who am i?
Graduating with BDes Hons in Illustration at DJCAD in 2016, I now work from my studio in Wasps Creative Academy, Inverness. I have created a number of public artworks and murals and enjoy exploring socially engaged visual art across a variety of different mediums.
Inspired by my contrasting Papua New Guinean and Scottish heritage my interest in people and culture is represented throughout my work.
J A C Q U E L I N E B R I G G S
a r t i s t /
i l l u s t r a t o r
Wildbird Artist in Residence,
AIM (Art in Moray) Collective
AIM Collective Residency
Nov 2022 - Nov 2023: Phase 2
Arts in Moray (AIM) is a collective of Moray based organisations working in collaboration with artists and communities.
Drawing upon associations of the word ‘collective’, the Arts in Moray group was granted funding as part of Creative Scotland’s Culture Collective programme to employ a new and radical approach to engaging a network of creative practitioners and communities within Moray.
Rhizome theory explores multiplicity of thought in a non-hierarchical structure. Rhizomes have no beginning, middle or end, they are interconnected, and there is a collective approach to the development of the organism. This theory underpins the ethos of the project, championing fairness, transparency, agency, equity and collaboration across its members.
Dance North Scotland is the lead applicant for the Arts in Moray partnership group, which includes Moray Arts Development Engagement (M:ADE), the Moray Way Association and Wildbird. network.
Take a peek through my visual diary, documenting my journey throughout this residency.
MY AIMS FOR THIS RESIDENCY
As part of my year long Wildbird residency with the AIM collective, I’ve been working creatively alongside The RISE Women’s Group (Justice Team, Moray). Learning about and hosting workshops in their poly tunnel growing project, I have been inspired by the compassion and honesty of the team and participants in the group.
respect
Follow the ethos of RISE and take a compassionate and respectful approach to those within the group. Any material shared through this blog will be pre- approved by RISE in the interest of ethics.
DEVELOPMENT
Discuss ideas from participants and team for creative development within community and utilise to further my own artistic development.
COMMUNITY
Engage with a marginalised group or community (RISE, Women’s Group, Justice Team Moray and Moray Food Plus)
RELATIONSHIPS
Form meaningful connections with community members, coordinators and group as a whole.
meaningful art
Create artwork that is meaningful and beneficial to the mental wellbeing of individuals within group
SHARING
Create a platform to share the activities of the residency and my creative journey throughout.
Continual updates between AIM members will allow for open conversation and possible collaboration.
Recovery
Inclusion
Support
Energy
The Poly Tunnel
The Poly tunnel aims to provide individuals with a safe space outwith their norm to build confidence, improve self esteem, feel inspired, listened too, try new things and access wider community support through a programme of holistic support. Building localised partnerships is key to providing referral pathway out of the Justice service for individuals and reducing stigma.
Rise currently works in partnership with addictions services ARROWS, Moray Food plus, Womans Aid, Arts in Moray, Community Education and employment agencies, NHS.
What is RISE?
“Recovery, Inclusion, Support, Energy:
a hub for woman in Moray who find themselves within the Justice system.
Woman offenders are a massively marginalised group within society. The backgrounds of many woman we work with are marked by experiences of abuse, drug misuse, poor schooling results, poverty, and psychological distress and self-harm.
These characteristics often result in difficulties with engagement and rehabilitation within criminal justice support.
For many confronting the painful realities of their personal and social circumstances without drugs to obliterate the pain can feel overwhelming. The experience of custody, sense of loss, the break-up of family relationships, the loss of control and feeling of helplessness and fear, or experiences of being bullied all increase the risk of already vulnerable woman committing suicide or self-harm.
Rise supports a focus not on the offences but an attempt to understand the person behind it, a person centred trauma informed approach.”
Abby Roger, Moray Justice Team
November 2022 - the first AIM Phase 2 Meetup
THE ARTS IN MORAY COLLECTIVE
To be part of a collective involving talented multidisciplinary artists also run by artists has been such a positive experience and is integral in ensuring a sense of support and guidance throughout.
