Community Arts by ZK invited socially engaged artist, Emma Long, to work with our women’s group at Nelson Library for ten weeks on a project called Pictures of Pendle, which was supported by the Community Foundation and the Red Rose Fund. Emma is enthused and intrigued by the quirks, characters, and narratives of individuals, using creativity to illuminate the grassroots experiences and stories of people and their communities. Emma invites people to challenge systemic inequalities such as class, race, gender and labels such as ‘deprivation’ and ‘low cultural engagement’ which are externally assigned to a community and to ultimately provoke an exploration and even reclamation of 'place'.  Emma delivered creative workshops that invited and welcomed women and families from our South Asian community to explore through art what makes Pendle special to all of us, emphasising our individual journeys and creative paths. Emma always aims to ensure that participants experience the wellbeing aspect of the art-making process as makers/co-creators, focusing on conversations and individual stories, allowing the community to steer the direction of the creative journey.

This project was very much driven by the conversations we had during the sessions, and artwork was born out of this. We took walks around Pendle, collecting natural materials to make prints with – bringing Pendle’s natural environment into our work. We combined reflective words from our walks, pictures, and textures. We were also inspired by Eid clothing and South Asian textiles, which led us to creating large scale pastel drawings of the members of the group dressed in their Eid clothing. We looked at South Asian artists and were inspired by textures, colours, and patterns, leading us to designing our own mehndi, inspired by Pendle. These workshops helped to improve both mental and physical health through creativity, friendship, and physical activity.​