Multiple ways of collective making are celebrated in this exhibition curated by Claire Wellesley-Smith as part of the International Conference Culture and Mental Health. These works reflect on small stories that connect us to the way we experience the challenges of everyday life: socially engaged art projects, work created in collective settings from community centres, libraries to prisons, zoom rooms where making has happened ‘together apart’ during the pandemic. This exhibition shows responses that come from seldom heard voices and questions our assumptions about resilience and wellbeing.

The exhibition Connective Material explores international responses to the idea of connection through materials and making. It will bring together work that speaks to these themes from groups including: refugees and asylum seekers, LGBTQ+, community mental health organisations, people with lived experience, young people, intergenerational groups, and healthcare workers.

With work from among others Louise Limontas, The Bradford Covid 19 Stich Journal, Lynn Setterington, Karina Thompson and Angela Maddock.