"In a time of destruction, create something: a poem, a parade, a community, a school, a vow, a moral principle; one peaceful moment.”
Maxine Hong Kingston
CREATIVE
/ kriːˈeɪtɪv / ~ having the ability to create.
Whatever form these may take, we ALL have strands of creativity running through us - the ability to bring into existence - and we all have something to offer, which can impact the world around us for the better.
Our events and workshops are collaborative, which means that participants will have a level of creative agency over their outcome.
COLLECTIVE
We are all interconnected - humanity is not selective: to care for one is to care for all. Our contributors are made up of volunteers from a wide range of backgrounds, ages, faiths and occupations, who are bringing their varied skillsets to the project.
Focusing on collectivism over individualism, everything produced in our workshops will be collated and bound into a book, as a piece of co-created collaborative art. Whether visiting, participating, supporting or contributing, you are all part of the collective.
ACTION
Through The Cracks is dedicated to justice for Palestine. All funds raised from Through The Cracks will be donated to the Amos Trust Emergency Appeal for Gaza.
Art can communicate difficult concepts in an uncomplicated, visceral manner. It can effect change in the world - it does so overtly by evoking an immediate emotive and cognitive response, yet also subliminally, by seeping into culture and consciousness.
REHUMANISE / riːˈhjuːməˌnaɪz / ~ to restore human qualities to someone or something
Through the Cracks is a rehumanisation project. It holds firmly to the belief that you cannot rob someone else of their humanity. Commentators will often say that Palestinians have been 'dehumanised' - we disagree. It is those who cannot see the humanity in others, who have been dehumanised. It is to them that we extend an invitation to 'rehumanise'.
THE COLLECTIVE
HANNAH APPLEBY
Born and raised in the countryside around Bath, Hannah channels her passion for social change through the organisation of community events, fundraising and alternative education.
This theme is also woven through her music which speaks of personal growth and the metaphysical.
SUE APPLEBY
Susan Appleby is a local community participant, who describes spending most of her life in logical disciplines, such as mathematics and software engineering, but had her creative horizons expanded when she learnt the art of Sashiko with designer Sky Pennant; the liberation of permission to go outside of the box and explore individual expression.
DAN BURMAN
Dan is a photographer, artist, poet and community builder, based in Bath. As a child, Dan had an obsession with drawing, painting and photography which led him to study fine art at Central St Martins. Dan has been a professional photographer since 2008 and has exhibited his art and photography in Liverpool, London, Brighton, Glastonbury and Bath.
Dan's Jewish identity piqued his interest in Israel and Palestine and in 2004 he partook on a Birthright Israel trip. Dans eyes were opened to Israeli culture, politics and the power of propaganda, which he saw through enough to motivate him to see the Palestinian side of the story. In 2009 Dan spent 10 days touring the West Bank as part of a self motivated photography project. Initially interested in seeing and photographing the controversial separation wall, his project grew into documenting the rich culture of the Palestinian people, whilst living under the shadows of occupation and war.
NICKS CORBETT
Nicks started exploring yoga and energy medicine when she became sober and later, when told she had lupus. Going on a deep journey of transformation, she learned that feeling brings deep healing, and increasing one's awareness brings great choice. She has studied a number of modalities reflecting her interests and she feel privileged to be able to hold the space for others to transform as well.
MATTHEW DENNIS
Originally from Dartmoor in the South West of England, Matthew's practice revolves around themes of belonging, sense of place, ancient traditions, and connection to landscape and each other.
KATE HOLLAND
Kate Holland is a Fellow of Designer Bookbinders, a Homo Faber Master Artisan and a QEST scholar. Her books are in collections at the British Library, Bodleian, Yale and Berkeley Universities as well as many private collections all over the world. She represented bookbinding as part of the Harewood Craft Biennial. She is a regular binder to The Booker Prize and featured in a film on BBC The One Show exploring this. She teaches bookbinding at Bath Spa University and West Dean College. She also runs private courses from her workshop and regularly lectures.
HUMM
Arty Jackson and Carys Lewin are a South West-based contemporary folk duo with stories to tell, minds to change and worlds to re-imagine. Creating music which unites fellow nature-lovers with their inner activist.
Rooted in traditional music, Humm have created a new, eclectic sound with their rich harmonium drones, melodic finger-style guitar and lush ethereal vocals. Humm take listeners on a twisted journey through love and heartbreak, telling folkloric tales of Welsh saints and Greek sinners, Cornish fairy tales and mediaeval legends.
With the natural world at the heart of Humm’s music, soaring melodies and wistful instrumentation bring their earnest lyrics to life, solidifying their place in folk music.
MELISSA HURST
Melissa Hurst is a Bruton-based ceramicist. She works with porcelain to create delicately simple bowls and vessels, whose flowing structure is overwhelmingly natural and organic. She thrives on the challenge of working with this unpredictable medium. Her process is a true collaboration with the clay - guiding its shape into beautiful forms, she places her trust in the porcelain body, allowing it to dictate the movement and then finessing the final piece. Her collection is constantly evolving and she is never happier than when covered in the chaos of the clay.
BENAZIR JATOI
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MIKE JOSEPH
Mike Joseph is a journalist, broadcaster, and historian of genocide. He is a member of the International Network of Genocide Scholars and formerly Honorary Research Fellow at Cardiff University School of Journalism. He has researched, lectured, published and broadcast on his own family's Holocaust history in Britain, Switzerland and Germany. His recent work draws on his other family inheritance – perpetration of the Palestinian Nakba of 1948.
Mike investigates how genocides are remembered or denied, and become instrumental in subsequent violent crises. His work on the West’s reception of Armenian history supported the successful campaign for Senedd, the Welsh parliament, to recognise 1915 as a genocide.
