Retirees join forces with young artists for new BMI Exhibition
Retirees have volunteered their voices to an intergenerational exhibition taking place in Birmingham this December.
Grandbabs is a volunteer led collaborative project between young and older citizens of Birmingham. The art and film exhibition created by young people from Birmingham aims to inspire intergenerational discussion with senior members of the city. Conversations between generations have fallen and interactions with older citizens can often be low in society. As a result volunteer young artists visited ExtraCare’s Hagley Road Retirement Village to chat to residents about their lives and living in Birmingham.
This project has proved to have a number of benefits to everyone involved, several of the young volunteers have been through challenging times in their home lives and in the areas where they live. In creating commissions and listening to stories from seniors they have found this has helped with their mental health – giving them direction and discipline whilst adding meaningful productivity into their lives.
The seniors discussed a range of issues from their childhood, technology, mental health, climate change as well as the current political and economic climate. These conversations have given the young volunteers different perspectives and broadened their horizons to understanding senior generations better.
The exhibit features over twenty original portraits of senior citizens as well as short documentaries taken from visits to retirement locations and discussions with older members of our city. The opening night was attended by Hagley Road residents seeing their portraits for the very first time.
Serena Trowbridge, Vice President at BMI commented: “Representatives at BMI were delighted to chat to residents at Hagley Road and to use their expertise and rich contributions as part of the Grandbabs exhibition. The Birmingham & Midland Institute is keen to engage with all parts of society. The premise of Grandbabs, an exhibition focussed around intergenerational discourse, can only serve to improve the coherence of society and we are delighted to be hosting it at the Institute.”
Hagley Road resident Lisa Fewtrell, 76, who appeared in a portrait with her dog Holly commented: “It was interesting, they worked so hard on the picture and my dog, my little Holly, I thought it was all brilliant having the young people there, it was a dose of medicine it really was. I have lung cancer and I have days when I feel no good for anything, and I thought if I felt OK I’ll come to the event. I live by a quote of never losing your own pride and taking pride in what you do, and this was written on my picture.”
Kanye, 18, from Erdington, was involved in the project adding: “I’d rather paint with a brush than carry a blade and there just aren’t enough projects like this to get involved with. Meeting and speaking with the senior citizens has given me perspective and provided me with more positive role models.”
The exhibition is free to attend and runs from 2nd December to 23rd December 2022, from 10.00 am – 4.00 pm, Monday to Saturday.
Some of the ten young people involved in the exhibition will be keeping up their new relationships and visiting Hagley Road Village for their talent show and Christmas party during December.
Grandbabs Opening Night
Grandbabs Opening Night
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