Diarykeepers is a participatory project that connects the geographically diverse community on either side of the Tamar River in Cornwall and in Devon. Diarykeepers draws inspiration from the handwritten diaries of local resident Joseph Snell between 1914 and 1938. The entries give a fascinating, personal account of valley life including everyday incidents, marking the changing seasons, leisure, his work as a market gardener as well as touching on wider issues. Each entry is very short – one or two sentences, and many have a poetic directness and striking simplicity.
The Diarykeepers project asked What is it like to live now? by inviting local people of all ages to keep a short daily diary for the month of June 2012. Ruth Ben-Tovim, from Encounters Arts, co-devised a performance installation with me.
For the performance we created a temporary installation in a large disused greenhouse and packing shed and local Diarykeepers animated the installation with their own and others stories.
The next stage of Diarykeepers is to use elements from the diaries to feed into creative community events across the Valley.
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