The beauty of groups

I hinted in my last post at the importance of human relationships which may develop during the voyage. In June I travelled to the Faroe Islands with a group comprised mainly of creative people. There was no focussed work in mind, merely to be inspired by visiting an unknown and exciting place, and possibly to relate that to practice on an individual, post-trip level. What did develop however was a truly amazing series of human relationships. The experience of being in a new place and having the time to interact as a team developed strong personal bonds. The leader of the group was very keen to break up any relationships which developed within the group in favour of preserving a model, inclusive group comprised of all ten participants. It is common for individuality to be considered a threat to authority where the leadership is weak. This I felt was a massive mistake and a missed opportunity. The beauty of the group, which incidentally worked very well as a single group as well, was in the subtleties and the very human struggles which resulted from these developing relationships. This has been born out by the friendships which have endured months after the trip came to an end, some of which have also gone on to be fruitful as creative collaborations. It is this level of personal investment which I will value highly on our voyage around the British Isles and which I think might have huge potential for informing both collaborative and individual work.


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