Our Experiences, Our Voices, Our Stories

At today’s meeting we heard about the impact the project is having locally. They told us about their recent exhibition, which showcased some of the stories collected so-far and attracted over 80 local people.  The exhibition included innovative installations and creative exhibits aimed at sharing the learning so far and encouraging more community members to share their own stories. These installations included:

• The story station: Three purpose-built podiums where participants could hear recorded anonymised stories from people involved with the project, these were paired with objects that evoked key themes from the stories. The three stories convey powerful stories and highlight themes and emotions of the participants.
• The story house where participants chose a card which then gave them a temporary identity, based on real life circumstances of people involved in the research (but anonymised with changed details.) Then the participant is asked to choose three coloured ball, inside of each there is a challenge (or opportunity) which were also part of the research findings. Then a discussion can take place as to how the temporary character would feel, and what would be needed to overcome the challenges. The aim is to highlight the key issues and themes in the research but also can act as a prompt for the participant to talk about what they see as key challenges. The house provides a safe and cosy location to talk.
• A poverty snakes and ladders game where players could learn first-hand about how hard parents work to shield their children from the impacts of poverty. It has a clever twist in that a pair of glasses for children (or to see the game from a child’s view) can be used which makes the unfair rules “invisible.”This is to convey the fact that while parent and child may be playing the same game, the child is shielded from too much knowledge about the challenges the parent is facing. This reflects the reality in the research that parents are doing their best to shield their children from the worst effects of poverty both emotional and practical.
• The Hollow Person Challenge: An interactive opportunity to see how easy it is for people in Midlothian to fall below the poverty line. The hollow person is full of glass beads, each bead representing an amount of money. The hollow person seems to have enough money to make ends meet. However, the player then has to pay bills, calculated using average expenditure for food, household bills etc, plus unexpected costs. Each time a bill has to be paid a lever is turned and beads fall out. Very soon the level is much lower and the poverty monster inside the hollow person is revealed. It is an interactive and practical way of demonstrating the challenges of making ends and the difficulty in avoiding falling below the poverty line.
• Chase the Dark Clouds: A song based on the themes found and emotions evoked by the research. It speak of challenges but the mood, especially towards the end, it uplifting, conveying hope for the future and that change is possible “let’s all chase the dark clouds away from our wee Midlothian Street.”
• Beat the Booglies: A tabletop puzzle adventure game challenging players to navigate around the obstacles life throws your way. Each blocker is a representation of an issue, but the player is encouraged to interpret what the meaning of each blocker is for them. The game is designed to show that life has so many obstacles that, if they could be removed, would make life so much easier. The facilitator of the game can offer a helping hand card if the player is stuck. The game is designed to promote dialogue and discussion on the players own experiences of being “blocked” and the solutions that are needed.
• The Gallery of Impact: Compelling black and white framed photos reveal the key issues and themes that have emerged from the research. Underneath the photos a key quite and an explanation of the themes the photo convey.
• Food Matters Stall: The Baked Beans challenge, in which the participant is invited to guess how much a tin of beans has gone up since 2019 (70.5%). This acts as a prompt for asking participants about the cost of food, and which items they have seen rise, and to what extent it’s changed their food shopping and family’s food consumption.
• Poem and Shoe exhibition: A shoe in a box which connects to the poem. It’s about a pair of shoes which were second hand when acquired, then handed down from brother to brother to brother. The shoe represents poverty to the mother but also pride in managing to provide for her children in very challenging circumstances, by using “hand-me-downs.” Her sons are now too big for the shoes, but they are a family heirloom, a reminder of the resilience needed in hard times.
• Sharing song writing: Musician Alex Hodgeson has written and recorded a song for the project called Chase the Dark Clouds which you can listen to here.