This November, Guideposts Community Hub will be exhibiting at the prestigious Stroud Valleys Artspace. The exhibition is titled “Being Human” and will include works in a wide range of media made by our service members. We are hugely looking forward to this opportunity to share our art with the local community. Please join us!  

When: Friday 14 November to Saturday 22 November
Thursdays to Saturdays, 10am-4pm
Opening Night: Thursday 13 November, 6pm-8pm
Where: Stroud Valleys Artspace, 4 John Street, Stroud GL5 2HA

Learning Disability and the Search for Self

Todd Carter, Guideposts’ resident philosopher-poet, whose works of prose will be in the exhibition, asks the question, “what does it mean to be good or evil, and are these two traits determined by nature or nurture?”

This is a question I have asked myself many times, and I’m sure you have, too. Because it’s a universal question that so many intelligent people grapple with.

Having a learning disability does not make someone stupid. Far from it. It often, but not always, compromises their ability to read and write words, to add or subtract numbers, or to verbally communicate coherently, but not necessarily their ability to comprehend the age-old questions of existence, and of what it means to be human.

I like. I want. I need.

These are raised by our service members on a regular basis, and you’d no doubt expect them to, because they are universal human traits, and they are largely unconscious, and far from intellectual.

But what about I believe. I hope. I wonder?

Because Todd wonders. He wonders if Cybermen have hearts and he wonders why sheep are so misunderstood. He believes that trees have souls, and he hopes that one day he will be free from all his existential worries.

And he isn’t on his own. Pete Stone, whose wonderfully unique bird drawings are also an integral part of this exhibition, believes that art can help make people feel happy.

Vicky Viveash, whose book – My Story – is one of several memory books on display, is proud of her brother for working his way up from sweeping the floors as a teenager to now working on computers within the same company, and she’s also proud of her mum for obtaining a Duke of Edinburgh award many years ago, thus showing a strong sense of the importance of family and belonging.

We’re in a time of political and social instability, where certain movements are offering simplistic answers to nuanced questions of identity in an ever-evolving world of people.

We hope that this exhibition will go some way to spotlight the importance of social cohesion, and of allowing everyone in our wonderfully eclectic country, especially those on the fringes, to have a voice. Because everyone matters, and no one should be left behind.

Please join us.

Rob Clucas-Tomlinson, Guideposts

Stroud Valleys Artspace