   

- How can we work towards respecting people, other species, ecosystems and wider environments?

-	What are deep and shallow approaches to environmental justice?

The interactive activities revolved around conversations whilst mapping patterns of ideas using colour, text and drawing to reflect upon the the meanings of Environmental Justice.   


Wicked Patterns workshop 

Wicked Patterns and Sticky Maps Workshop 

# ESI @ 10 Event

The map created by staff was then shown as part of the Environment and Sustainability Institutes 10 year anniversary event on 9th June 2023. Those attending the event were also then given the opportunity to contribute to the map.

Both Clare and Daksha presented more about their Creative Fellowship process at the event to researchers, academics, staff and students from across the University as part of the event. 

ESI @ 10 EVENT 

Sticky Wicked Map at the ESI@10 event 

# 'Sticky Wicked' Installation 

Inspired by their experiences and learnings from the workshops with staff and students, Daksha created an artwork called *Sticky Wicked*. 

Measuring approximately 1.3 metres in diameter, the map drawing is both local and global; its circular format suggests the earth but it is also based on the local area. It has been deliberately drawn in graphite pencil, a reference to the element of carbon being so closely linked to the future of the environment and all living things.

The image merges different types of datamaps representing the distribution of diverse species and habitats with human habitation. In doing so, it asks whose needs are met in this environment? The concepts of ‘sticky’ and ‘wicked’ refer to complex problems that are difficult to define, resistant to change and have no fixed solutions.

*Sticky Wicked* is available to view in the entrance hall of the Exchange Building on the University of Exeter's Penryn campus.

See below for a time lapse of its creation. 


Sticky Wicked Artwork 

Installation of Sticky Wicked

Sticky Wicked artwork in the entrance hall of the Exchange Building on the University of Exeter Penryn campus. Image credit: Steven Haywood

Sticky Wicked artwork 

Clare and Daksha are continuing to work together and as of June 2023 have submitted an abstract to the Green Humanities Journal detailing their experiences of collaborating on this fellowship. 

Final thoughts

## About Daksha Patel   

Her commission ‘[Pani](https://dakshapatel.co.uk/works/pani/)’ for the Horniman Museum, London, explored the impact of water pollution upon bio-diversity and human health in the Sunderbans region of Bangladesh. It comprised of a large-scale print on fabric and some ceramic works. The print merges satellite imagery in the colours of local textiles with drawings of flora/fauna at risk and embroidery. By making connections between nature and culture, it suggests that the loss of biodiversity is also a loss to the fabric of culture. The ceramic pot designs reference traditional water carrying pots from the region. They are deformed and cracked to suggest damage, and decorated with drawings of chemical pollutants and pathogens found in the water.   


Daksha Biography 

## Arts and Culture Creative Fellowships   

Arts and Culture Creative Fellowships offer creative practitioners the opportunity to engage with innovative academics and professional services staff across the University of Exeter’s colleges and campuses.

Rather than being a residency, these opportunities are described as placements. The creative practitioner is a peer, opening up new approaches and conversations with the University hosts while developing and enriching their own creative practice. This scheme encourages mutually beneficial exchange, where both the host and the creative practitioner gain new insights and potential ways of working.

About the Creative fellowships

Left Daksha Patel. Right Professor Clare Saunders. Credit: Steven Haywood 

DSC 1107

*Artist* Daksha Patel

*Host* Professor Clare Saunders, Politics, Penryn campus, Cornwall 

Find out more about Daksha Patel 
[www.dakshapatel.co.uk](http://www.dakshapatel.co.uk/)


Follow Daksha Patel 

Exploring Environmental Justice 

Literature

Ella Frears is a poet and artist originally from Cornwall, now based in London. Her debut collection *Shine, Darling* (Offord Road Books, 2020) was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection, and the T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry. Last year Ella was named the first ever Poet in Residence for the Dartington Trust’s grade II listed gardens selected by Alice Oswald. Her poems about the St Ives Modernists are on show at Tate St Ives. Ella has been Poet in Residence for Tate Britain, the National Trust, Royal Holloway University Physics Department, K6 Gallery, conservation organisation Back from the Brink, and John Hansard Gallery in Southampton. Ella hosts Tears for Frears on Soho Radio. Her most recent publication *I AM THE MOTHER CAT* (2021) is out with Rough Trade Books.

