CITYIST

THE CITYist

Luke Jerram with his glass sculpture of the vaccine

Raise a glass

To mark the ten millionth vaccination in the UK, Bristol artist Luke Jerram made and released a sculpture of the OxfordAstraZeneca vaccine in glass, with sale profits directed to global charity Médecins Sans Frontières to help communities heavily impacted by the pandemic.

The artwork, 34cm across, is one million times larger than the actual nanoparticle. Created from borosilicate glass, it is made from the same materials and techniques used in medical scientific glassware for test tubes and distilleries.

Having tested positive for Covid-19 in November, the artist continued feeling the effects of the virus for some time. “During my recovery, it became clear to me that my next artwork should focus on the vaccine, our way out of this global crisis, as a tribute to the scientists and medical teams who have been working collaboratively across the world to fight the virus,” he said.

“It’s brilliant that such effective vaccines have been created in such a short space of time and that here in the UK we’ve been able to roll them out so quickly. However, the fight against the disease is a global one, which is why I wanted to support Médecins Sans Frontières.”

Back in March 2020, the artist made a sculpture of Covid-19, in tribute to the huge global scientific and medical effort to combat the pandemic. From the sale of these sculptures to private collectors, including a global rock superstar, and museums around the world over, £17,500 was raised for Médecins Sans Frontières who have been assisting developing countries deal with the fallout of the coronavirus.

My BRISTOL

Meet LaToyah McAllister-Jones, St Pauls Carnival executive director

I live in St Werburghs, on the border of St Pauls. It’s a great location; there’s nothing quite like

having Carnival on your doorstep! I’m a Londoner and arrived in Bristol five years ago because we knew it; we had friends living in St Werburghs and liked the vibe of the city. It had a significant African Caribbean community and a carnival! I can’t imagine living anywhere else; Bristol has been good to us. Our eldest son was six when we came and he’s now lived here longer than anywhere else. It’s a city with great emphasis on community and social connections, and very much home.

The environment I work in is quite unusual; in the run up to Carnival, it feels like an event organisation; everything focused on logistics. After the ‘wash-up’, it is an arts organisation more focused on delivering inspirational programmes like BHM offering Ketch A Fyah. A typical day for me is about connecting with partner orgs, looking for fundraising opportunities, checking in with staff and the programmes they’re leading on and preparing the ground for the next event…

Despite having to cancel the live 2020 event, we did manage to deliver our first digital carnival,

Spirit Up! United at Home. It was a great experience working on that; it’s given us a foundation for more digital events. We’re paying close attention to the Covid-19 situation and will soon need to make some firm decisions on what the 2021 event will look like. It’s difficult to imagine 100,000 people on the streets of St Pauls in July. We’re looking carefully at what the alternatives are. We’re also creating income generation streams for the organisation –an important part of the coming year’s business development strategy. We opened our first online shop for the festive season which was exciting.

You can show support for Carnival by heading over to our Etsy store and buying our tees, prints

and tea towels. You can donate to our crowdfunder at stpaulscarnival.net or get in contact via fundraising@stpaulscarnival.org.uk if you’re interested in supporting the 2021 event.

A special shout-out to Guy and Rachel from St

Pauls Adventure Playground: they had a terrible fire during the first lockdown which destroyed so much of the playground. Thankfully, no one was hurt. They had a really extensive job repairing the damage and getting ready to welcome families back. They’ve done amazingly with fundraising. It’s such an important space; the dedication is inspirational.

LaToyah has been finding new ways to reach out to the community

I’ve been listening to a lot of soca, and Steve

Reich for relaxation. I really love Da Fuchaman, who opened our digital carnival –conscious reggae with messages of positivity and unity.

My family loves Caribbean Croft in Stokes Croft

and Glen’s Kitchen in St Pauls. When I want a real treat, I love The Ivy and also Brace and Browns. The Farm does a great Sunday roast and has a fab beer garden for the kids to run around in. Napolita is a real favourite; right in the heart of the community, it’s a great place for breakfast and lunchtime catch ups.

I’m also a qualified yoga teacher and spent time living on retreat in Nicaragua teaching yoga. Good times!

Life became small during lockdown; we took pleasure from simple, everyday things that had

been taken for granted. Going for a walk, having a barbecue with family, a long bike ride; these are favourite memories. Last year was a real lesson in being creative; realising that we will find ways to be together. For St Pauls Carnival, it meant finding new ways to reach out to the community.

