purpleSTARS Pandemic Portraits

Connecting, collaborating, and caring for each other during lockdown 2020-2021

The purpleSTARS, are a group of people with and without learning difficulties, who aim to make museum experiences more inclusive through sensory art and digital media. The Pandemic led to purpleSTARS experimenting with connecting, collaborating, and documenting lives online. In the first lockdown we connected with a group from the Wager Center in Montréal Canada who, inspired by purpleSTARS, have formed their own group Fabulous Stars. We met each other online, creating artwork, discussing food and music as a way of sharing our experiences of life during lockdown. We captured these experiences in the form of a digital time capsule, the Lock Stars RIX Wiki an easy-to-use webpage. In the second lockdown purpleSTARS were invited to join the Listening to London project, a community-led research project making space for new interpretations of the Oral History collection at the Museum of London. The project is supported by The Esmé Fairbairn Collections Fund – delivered by the Museums Association. Meeting online we have listened and talked about the oral history recordings and are currently developing ideas for an exhibition, London is the place for me, in the Talking Point Gallery at the Museum of London.

PurpleStars Pandemic Portraits: add to work in progress padlet here

Contributors

Members of purpleSTARS

Lee Phillips, Ros Weinberg, Paul Styler, Petra Stokar, Rufaro Asuquo, Ajay Choksi, and Kanchan Kerai from RIX Research & Media at UEL, Kate Allen Reading School of Art, University of Reading