Aida Silvestri is a UK based artist who creates work concerning issues of culture, ethnicity, identity, health, politics and the urban landscape. Her work explores new and unique approaches to documentary photography to raise awareness, give a platform to those often not heard and to promote acceptance within communities. Aida has had work shown in […]
Reflections on the 5th biennial Platforma festival (October 2019) With more than 40 events and a live audience of more than 10,000 people, Platforma 5 across Kent and Medway was our biggest yet. Everything was done in partnership, and we’d like to thank all those organisations and artists who took part. Read the Platforma5-evaluation-report (pdf) Image (top): […]
A presentation by Dr Henna Asikainen given an Platforma 5, as part of an event at Quarterhouse Folkestone My principal interests as an artist are in questions surrounding climate justice, migration and the human relationship with nature, and the complex social and ecological issues emerging from this relationship. These interests were, to some degree, already a part […]
Pop Culture – Young People – Migration & Social Change CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS 21-22 October 2019, Gulbenkian, University of Kent, Canterbury A 2-day ‘retreat’ as part of Platforma 5 Introduction Pop Culture and Social Change is a pioneering project from Counterpoints Arts exploring how the power of pop culture can be harnessed to shift the […]
Thanks to everyone who came to our third Platforma 5 networking meeting, working towards the fifth Platforma Festival that will be taking place across Kent in October. And many thanks to the Huguenot Museum for hosting us and providing a fascinating tour of their collection. In the coming month or so, we will publish the […]
Are you part of a group or network that helps to organise Refugee Week in your town or city? Would you like some extra support in the run up to Refugee Week 2019? As part of a new project funded by Ben and Jerry’s Foundation, Refugee Week UK Coordinator Counterpoints Arts is offering local Refugee […]
The fourth Platforma Festival took place across the North East of England in October 2017. It was a showcase of brilliant new work and an opportunity to share ideas, challenge concepts and build networks. www.platforma.org.uk A #creativecase congregation in the heart of Newcastle. Inspired by the continued brilliant work of the @PlatformaArts @ace_thenorth https://t.co/7T52EdkG4z — […]
Samra Mayanja reflects on her experience at the recent Platforma Festival 2017 Platforma Festival has been an invigorating and challenging two days for me. Usually, I split my time between spaces primarily focused on art or activism but rarely the two. I seldom find myself in a place where art is used as a tool […]
I am one week away from being in Newcastle for Platforma Festival, and I couldn’t be more excited. It’s the first time that I have been invited to represent Migration Collective anywhere, let alone outside of the London-bubble that I have lived and worked in for more than two years. Perhaps what I’m the most […]
Ahead of the Platforma Festival later this month, we are using the Platforma blog to introduce some of the people who will be attending My name is Laura Nyahuye, l am a Zimbabwean born Artist. I migrated to the UK a number of years ago. I am a Speaker, Artist, Designer, Creative writer and Motivator […]
Ahead of the Platforma Festival later this month, we are using the Platforma blog to introduce some of the people who will be attending Bevin Magama writes: I am a Zimbabwean-born performance storyteller and author living in Cardiff, Wales. I came to the UK as a refugee in 2001. My book Vicious, is an autobiography about my […]
Ahead of the Platforma Festival later this month, we are using the Platforma blog to introduce some of the people who will be attending. Victoria Mponda writes: I was born in Malawi but was forced to move to Zimbabwe as a child and then came to the UK as a refugee with my mother in […]
Come and record a song which reminds you of home! The song could then form part of an artwork to be exhibited in St John the Baptist church […]
Henna Asikainen is a mixed-media artist born in Joensuu, Finland. She uses different mediums to explore issues concerned with nature and the environment. Her work contributes to the debates around complex ecological issues and explores the poetics of our fundamental relationship with the world around us. She also examines the aesthetic value of nature and […]
Isabel Lima is a Newcastle-upon-Tyne-based artist whose most recent work titled Gresham’s Wooden Horse aims to brings together disparate communities living in Gresham, central Middlesbrough. The project is inspired by the ancient Greek story of the Trojan Horse, built by Greek soldiers as a means of infiltrating and taking control of the city of Troy. […]
