The Studio: ‘Holding On’ Launch
“All our lives we keep holding on, that’s something inside all of us. Our work in the Co-Design Studio is about keeping going and we want to pass on that message. We want our audience to see the work, live in the work and understand what the young people of KRAN are holding on to.”
— Grmalem Gonetse Kasa
“People who like climbing might like this artwork, and it might change their point of view about migration. The climbing causes hardship as you read, you can feel the struggle. We want people to climb ‘Holding On’, enjoy it, experience it, and to get some meaning from it.”
— Ibrahim Ahmadzai
“I hope people can learn from this artwork. I’ve learned that art can be many things. Art means not just one thing, art means ‘imagine’, it means language. The outcome can be anything.”
— Mata Argaw
The Studio is led by producers with lived experience of navigating the UK’s asylum system. They work together to commission and co-create public artworks. It explores how public art is made, installed, and received by audiences, as well as its role in forging connections across difference in our borderland communities on the East Kent coast.
