Outreach appoints award-winning artist
23 March 2009 (updated on 22 April 2010)
has been appointed as the first professional artist to work with Parliamentary Outreach.
Rachel will be working on the on the 'Breaking Barriers' exhibition programme due to open at Southend Discovery Museum on 6 June 2009. In conjuction with Parliamentary Outreach and national charity Rethink, Rachel will create a community work of art created alongside audiences with, or in recovery from, severe mental illness.
Looking at how people have engaged with Parliament in the past and how you can engage now, Rachel and 30 members of Rethink will look at suffrage in Essex and consider how it is relevant to them today.
"I am delighted to be playing a role in this innovative project. I am particularly excited to be working with members of Rethink and individuals from communities in Essex and be able to consider the suffrage movement in Essex and how people can engage with Parliament today. I am looking forward to creating artworks which link the historical battle for enfranchisement with its contemporary significance." - Rachel Gadsden
Rachel's work has been widely exhibited in the UK and overseas. She is the recipient of many prizes and awards, most recently DADA Visual Artist of the Year (2005), Holton Lee International Art Competition, People's Choice Prize (2007) and Arts Council SE Momentum09 Award (January 2009).
For more information on the Breaking Barriers programme please contact Rebecca Fawcett, Cultural Programmes Manager, at fawcettr@parliament.uk