Making Routes: Wild Our Way

Making Routes was a unique creative partnership between Battersea Arts Centre (BAC), South London Gallery (SLG) and Oasis Play. Eight disabled and non-disabled artists worked across the three venues, collaborating with disabled and non-disabled children and young people to explore and develop artistic ideas and projects. For my project, Wild our Way, I collaborated with children from the three venues, bringing performance, dance, visual arts and play together. We explored wildness and play-fighting through movement practices and playful activities with lots of recycled foam off-cuts.

My residencies culminated in an inclusive interactive installation at SLG, which involved a small mountain of foam and a soundscape of ‘wild sounds’ recorded and created by children at Oasis. My residencies also culminated in a relaxed performance at BAC, which I devised in collaboration with an ensemble of disabled and non-disabled young performers between 6 and 23 years old. The installation and performance were shown as part of the Making Routes festival, which was a three day inclusive arts festival across BAC, SLG and Oasis, for children, young people, families and the public.

Wild our Way challenged who gets to play-fight and be wild in the context of disability.