Bury Art Museum & Sculpture Centre Presents:

The Homeless Library & Sing Me To Sleep

SING ME TO SLEEP at Bury Art Museum
​13 December 2016 - 21 January 2017
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We are delighted to invite you to The Homeless Library and the British-Lithuanian art project ‘Sing Me to Sleep’ (Padainuok man labanakt).

 
The Homeless Library, is a fraction of a heritage: the unwritten, unheard stories of homeless people. Until now these stories have been held in living memory and lost when those who remember are gone. This library is a set of 50-plus handmade books, full of artworks, poems and interviews. How does homelessness fit into our history, what can be learnt from these stories?
 
‘Sing me to Sleep’ (Padainuok man labanakt’) is a British-Lithuanian art project. People who have experienced homelessness, worked with professional artists to explore the tangled forests of fairytale, childhood and their current life. 
At The Bury Art Museum in Greater Manchester was presented “Sing me to Sleep” (Padainuok man labanakt) exhibition – a creative collaboration between homeless people in Lithuania and the UK, working with professional artists to remake fairy-tales in words, images and textiles.
After being exhibited in Vilnius in September this year, the exhibition came to Manchester – a city where the story of the project started a little more than one year ago. Then we met the “arthur+martha” artists at the homeless center “The Booth Center“ and agreed to try to work together.
Despite cultural, linguistic and other differences we saw that both – we and “arthur+martha“ – have similar attitudes towards the impact of arts activity. That it is enhancing people‘s well-being, empowering individuals and helping to build communities. The theme of fairy-tales could reveal our common humanity and could help everyone to discover unique stories of homeless people that are never heard.
The entrance to homeless centre “The Booth Centre“, which is visited by people from various (more than 20) ethnic groups, including Lithuanian.
The year passed and on December 13, 2016 at the Bury Art Museum in Greater Manchester was opened the second exhibition of our collaboration in the project “Sing me to Sleep” (Padainuok man labanakt). One of the leading artists of the project, Eglė Gudonytė, was present to introduce the Lithuanian part of the project.
The exhibition talks about the importance of arts in the lives of people who are socially excluded. Because of the various and uneasy reasons, people in this situation are subject to disagree with society, to think that it isn’t acting rightly. It is important that everyone receives positive and supportive experience – then people can grow as individuals and feel that they are a part of the society. A small society is being made while people participate in arts activity. In this “small society” they can find themselves being creative, interesting, valuable, feel being true themselves. This peaceful community becomes an example of society in which people who are socially excluded would like to live.
Picture
Photo- Fraser Lord, opening in Bury Art Museum, 2016
Work in UK was based at The Wellspring, the Booth Centre in Greater Manchester, and it was developed in workshops with arts organisation arthur+martha. Work in Lithuania was implemented by NGO “Socialiniai meno projektai“, in partnership with The Tiltas Trust, The British Council, The National Gallery of Art, Arts for Health at The Manchester Metropolitan University, VA “Caritas“; supported by The Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania and The Lithuanian Council for Culture. Other partners: 15min. lt, UAB “Media Traffic“, UAB “Petro Ofsetas“, Vilniaus turizmo informacijos centras.

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