Date : Friday 25th November 2022
Location: THE BOSIE Family Centre, Elgin High Street
I met up with the Justice Team - Women’s group, RISE, who were working with Food Plus doing a Christmas baking session at The Bosie.
One participant brought in an old German recipe book belonging to their grandmother so we made a traditional german pudding.
Everyone got stuck in and helped. The idea was to provide some practical ideas and a way to build relationships within the community while providing a relaxed and non judgemental atmosphere.
It was a great first session with RISE, getting to know the team and members before Christmas.
Date : Sunday 22nd January 2023
Location : Findhorn
Spent the day exploring Findhorn Bay with my partner and dog. I loved the mixture of forest and beach and was really inspired by the amount of different foliage growing from the sand. We got lost in the dunes and the trails through the sand forest.
Afterwards we ventured to The Findhorn Foundation, an eco village community where we had lunch at The Phoenix Cafe and explored the different art and pottery studios there.
e a s t
waveswaveswaveswav
Date: Friday 11th Feb
Location: Poly Tunnel, Elgin Industrial Estate - RISE
With the growing season starting soon, the Poly Tunnel located within Elgin Industrial Estate is getting up and running again.
The RISE group use this as a hub for members to learn about growing vegetables and having social get togethers whilst providing them with unpaid hours.
As someone who is really interested in horticulture and learning about growing my own food, I’m really interested to find out more about what they will be growing and how this kind of activity can be beneficial mentally.
In this friendly and open environment, I opened the floor up to discuss ideas about what participants might enjoy learning more about and other activities they wanted to be involved in that I could facilitate.
Some ideas discussed were:
Murals on the poly tunnel (a community led approach)
Creating decorations within Poly Tunnel (increased sense of ownership over space)
Creating practical materials such as stone labels for seedlings
Painting a sign for RISE that they feel represents them and what RISE stands for
A future social event within the space
First Poly Tunnel Visit
The Rise group use the polytunnel as their meeting place, a hub for individuals within the criminal justice system to learn new skills, improve wellbeing and gain support. Growing veg is just one of the supports available alongside support from other community agencies. The polytunnel is developing and as partnerships grow so is the hub of support offered to try and ensure that individuals have pathways out of the justice system. The woman have named it the “Space in between”.
Abby Roger, Moray Justice Team
Date: Wednesday 8th February
Location : Hopeman Memorial Hall
Activity: Skill Sharing day with Collective
TEAM
DAY
Date: 28th February
Location: Combine to Create Learning Exchange, Univeral Hall, Findhorn
Date: Friday 10th March
Location: Polytunnel, Elgin Industrial Estate - RISE
STONE PAINTING
The group had identified previously that the Poly Tunnel was in need of more labels for the seedlings they were starting to grow there.
I had collected a variety of beautifully coloured stones from Findhorn beach and brought them in as our canvases. I was really happy to see that some members decided to paint their own designs onto the stones, even making gifts for others and everyone seemed really engaged with some expressing interest in pursuing art in future.
I’m really keen to follow in the direction of the groups interests and needs within the poly tunnel.
Sitting around a table and having a shared activity, working with our hands, provided a great chance to chat freely and openly with discussions about mental wellbeing, areas in common and future ideas for activities within the RISE group.
Lovely to see new friendships and support networks being formed amongst lots of laughter.
Date: 21st March
Location: Polytunnel, Elgin Industrial Estate, Moray Food Plus
I had the chance to follow up some of the joint Moray Food Plus sessions with RISE.
Moray Food Plus utilise this space independently but also use it in conjunction with RISE so there are crossovers with who is visiting. MFP then use a lot of the veg they grow here to use within their workshops with RISE and other community groups within Moray.
Located within the industrial estate in Elgin, the poly tunnel has been built up from an array of recycled and reused materials and I was really inspired by this approach of using what you can find.
I was helping Sandra (Moray Food Plus) to plant potatoes and tomatoes.
Abby Roger, Moray Justice Services said Moray Food Plus “are a partner agency with Justice services and together with the Unpaid work squads and the groups we are aiming to supply fresh vegetable boxes throughout Moray.”
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