The nearness of experience - the owning of knowledge

 The "Near and Far" project  has been nothing if not lively and involving.

The children have been considering the invisible boundaries in their  community and more recently considering this in relation to age. Who might be living near us but remain unseen or unknown?  Age and growing older can  feel very far away when you are in year  5, but can older people and the places they live be brought nearer in ? Could  spatial proximity be combined with a level of physical intimacy to bring the conceptually far a whole lot nearer?

This is the basic drive of all my practice research, owning the knowledge by direct experience, feeling and sensing it - to better understand by being close to that which we want to know about.

 I wondered how  that nearness  of experience might effect year 5  so here is Brandon sharing his  thoughts with you.

The video clip is clearly slowed  down in order to see more clearly the process of engagement and the enlivening of the whole person. It is not the activity itself that is important  but the sharing of an experience . Communication through facial expression, gesture , laughter and smiles went to and fro with the passing of the balls. A metaphorical nod toward giving and receiving which was the hallmark of this remarkable inter-generational exchange which brought our far away neighbours closer.