Drawing on the Outside,
by sarah filmer

Independent Public Art for Riverside Park
2022 – 2023

A public art project for Riverside Park in Southampton raising awareness and prompting discussion about social isolation.

Local visual artist sarah filmer will lead a 9-month programme of fortnightly creative workshops in Mansbridge for men experiencing isolation to come together, make and reconnect with their local community and spaces.

The workshops have been designed principally for men who live in single occupancy housing in Abri’s properties in Mansbridge, but are open to any men who live locally who want to reduce their social isolation.

Themes of each workshop and what the group creates will be decided together through a collaborative process. The outdoors will play an important role providing inspiration and materials as the group explore their individual and collective creativity.

During the project the group’s making process will have public moments at October Books Community Space in Portswood, God’s House Tower on Town Quay Road and Swaythling Train Station.

If you would like further information about the project or know someone who would like to attend the workshops please get in touch using drawingontheoutside@gmail.com

Final Press Release

About the artist

sarah filmer is an artist based in Southampton. She explores relationships between us with her practice, working from an inclusive feminist position to engage people through acts of public art.

In 2016 her work received national attention through the GHT: A Reincarnation project, where the artist highlighted historic gender imbalance by showcasing 700 women through performance, photojournalism, and collective art practices against a back-drop of patriarchal dominance in the narrative of medieval city walls.

A keen collaborator and interventionist, filmer uses art to reimagine public spaces, drawing on her veterinary practice for the outdoor installation, A Flock of Geese (2015) and questioning the relationship between grassroots and institutional art with The Ribbon People (2014), a mural of members of the general public outlined in ribbon against a backdrop of industrial hoardings surrounding a new arts complex.

Her project Knit the Walls uses knitting as a common thread for weaving personal stories into a city-wide initiative. Exploring the value of artistic outcomes to local communities, filmer engages with a variety of self-funding strategies including crowdsourcing as a means of financing community-centric art.

For further information about sarah’s work visit www.sarahfilmer.com

Drawing on the Outside Flyer - drawing by Mathew made with Oak Gall Ink, October 2022
Drawing of a Passion flower by Mike Filce, August 2022
Mansbridge over the River Itchen. Photo courtesy Damian Cook

Drawing on the Outside is part of a wider programme called Public Art for Riverside Park. Principally funded by Arts Council England, Abri, The Southampton Collective and Three Rivers Rail Partnership.

The programme emerged from a year of research and development in 2021 funded by Arts Council England’s Developing Your Creative Practice grant, made possible thanks to National Lottery players.