Ella collaborated with Dr Timothy Cooper from the University's Centre for Environmental Arts and Humanities on the Penryn campus. Taking them from the Penryn campus to Venice, together the pair explored Tim's research into maritime oral histories by exchanging practice through conversation, teaching and workshops. 

Below you can watch a film about their fellowship which details how their collaborative process developed. 

Intro block 

Process Video 

Timothy Cooper

Images of Ella

# Creative Writing Workshops   

In January 2023 Ella spent a week at the Penryn campus, joining Dr Cooper for a seminar with undergraduate History students where she led a creative writing workshop. Guided by Ella, and taking inspiration from the poets [Tara Bergin](https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/tara-bergin), [Joe Brainard](https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/joe-brainard) and [Luke Kennard](https://poems.poetrysociety.org.uk/poets/luke-kennard/), the students crafted their own creative writing pieces, including the below by Katja Ledward. 

Creative Writing Workshops

*We get a lot of lost souls in here…*   
Said the doctor writing in their notebook,    
Said the cashier scanning the shopping,   
Said the barista steaming the milk,   
Said the bus driver tapping the wheel,   
Said the teacher writing on the board,   
Said the chef chopping the vegetables,   
Said the mother rocking her baby,   
Said the librarian checking the books,   
Said the deity opening the gates behind them. 

__By Katja Ledward, inspired by the work of Tara Bergin.__

Tara Bergin inspired poem 

*I Remember…*   

I remember jam butties,   
I remember walking home from school avoiding the cracks in the flagstones,   
I remember watching my mum laying in the hospital bed after her ankle surgery,   
I remember screaming on the roller-coaster once I was finally tall enough to go on it,   
I remember my dad crying when he found out about what had happened with my stepdad,   
I remember eating crunchy nut cornflakes with my brothers at my grandma’s house,   
I remember singing karaoke with my friends,   
I remember tequila shots (at least I think I do),   
I remember smiling and joy, I don’t remember when they vanished though,   
I remember the doctor’s office. The four walls. The drone of his voice as he summarized my mental health into three words,   
I remember hugs from my sisters,   
I remember kissing my great-grandma’s cheek and feeling her whiskers brush against my skin,   
I remember losing them, the person I hurt through drunken fear,   
I remember painting on a smile to get through the day, not wanting anyone to find out how I truly felt inside,   
I remember walking through fields with my dog,   
I remember laughing at horror films,   
I remember laughing in general,   
I remember living. 

__Written by Katja Ledward, inspired by the work of Joe Brainard.__

Joe Brainaird inspired

*Interview with the Heart*   

The first thing I notice about the residency of the heart is the colour. The striking red surrounds me like an all-encompassing blanket of crimson. The heart is often seen as fragile and weak, but the reality is quite the opposite. The heart is strong and muscular, it is the source of life and gives us that gift every day. It works hard and endlessly to push essential life forces to us whenever we demand it. But the heart is also vulnerable. It aches for another. For a companion of its own. Lungs come in pairs, as do kidneys, ears, nostrils, hands, legs, and eyes. But the heart is alone. Sometimes it believes it has found its partner only for them to be separated by walls of emotions created by the mistakes of the brain. The heart sometimes detests the brain and the world’s insistence on them working in harmony. Heart and mind. The heart would much rather work alone instead of waiting for the go-ahead from upstairs to confess its true feelings. I guess when it comes down to it though, the heart is simply an extension of the mind, and again I am left talking to myself.   

__Created by Katja Ledward, inspired by the work of Luke Kennard.__

Luke Kennard inspired poem 

Tim and Ella in Venice © Timothy Cooper and Ella Frears 

Tim and ella in venice

# If Not Now 

Created by Tim and Ella, this publication documents and celebrates their Creative Fellowship. With an introduction from Ella, the book contains Tim's poetry (created from prompts given by Ella), thinking, and images- all exploring the climate crisis, mine shafts, oil spills, oral history and animal rehabilitation.

