Making Kent Home

On Saturday 1st March we opened our new exhibition ‘Making Kent Home’ in the Front Room of The Beaney House of Art and Knowledge in Canterbury.

The exhibition explores items that people have brought with them to Kent to make themselves feel more at home, to create familiarity in an unfamiliar place. It has been created in collaboration with the Ethnic Minorities in Canterbury group (EMIC) and the French Church at Canterbury Cathedral.

Two members of the Engagement Team were on hand during the opening day to meet people and answer questions. We had a constant stream of visitors and some very positive comments. Although it was a challenge to put the exhibition together, it was also very rewarding.

Together with The Beaney and EMIC, we collated some amazing archaeological and historical artefacts that are displayed alongside objects that are still used today. These objects reflect the movement of people into Kent throughout history. It has also given us the opportunity to work collaboratively with the Beaney on their community engagement projects.

We were invited to join them recently for their monthly group, ‘Power of the Object’,

which is run for people with dementia, mild cognitive conditions and social isolation.

The theme in March was Archaeology and Kent, which coincided well with our ‘Making Kent Home’ exhibition. We took objects for participants to handle, including Roman mosaic jigsaw puzzles and pictures from our summer excavations at East Wear Bay

in Folkestone.

These are items that we regularly take along to our own dementia-friendly sessions, so it was great to be able to show them to a different group. We hope to work more with The Beaney in the future.

Entry to the ‘Making Kent Home’ exhibition is free of charge and will run until Sunday 4th May. Please check the Beaney opening times before your visit.