The Library of the Brain, established 2024.

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​The Library of the Brain is a living piece of collaborative and coproduced art created through partnerships between members of local Birmingham communities, artists, and researchers at the University of Birmingham (UoB).

The core group of Dr Ben Griffiths, University of Birmingham, Carol Reid, Project Worker for ATHAC CiC (Access to Heritage, Arts and Culture) and Jane Thakoordin, participatory artist and mental health specialist, worked together to create intergenerational, diverse and eclectic participant groups, each of whom worked on this multi-media project.

The pieces in the library represent a cross section of the work produced, each one the result of conversations about mental health, state of mind, contentment and showing of kindness to others – the themes within the research projects of fellow academics from UOB, shared by Ben with the groups.

Groups who created pieces for the Library of the Brain:

Newbigin Community Trust, Women’s Group, Winson Green

Birch – Community Hosting Network, supporting asylum seeker families in local Initial Accommodation Hotels, Birmingham

GAP Arts – Culture Collective, young people’s creative activist group, Balsall Heath

The Old Print Works, Second Saturday family community creative days, Balsall Heath