A daily performance of home

In 2019, LeftCoast created the Real Estate artist residency commission, which took place on two housing estates in Blackpool and Fleetwood.

The programme came from an interest in how LeftCoast could authentically understand the lived experience of being a resident in a certain neighbourhood at a certain time. 

What happened when artists with a socially engaged practice became the local residents? Would it give them a deeper understanding of the complexities of living in an area? Would this approach by more powerful in focusing creative commissions? What possibilities were there in using the arts as a tool to bring change, evoke joy or create connections? 

It was not about filling in gaps where services had been cut or were underfunded, it was about the difference an artist viewpoint (and their practice) could bring to the area. 

Novelist Sarah Butler explores the Real Estate programme in her haibun* A daily performance of home, where she tells the tale of the two houses, eleven artists and all of the people who lived nearby. 

Sarah uses socially-engaged, place-specific writing. She is “fascinated by the relationships between stories, places and communities, my work explores identity, belonging, landscape and home.”

Listen to LeftCoast volunteers, alumni and associates read the essay as you explore the commission below.

*A haibun is a literary form originating in Japan, which combines prose and haiku.