‘For They Let In The Light’, a major live commission by the artist the vacuum cleaner (aka James Leadbitter) in collaboration with a group of young artists from the Coborn Centre for Adolescent Mental Health in Newham, East London, took root at Chisenhale Gallery from 25 November – 4 December.
The sharings took place at Chisenhale with some of the young people alongside James, a mental health nurse and curator Seth Pimlott. The piece that has been developed is a radical and caring space driven by the young people’s desires to share and reflect on their own journeys, the broken system and to make adults listen to what is so urgently needed for young people’s mental health.
Seth Pimlott, the producer and curator of the project, generously shared with London Arts and Health some insights into the processes, influences and approaches that shaped the work and brought the performances to light.
How would you describe For They Let In The Light?
The work consists of a series of short films James made at the hospital with the young artists in Spring 2021, combined with live performances by the group. The films respond to a question James put to the artists: “why are so many young people struggling with their mental health?” They are often addressed to adults and uniquely capture the young artists’ experience at that time, in that place. They are sometimes funny, sometimes sad, honest and very beautiful.
The groups’ performances, developed in rehearsals this Autumn at the gallery with James, respond to the material they created together last year. They contain reflections on what has changed in their lives, what hasn’t and how systems continue to fail them.
These two elements – the films and performances – are presented in Chisenhale Gallery’s studio space which we transformed for the ‘sharings’. This space is an imaginative expansion of the workshops James & his artistic collaborator, Caroline Moore, created, decorated by the young artists with tchotchkes, fidget toys, salt lamps, and galaxy projectors. It’s a welcoming space, warm (hot water bottles provided), and relaxed. We call them sharings because they are personal accounts from these young people about real things that have happened to them. It is a rich and multi-layered experience, made compelling by the young artists’ formidable presence.
What can you tell us about the creative and rehearsal process?
At the hospital, gaining the young people’s trust was an important first step for James & Caroline. James was able to do that by sharing his own experience of mental health struggles, having spent periods in mental health hospitals when he was younger. I was working on the project behind the scenes at that time – but James described a moment halfway through the sessions at the hospital when the floodgates opened, and people began turning up with all kinds of material – texts, songs, poems.
The second part took place at Chisenhale Gallery, where the group started to consider how they might share their work with an audience. There have been silly games and lots of laughter mixed with deep reflection, trying to think carefully about how an audience might encounter their work. It has also been a safer space in which to express their righteous anger about how they have been treated within and outside institutions.
How do you want people to encounter the work or enter the space?
I hope that the space, and the support that we have in place (having an incredible artist and mental health nurse, Fox Irving, through the sharings to talk to if needed), create an environment in which audiences feel able to listen attentively to what these young artists have to say. I hope audiences can recognise the young artist’s courage in making this work and the potential of such creative processes to foster solidarity and collective joy while also carving out room for grief and sadness. I hope people also feel inspired by the call to action in the piece; to unpack the experience, speak to someone, do something small, and allow themselves to feel angry too.
Seth spoke to Kat Themans at LAH. With thanks to Seth, James, Caroline and the young people involved.