We have a limited number of copies available. If you would be interested in obtaining one of these please contact the team on [artsandculture@exeter.ac.uk](mailto:artsandculture@exeter.ac.uk) to arrange a suitable time to collect it from either our Streatham campus or Penryn campus office. 

Designed by [Theo Inglis](https://www.theoinglis.co.uk/). 

If Not Now 

Ella Frears book quote

First conversation between timand ella at the start of their creative fwlloship 

## Arts and Culture Creative Fellowships

Arts and Culture Creative Fellowships offer creative practitioners the opportunity to engage with innovative academics and professional services staff across the University of Exeter’s colleges and campuses.

Rather than being a residency, these opportunities are described as placements. The creative practitioner is a peer, opening up new approaches and conversations with the University hosts while developing and enriching their own creative practice. This scheme encourages mutually beneficial exchange, where both the host and the creative practitioner gain new insights and potential ways of working.

About Arts and Culture Fellwoships

'Danger Sign on Beach after Torrey Canyon Disaster 28th of March 1967' by Charles Woolf © Institute of Cornish Studies, University of Exeter, Cornwall (https://history.exeter.ac.uk/research/centres/ics/)

Maritime Oral Histories 1

*Artist* Ella Frears

*Hosts* Dr Timothy Cooper, the Centre for Environmental Arts and Humanities, Penryn Campus

Find out more about Ella Frears 
[www.ellafrears.com](https://ellafrears.com/)

Follow Ella Frears

Maritime Environmental History: Oral Histories and Creative Conversations

## Creative Fellowship 2022-23

Tom Stockley's practice is multidisciplinary, incorporating elements of spoken word, theatre, film-making, digital design and social engagement. They are interested in questioning social structures, building communities and reflecting on human identity and collective experience. Pop culture, humour and the every day are woven into their work, that can appear everywhere from community centres to comedy nights.   

Tom collaborated with Dr Natalie Ohana from the University of Exeter Law School. Together they worked with undergraduate students on the module ['Law, Testimony and Trauma'](https://law.exeter.ac.uk/currentstudents/undergraduatemodules/2022-23/module/?moduleCode=LAW3205&ay=2022/3). This project-based, research-led module is aimed at developing knowledge on the relationship between law, testimony and trauma. The module concentrates on traumatic events related to social oppression, such as racism, sexism, classism and xenophobia. Through conducting research projects as part of the module, the students examine the roles legal systems play in sustaining or changing the socio-political conditions that enable traumatic events to take place.

Below you discover more about how their Creative Fellowship unfolded. 


Text 1 - intro

Quote - Tom Stockley

In early December 2022 Tom joined Dr Ohana and students for a seminar as part of the 'Law, Testimony and Trauma' module on the University's Streatham campus. Tom spoke to the students to find out more about the legal cases they had chosen and started to consider the nature of the cases. Below are some images taken during that seminar which show Tom cutting and pasting text as a method of making sense of some of the issues which were being explored. You can see some of those initial creative experiments created in that seminar underneath the photographs. 

December 2022 - Seminar

Tom Seminar Images

Initial Creative Experiments 

Thanks to Tom’s participation in the module and knowing that they have the experience of working with communities to express, through art, social and political ideas, Dr Ohana felt that the last seminar for the students could be dedicated to expressing their research projects and the process of conducting it, through a collage.  You can see an online exhibition featuring a selection of some of the student collages and the legal cases which inspired their artworks [here](https://www.artsandcultureexeter.co.uk/news/law-testimony-and-trauma).

Student Collages

Following a period of reading, research and the development of the initial collage and writing work (above), Tom created four poems based on four of the case studies covered in the December seminar they attended(the Aberfan landslide, the Hillsborough disaster, the New Cross massacre and Grenfell Tower). The below poems were created from legal notes, witness statements and some research source material.

Poetry created by Tom 

Tom Poetry Experiments

Tom Stockley - Source material 

Below you can see collages and digital edits made between 2022 – 2023, reflecting on the themes of protest, power and hidden violence. 

Ne work April 2023

A layered artwork. the background shows a fabric flower and heart. 

New Collage work - tom stockley

Tom Stockley new artwork 

New work 2

# Exhibition at Exeter Phoenix 

Inspired by his collaboration, Tom created a large-scale collage installation at the Exeter Phoenix from 3rd June - 2nd July 2023.

