Since 2016, Grand Union has collaborated with the Department of History, Curating and Visual Studies at the University of Birmingham to create opportunities for early career curators. Across the 2024-25, Grand Union has collaborated with a group of MA students to produce a programme of work entitled ‘Comfort near me’.
‘Comfort near me’ explores personal practices of comfort within Grand Union’s community. By working with studio artists and the Minerva Group, the programme aims to encourage sharing comfort found not just in physical places but in intangible forms. The programme intends to invite visitors to consider how and where comfort can exist further afield, explored through reflection and connection.
The project was comprised of a short film featuring Roo Dhissou, Sarah Taylor-Silverwood, and Nilupa Yasmin made by Robert Alexander Films, a publication designed by Sofia Niazi, and embroidery workshops run by Nilpa Yasmin for the Minerva Group. The film was presented within an installation in Grand Union’s Bothy (Alberta Whittle, 2022) as part of May’s Digbeth First Friday.
‘Comfort near me’ was curated by Niamh Davies, Katie Lansbury, Prakasit Prasertsuk, Kate Roden, Firuza Rodrigues, Lottie Sowerby, Megan Tolputt, and Lulu Wright collaboration with Grand Union, supported by University of Birmingham.
![a still from ‘Derby Day’. A blurred, out-of-focus image of a football pitch and the stands sits on a plain black background. A caption, written in a white text against the black background reads ‘And they were going to let their old, decrepit gooner, their leader, kill me.]](https://cms.grand-union.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-04-at-14.21.46.png)