It Really Doesn't Matter If Your Curtains Don't Match! is Anna Boggon’s most recent community arts project.

​

Funded by Arts Council England, the project explores concepts of neuroscience and neurodiversity through a series of public and pop-up neighbourhood events, an exhibition, educational workshops and a public architectural intervention.

 

The allegorical title It Really Doesn’t Matter if Your Curtains Don’t Match (IRDM) alludes to what is important in life and challenges conformity, appearances, societal hierarchies, and norms; where everyone is expected to look, dress and sound a certain way to feel comfortable. It also hints at hidden realities and questions of taste.

 

As for many, receiving a late diagnosis of ADHD brings about a cocktail of emotions, including confusion and uncertainty, as well as relief. Ultimately, the diagnosis makes sense of long-standing issues, shining a light on previously unanswered questions and providing specific insights, particularly in the realms of art and education.

 

And in Anna Boggon’s case it also brought a new meaning and dimension to the word “Re-Search”; which becomes about “looking again” from another perspective. Revisiting past artworks and seeing them through a different lens, the diagnosis served as a reminder of past interests and ongoing research, all of which relate to attempting to make sense of self and others in an uncomfortable world.

 

Personal extensive research and reflection ensued, providing new insights into Anna Boggon’s art practice and a pursuit of a greater knowledge linked to neuroscience and perception. This journey opened avenues for collaboration and exchange, offering positive starting points for shared research and discussions with others, including educational professionals delivering hybrid learning, scientists, inventors, and those working in the field of neurological research.

 

Alexandra Place Park sets the stage for it Really Doesn't Matter if Your Curtains Don’t Match, (nature meets urban), as a place of amusement, one of chance encounters witnessed, by the artist and mother from an outsider's perspective, as if looking in like an extra in the wrong movie. A decade of these local scenes captured through the photographic lens provides inspiration for the project, highlighting not only the diverse communities that come in to play but also from a Neurodiverse perspective provides a playful inspiration and material for the mechanics of the brain, the analysis and categorisation of groups; family, friends, retired greyhounds, food, yoga, fans, twitchers, fancy dress, birthdays.

 

IRDM advocates for the importance of social cohesion and connection.

It presents hybrid creative and cultural opportunities and activities for hyper-local multi-generational groups to interact and engage with one another by exploring the nuanced ways in which as humans, we perceive and experience the world; (as an outsider of some description) offering a variety of perspectives, ways of seeing & understanding that are related to particular traits of neurodiversity and or otherness. Overall it encompasses an acceptance and intrigue of difference.

To achieve this, Anna Boggon has conjured a series of events and activities that place the participants' voices and creative responses at the heart of the project:

​

• The Happenings; X 2 “extended family” style lunches for 20 people from the Haringey community, with food provided by Filiz, a local Kurdish mother and exceptional cook with strong ties to the Kurdish Community Centre, Hornsey.

• Children’s Creative Workshops; X 6 participatory workshops with Campsbourne Primary School to engage children aged 7 - 11 (including those with SEND) in the process of exploring new ways of working/observing the world through the senses.

• An Immersive and Interactive Exhibition; showcasing new artwork by Anna Boggon including sound, photography, and kinetic sculptures and new collaborations with local groups and individuals including a sound piece with Campsbourne Primary School and a gigantic patchwork of conversations with the Kurdish Advice Centre Community.

• A Public Architectural Intervention; that includes visual responses created by Campsbourne pupils/community participants around the project’s themes; sharing nuanced interpretations & ways of navigating the world.

​

Through her journey of unravelling and unwrapping, Anna uses IRDM to shine a light on the positive ‘differences’ that can be found within the complex intricacies of Neuroscience and Neurodiversity and seeks to examine how one can tap into the brain to shift perception through exploration, conversation and above all, community.

​