The exhibition reflects upon upon four historical case studies within the context of law, testimony, trauma, community and justice, as well as incorporating Tom's own lived experience of the Bristol Protests in 2021. The four case studies included were: The Aberfan Landslide (1966), The New Cross Massacre (1981), The Hillsborough Disaster (1989) and The Grenfell Fire (2017). Seemingly disconnected, Tom and Natalie have woven an academic and artistic web through these tragedies, highlighting the importance of the communities at the heart of them in their fight for justice and critically examining the role that the state, the legal system and the police play in matters of justice and testimony.

Exhibition at Exeter Phoenix 

Tom installing 'A Violence Filled With Flowers' at the Exeter Phoenix on Friday 2 June 2023. Credit: Anna Bunt 

Tom installing their exhibition at the exeter phoenix

By examining and reassembling source material such as court notes, legal guides, eyewitness accounts, lyrics and essays, Tom sketches out their criticisms of an ongoing violence that is perpetuated by those in power, often hidden behind the softness of flowers and platitudes in the aftermath of preventable disasters and acts of oppression. Drawing upon a history of anti-fascist philosophy, radical communities and counter-cultural material, this work questions the truth behind atrocity, the knowledge behind the trauma and the reasons why justice is so rarely won by the communities that suffer most.

Exhibition etxt 2

A Violence Fille dwith flowers exhibition images

Natalie Ohana quote

## About Tom Stockley

Tom Stockley is a multidisciplinary artist working across the UK and based in the South West. Informed by a century of counter-culture, collaboration and and queer culture, their practice flirts with the humour, beauty and sadness of every day life by any means necessary. Their integrated practice includes digital design, immersive experiences, film making, theatre and live art, often created collaboratively with other artists and in community settings.

Tom has written for [HUCK](https://www.huckmag.com/perspectives/in-the-uks-coastal-towns-queer-voices-remain-unheard/) and The Tab, had work published by Perennial Press, Howling Press and Sassify and been the subject of features in Voice Magazine, The Friday Poem and BBC Bristol. They were the Milk Poetry Mega Slam Champion in 2020 and were named one of Bristol's most influential LGBTQ+ people in the [2021 Pink List](https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/pink-list-2021-73-most-5530059) - as well as producing work for Tate St Ives, BBC Arts and Bristol Old Vic. They are proudly queer, gender non-conforming, neurodivergent and a descendant of working class Jewish refugees. 

They are interested in our human experience, collectively and as individuals, creating conversations around identity, culture, mental health and the places we call home. They are also a qualified youth worker and have been working in youth and community roles since 2011. They believe in the value of all people who feel othered and abandoned. To date they have produced work for BBC Arts, BBC 3, Tobacco Factory Theatre, Half Moon Theatre, Tate St Ives Bristol Museum and Apples & Snakes - as well as being published by mainstream and independent presses across the globe. They love you and want you to know that everything is going to be ok.

About Tom Stockley

## Arts and Culture Creative Fellowships

Arts and Culture Creative Fellowships offer creative practitioners the opportunity to engage with innovative academics and professional services staff across the University of Exeter’s colleges and campuses.

Rather than being a residency, these opportunities are described as placements. The creative practitioner is a peer, opening up new approaches and conversations with the University hosts while developing and enriching their own creative practice. This scheme encourages mutually beneficial exchange, where both the host and the creative practitioner gain new insights and potential ways of working.


Arts and Culture Creative Fellowships

Dr Natalie Ohana and Tom Stockley in December 2022. Image: Steven Haywood 

Left Dr Natalie Ohana and right Tom Stockley stand in a classroom looking directly at the camera

*Artist*  Tom Stockley

*Hosts* Dr Natalie Ohana from the Law School, University of Exeter

Find out more about Tom Stockley: [www.tomstockley.weebly.com/](https://tomstockley.weebly.com/)

Follow Tom Stockley

A Violence Filled With Flowers

Book Club

Visual art

Opportunities

News

Performance

New Technologies

Short-term placements that bring creative practitioners into research settings and encourage new conversations across disciplines.