If I was mayor I would first address Bristol’s

homelessness issue. It’s close to my heart as I worked with street homeless people for 20-odd years. The lockdown intervention showed what can be achieved when the will is there. No one should live on the streets in the sixth richest country in the world. It’s unacceptable. How we treat the most vulnerable is a reflection of who we are as a society. n • stpaulscarnival.net

THE CITYist

New releases from the newly released

Bristol charity Changing Tunes is setting up a record label specifically for ex-prisoners, encouraging them to break free from the stigma of their past and use music to help them lead meaningful, crime-free lives and establish themselves in the music industry.

With his passion for music, experience of being in the prison system and a £55,000 grant from The National Lottery Community Fund, Cameron Harper of Red Tangent Records will produce and promote material created by musicians who’ve been through the criminal justice system.

It was during his time at a Bristol prison that Cam first came to know of Changing Tunes and the profound impact music can have in transforming lives. “I’ve been a musician for over 20 years; music has always been a part of my life and has really helped me through some difficult times,” he says. “It was a new experience for me to see music being used in prisons; it was eye-opening the way the Changing Tunes musicians interacted with prisoners in such a positive way within that environment. I want to continue this great work and help those coming out of prison use music positively.”

Red Tangent Records will provide a support network and resource to address the challenges people face after coming out of prison, especially given the added impact of Covid-19, and a professional developmental pathway for those with the commitment and talent who may otherwise feel lost in such a challenging context. The label plans to support five UK artists/bands each year. “I hope it will change people’s perspective of what it means to be an ex-prisoner,” says Cam. “People find themselves in difficult situations and have to make difficult choices –but everyone still deserves a positive future. I think that’s the most powerful message of this label.” • changingtunes.org.uk

Centre stage in the city once more

The Architecture Centre, English Heritage and Bristol City Council have revealed plans to imagine a new future for Temple Church and Gardens as a thriving community space.

A world-class design team has joined the visioning process, including award-winning architect Steve Tompkins of Haworth Tompkins, whose work includes the radical Royal Fort Gardens reinvention of the Bristol Old Vic. “It has the chance to be an exemplar of regenerative (image: Barbara Evripidou) design in the widest sense,” he says, “minimising precious resources while contributing to a thriving neighbourhood.”

Pioneering landscape architects Grant Associates are looking at the gardens, with the aim of creating inspirational green spaces that promote wellbeing. The practice designed Gardens by the Bay in Singapore, featured in the BBC’s Seven Worlds, One Planet.

Temple Church has played a significant role in the story of the city, its fortunes waxing and waning. Originally it was the site of a 12th-century circular temple built by the legendary Knights Templar. Currently closed to the public, it is in the top 20 worstcondition buildings belonging to English Heritage. Young voices have been heard through The Architecture Centre’s Shape My City programme, where 15 to 18-year-olds learned about the site and shared their designs.

The church, visible today with its distinctive leaning tower, was built in the 15th century and was bombed during the Bristol Blitz of 1940. Although closed, the site came alive briefly for Sanctum with artist Theaster Gates for Bristol Green Capital in 2015, offering a glimmer of possibility for the future. “As the next generation of designers and citizens, young people from our Shape My City programme had some great ideas for Temple Church and Gardens,” says Shankari Raj, head of education at The Architecture Centre. “They wanted to see a vibrant, active space with a strong focus on nature, the environment and pop-up events. They cared about community involvement in the future of this heritage site to really bring it to life and make it relevant in the next chapter of Bristol.”

WELL VERSED

A Bristol writer is this month releasing a collection of poetry about his experience of homelessness in the South West. Sorrow, Tears and Blood, published by Arkbound and written by David Onamade –who is homeless near Bristol to be close to his two children –is a book of despair and hope; painting a picture of society that is at once dark and broken up by fleeting rays of light.

With a BA in English literature and an MA in creative writing, David has worked in racial equality all his life and has been writing since 1991. His first fantasy novel The Plight of the Unborn is in production and due out soon.

Drawing on David’s plight on the streets in one of England’s richest regions, the interactions of people he observes and encounters every day, the impacts of Covid-19 and the changing seasons, the powerful new poetry and prose aims to reveal “the double-talk of homeless service provision – a society that consigns people as worthless without knowing their backgrounds; which assumes that homelessness is a choice rather than a predicament”.

From Henrietta Park

Then the eight old trees that stand stoic like pathways to the spirit world.

If there is sadness here, it is banished by my hygge verdure; the dull echo of voices from afar, voices the wind carries on its wings like soothe; the shrill voices of children at play. Trees that murmur in a sing-along with the birds - hearty, fervent; and the antics of dogs that refuse to answer to their human names.

Kindness

Your kindness Is the heart That sings an orphaned child To sleep, With a sweet lullaby.

It makes finding my feet, Even if Tentative Like baby steps, Bearable.

• Sorrow, Tears and Blood is out on 12 March, £5.99; arkbound.com