A UNION Collaborative Project

Lisa, Gigi, Philip and Vikki from UNION Leeds ’22 came together to explore a theme that felt close to all of their lives: connection and disconnection. What began as a conversation over coffee grew into two linked strands of creative enquiry, run in parallel across community spaces (including the White Rose Shopping Centre and Heart Community Centre in Headingley) and out in nature.

One strand took the form of creative workshops — mandala colouring and drawing, dry clay sculpture — offering a relaxed, hands-on space where participants could gently explore belonging, identity and loneliness through making rather than talking alone. The other strand gathered voices directly, recording interviews, audio reflections and experimental film footage that captured participants’ own words on what it means to feel connected, or not, to people, places and parts of themselves. Together, the two strands built something neither could have made on its own: a body of creative work and honest reflection on one of the most universal human experiences.

In their words…

“Working on this project has definitely given me permission to inquire more openly about these important questions without the guilt of uselessness.”

“We need each other, we respond, react, evolve and develop because of the others around me… everyone speaks back to us in one way or another and allows us to get to know each other better.”

“Connection is not always loud or immediate. Often it is found in the smallest gestures — in listening, in making, in sharing, and in simply being present with one another.”

“As I worked alongside participants, I was reminded that creativity has a quiet but powerful way of bringing people together.”