Polesworth is a large village in North Warwickshire on the river Anker. Sites of significant interest around the village include Polesworth Abbey and Pooley Country Park.
Abbey Green Park in the heart of the village, is frequented by families and dog walkers. The park has a nature reserve and a poetry trail, as well as several walking trails that encourage children to engage with nature. A small car park off the main road allows easy access for visitors.
When residents were asked for their thoughts about Polesworth - which then formed part of the artists’ brief for this project - they said how proud they are of their community spirit, and active volunteer network, which has only been strengthened through the pandemic. Residents expressed concern about the village expanding too quickly.
Coventry based artist Edie Jo Murray has designed a structure for Abbey Green Park which invites people to meet, rest and appreciate the location- there is no ‘correct’ way to engage with the piece.
‘You belong here’ will be located near to the play area in Abbey Green Park, with views of the park and main road bridge across the river into the town. The different materials used throughout the structure have been chosen to provide a variety of tactile experiences and invite playful sensory exploration.
What next?
To embed this piece in the community, the artist has created a domestic setting to provide a welcoming and fun space to gather local sentiment about belonging and identity. I belong here is a transportable temporary installation created as an extension of the site specific installation You belong here, situated in Abbey Green Park, Polesworth.
The intentions of the installation align with those of the main piece, You belong Here, which was designed from a consciously neurodivergent perspective. The work hopes to speak particularly to those with lived experience of feeling like they don’t belong and exists as an emphatic celebration of being unapologetically different and beautifully alien.
This portable installation has hosted at Polesworth Library and Birchwood Primary School in the winter of 2022. The words gathered at these events were crafted into poems for Polesworth by the Young Poet Laureate for Warwickshire in partnership with Warwickshire Library Service.
The project has already inspired further activity within the community, which is being planned throughout 2023 and is enabling Birchwood Primary School to further develop their existing Arts Council accreditation.
The poems can be seen in Polesworth Library and downloaded here: