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IMPORTANT NOTE: THIS PUBLICATION IS HELD IN BALTIC ARCHIVE AND NOT THE MAIN LIBRARY. Please email in advance to book a viewing time, archive@balticmill.com.
Is this the right time? Equality begins with care. This publication is part of the Equal Play exhibition that, from September 2021 to September 2022, has taken over BALTIC’s ground floor gallery.Equal Play proposes a space for play and exploration, where decision-making is in the hands of the players.
Adjacent to the active space of the play installation, a space for reflection invites the audiences to explore care and equality through the lens of childcare - and men’s involvement in it. This space contains a selection of writings, poems and films related to men, childcare, and fatherhood, produced in the 70s and 80s by members of the Achilles Heel Collective and Crèches Against Sexism. These were collectives of men that came together in response to the Women’s Liberation Movement. They wanted to explore new forms of masculinity that would support and embrace Feminist ideals.
Fundamental to my practice is the realisation of temporary social spaces that encourage diverse groups to meet, share their knowledge and experiences, and engage in a process of co-creation. Equally important to my work is revisiting alternative archives from the past that may offer us tools to think about our lives now and in the future. Can we make use of the experiences from previous generations to help us imagine new ways of being in the future?
With that question in mind, from November 2021 to March 2022, Dylan Brown, Jed Donnelly, Nathan Noble, Robert Oughton, Will Patterson, Jordan Pike, Jordan Richardson and Mark Ridden - a group of young fathers from the North East Young Dads & Lads Project (NEYD&L) met at BALTIC, to explore materials from the exhibition and think about how they relate to their own experiences of fatherhood. The group worked with myself, Jonah York, youth worker at NEYDL and Dr Michael J Richardson, lecturer in Human Geography. The sessions were supported by Vicky Sturrs, BALTIC’s Head of Learning and Civic Engagement.
Throughout the project the group talked, worked and played, inviting their children and partners to join them in some of the sessions. They also met former members of the Achilles Heel Collective, Paul Atkinson, Andy Metcalf and Paul Morrison.
This publication you are holding is the result of our conversations; a compilation of some of the thoughts on fatherhood that emerged during our time together. We hope it carries the warm, wise, funny and sometimes angry voices of the young fathers, opening a window into their experiences. A clear message runs through its fragments; the importance and value of care as a tool to build a better future.
Albert Potrony. March 2022 |