A Greater Manchester exhibition brought together people who have experienced disadvantages such as homelessness, poverty and addiction to tell their stories to support others undergoing similar challenges.
Unseen Voices is the result of a year of work from the Changing Futures team at Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) and not-for-profit video production company BADKAMRA. The teams worked with 12 people from the city-region who have experienced multiple disadvantages and barriers, ranging from people with disabilities to those who have been in the care system.
The project aimed to showcase their experiences and difficulties of navigating Greater Manchester services, with the findings to be used to transform services and make improvements for people who face disadvantages. Rather than displaying the results in a document or online, the team decided to host an exhibition at HOME, in Manchester city centre, where the participants told their stories through spoken word, poetry, film or other art forms.
Two sessions of Unseen Voices took place on Wednesday, 19th July, with live performances, a Q&A session and an open exhibition making up the show. The aim is to reach people in positions of power who can help influence how services and systems work when setting out to help people.
The creators also wanted to help people currently going through hard times, who my find inspiration or solace in seeing how others have worked through difficult experiences.
One of the Unseen Voices participants Ushiku Crisafulli, 34, from Tameside, has experienced homelessness and has written poetry to tell his story. He has struggled to find employment in an industry he enjoys, such as theatre, while complying with the restrictions set by the benefit system.
Ushiku said:
“The experience of late-teenage homelessness and the benefit system has been a far bigger impediment to social mobility than what job my dad had at 14. Yet the metrics used to analyse multiple disadvantages often aren’t fit for purpose.
“Our lived experiences tell this story far better than spreadsheets ever could, and I was happy to lend my voice to this effort.”
