These People Are Our Kinship Pavilion

Discussions of community and kinship were on the lips of Blackpool residents during the summer of 2023, as a jubilant, 4.5 metre tall artwork popped up in unlikely places across the town.

Myerscough brought her bold and colourful artistic approach into community settings, with a touring pavilion, which she created with over 100 residents with Poet Nathan Parker and artist Sarah Harris, word and drawing doorway workshops with the community resulted in loads of wonderful material. for each location nathan parker created a poem incorporating the stories and expressions from the workshops into 3 poems one for each community.

The exuberant installation, titled These People Are Our Kinship (a direct quote from a Blackpool resident), radiated euphoria with its florescent lettering and striking design, as it appeared next to The Hub at South Shore, Claremont Park Community Centre, and Revolution Community Hub – all of which stood as proud backdrops to the work. So much went into the production of the artwork, from 29 different coloured paints, to 1.2miles of frog tape, and an incredible 332 hours from LeftCoast volunteers.

Throughout the tour, over 1,800 people came to see the pavilion, with over 29,700 people engaging with the project online. It has been a brilliant commission and collaboration with the people of Blackpool, artist Morag Myerscough, associate artist Sarah Harris, and local poet Nathan Parker.

Gifting Back — As part of the commission, LeftCoast will divided the pavilion into 100 squares, which were gifted back to those who helped create the artwork. From painting, to designing, and stewarding the spectacle, everyone who volunteered their time will be able to go home with a piece of These People Are Our Kinship. LeftCoast will also gifted back parts of the pavilion to the community groups who housed the artwork over its tour. In December people to came and collected their pieces of the installation from Blackpool School of Arts. It was an evening to celebrate These People Are Our Kinship, all of the hard work that went into the artwork, and a way for LeftCoast to thank their volunteers. Soon, Morag’s work will take over the town, injecting colour and comment into different community settings.

Commissioner  
Left Coast

Location 
BlackPool, UK

Painting
Sarah Harris and the local community

Furniture Fabrication
Lee Ivett and Ecaterina Stefanescu

Photographer 
Claire Griffiths And Garry Cook

Completion
August 2023

Temporary Installation