Sense of Place

Sense of Place: Women, Memory and the Coalfields of County Durham

Summary

Sense of Place is a participatory arts project rooted in former mining communities across County Durham. Working primarily with women, older people and families connected to the coalfields, the project explores how identity, memory, and mental wellbeing are shaped by place—both physically and psychologically.

Through a programme of accessible, community-based workshops, participants will co-create artworks that reflect lived experience of the coalfield landscape, domestic life, labour, loss, solidarity, and resilience. The project culminates in a public exhibition at Redhills, Durham (Durham Miners’ Hall), positioning women’s voices and emotional histories at the heart of a nationally significant heritage site.

Artistic Vision and Rationale

Sense of Place and Psychological Wellbeing

A sense of place is not only geographic—it is emotional, relational, and psychological. In former mining communities, place is deeply entangled with collective memory, pride, grief, and belonging. For many residents, particularly women, the coalfields shaped daily life through unpaid labour, care, community organising, and emotional resilience—roles that are often under-represented in official histories.

This project understands creativity as a tool for:

• Processing memory and change.
• Strengthening identity and belonging.
• Supporting mental wellbeing through shared reflection.
• Reclaiming narratives rooted in lived experience.
• Participatory art-making offers space for people to reconnect with place in ways that are affirming, creative, and socially connected — an approach aligned with current evidence around arts, mental health, and community resilience.