DUNYA LAMRHARI
Dunya is a Glastonbury based DJ, musician & sound healer, who loves connecting to her Moroccan roots by fusing together the mystical sounds of the Middle East with big bass. Her dynamic mixes weave transcendental sounds, dark baselines and a fusion of Middle Eastern, North African & South Asian electronic music.
EDUARDO LEMOS MARTIN
Eduardo is a Brazilian-born, Bath-based music journalist, curator, and live music manager.
LUCY LYON
Lucy Lyon creates filmic portraits that tell people’s stories, celebrate their nuances and highlight the things that make us all unique.
Having lived in different parts of the UK and Arab World, Lucy has worked with people across culturally and socially diverse backgrounds.
ASH MANGANARO
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ANA MASTERS
Ana has been a Yoga Alliance certified Hatha yoga teacher, since 2022. Her love for yoga took her to India, in 2023, to further explore Ashtanga Vinyasa and its traditional ways. She is an Ashtanga practicioner herself, who is also keen on other aspects of yoga such as pranayama, sound therapy and meditation. Her teaching style is explorative and light, supporting practicing at one's own pace.
MALAK MATTAR
Malak was born in the Gaza Strip and grew up under occupation and military siege. Malak started making art as a teenager during a period of open conflict, and soon began to sell work online and exhibit internationally. She won a scholarship to study political science at Istanbul Aydin university and is currently completing an MA in Fine Art at Central Saint Martin’s, London.
Soon after arriving in the UK, Malak’s entire world was turned upside down, causing her work to undergo a dramatic shift in style, subject matter and palette. While artist-in-residence at An Effort in Central London , she documented the genocide in her homeland through a series of mostly monochrome drawings and paintings. She later combined these scenes into a monumental greyscale painting called No Words. This work is a testimony to the apocalyptic horror and extent of the displacement, ethnic cleansing and atrocities being ravaged upon her fellow Palestinians.
Mattar wrote and illustrated the bestselling children’s book Sitti’s Bird (2021) based on her own life experiences. In defiance of strict travel restrictions, Mattar has lectured in universities across the USA and has had solo exhibitions in Palestine, Costa Rica.UK, Sweden; USA; Germany; Lebanon ; Portugal and Italy. Most recently, Malak had two concurrent exhibitions in London, and her monumental painting No Words was shown for the first time (March 2024).
DIONNE MCCULLOCH
Dionne McCulloch is an editor of both fiction and narrative non fiction. She mentors writers and works with a programme through Bath Spa University to support writers from the global majority. She also writes, and in 2023 was shortlisted and won special commendation in the 4th estate/Guardian prize. She currently has a novel on submission.
JOUD NASSAR
Born and raised in Palestine, Joud has a deep love and passion for Palestinan embroidery, activism, singing, music and art. Her lengthy experience of activism and frontline trauma work, has given her deep insights into the importance of self-care. These experiences have taught her how essential it is to care for ourselves so that we can continue to give back to others and support those in need.
MATT OWENS
British born singer-songwriter and musician Matt Owens first came to prominence as a founder member of indie-folk band Noah and the Whale. Releasing four albums, Noah and the Whale achieved huge success in the UK and overseas, selling over one million albums in the UK alone. The band toured the world between 2006 and 2014, playing hundreds of festivals, including Austin City Limits, Fuji Rocks and Lollapalooza, as well as touring with the likes of Arcade Fire, Bahamas, and Feist.
4 albums in to a critically-acclaimed solo-career, Matt's 2024 release "Way Out West" has been hailed as a “Masterpiece” by Uncut & a “Career Zenith” by Classic Rock Mag. Bath’s favourite son and his killer band of All-stars The Delusional Vanity Project have long been establishing a reputation as one of the fiercest live acts in the country and are set to play 30 festivals this year including Glastonbury.
ANNA RYAN
Anna is a local musician and activist. A firm believer in the power of community building, Anna pours herself into projects where creative collaboration is central.
Anna is a graduate of Bath Spa University’s commercial music course and a resident at EMERGE artist studios, where she is developing a creative technology business in sound design’.
AZHAAR SAFFAR
Violinist Azhaar has performed all over Europe, including international festiv as such as Montreux , Mai Jazz, EFG London Jazz Festival, Brecon Jazz festival, Birmingham Jazz Festival, Glastonbury, Larmer Tree, One world, The Green Gathering, the 1st Frome Festivals etc..and has performed in Brazil, Mexico, Costa Rica and the USA...
She made her reputation with the popular, internationally acclaimed Brazilian jazz group Sirius B and has recently formed The Desafinados. They are named after one of the most famous bossa novas by Antonio Carlos Jobim. Desafinado was the name given to the early bossa nova musicians in the ‘60’s by the sambistas on the hills. It means the ‘Out of tune people’! Because of the crazy new harmonies.
JANE SHACKMAN
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CHRIS STEPHENS
Chris Stephens has been Director of the Holburne Museum, Bath, since July 2017. Before that he worked at Tate in London for twenty-one years, for much of that time as Head of Displays at Tate Britain and Lead Curator of Modern British Art. His numerous exhibitions include some of the Tate’s most successful shows, such as ‘Barbara Hepworth: Centenary’ at Tate St Ives in 2003 and, in London, ‘Francis Bacon’ (2008), ‘Henry Moore’ (2010), ‘Picasso and British Art’ (2012) and ‘David Hockney’ (2017). As a leading expert on modern British art, he has published extensively and his book - St Ives The Art and the Artists was published in 2018.
BLAKE WALKER
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ZAC WARE
Zac is a songwriter, producer and guitarist with The Proclaimers. He will be singing songs of resistance and hope.
"To be human is to love, to create, and to resist"
Mahmoud Darwish
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