Details

Hatched is a series of fresh, new works-in-progress by artists who have a connection to the Albany. Growing up in the 90's in a domestically violent, mixed raced family household on an east Midlands council estate wasn't what I would have chosen for an upbringing. After repeatedly hitch-hiking to safety with my kid Brothers, calling the police daily, and surviving my childhood, I consider the different kinds of love necessary for an often callous family dynamic. I am the only child to my parents, but I have an older Sister and two younger Brothers. My Sister has a sister but she's not related to me. My middle Brother has seven sisters who have three mothers, one of his sisters has a Brother that isn't related to him. My youngest Brother has one older Brother and one older Sister, neither are related to me, or each other or my middle Brother nor my Mother. But we three are related through our Mother who gave birth to us but my Sister, well her Mother gave birth to her. Our Mother is white British, but our three Fathers make us mixed Jamaican, Malaysian, Kenyan, Calcuttan, Irish. We grew in the same womb, the same house and fed from the same breast, we look nothing alike, and our fathers are nothing alike. My Father cheated on her, his Father betrayed her and his Father beat her, and punished us for not being his. As an autobiographical account this piece has guts and grit, is tender and courageous, and looks hopefully at the possibility of the recovery of a family in constant negotiation with the repercussions of a violent history. It offers an insight into a complex multi racial family, a domestic violent world which is statistically common place in our country, and breaks the silence of 11 years of abuse.

Creatives/Company

Presented by(s): Ria Hartley, The Albany