27/05/09 Elmgrove Community Group

This was day one of what became a five week program. We met with the Elmgrove Community Group and discussed how we could explore the culture of East Belfast and in what way we could represent it visually. We brought along Emma-Louise Hutchinson (local artist) to facilitate the project. It was generally agreed that it was important to draw from the 'industrial history' of the area, whilst trying to find a way to show how the area is changing. The group wanted to find a way to show a link between the past, the present and the future. Quite a few concepts were discussed but the one that proved to be most popular was the idea of dressing/decorating an 'Elmgrove' tree within the grounds of the school. It was felt that the tree was a perfect platform from which to begin. The 'roots' could represent both the parents of the pupils and also the community, the trunk of the tree was the link to the leaves, which represented the children/future.