OUR PEOPLE
-And the Places and Spaces that make our People-
Ruth Solomon
Lead Practitioner
Ruth set up Memory Gardens with other collaborators In 2002 when she discovered a piece of derelict land in Islington. She is interested in ecological patterns of renewal in people and places. Ruth initially trained as a Creative Adult Education Tutor for people with Special Needs and later as a Professional Shiatsu Practitioner with an MRSS qualification from Ki Kai School of Shiatsu and further anual training in Seiki Soho from Akinobu Kishi. She is involved in Art and Music and brings these practices into her teaching and therapy sessions. She is also involved with Dance and Somatic practices having studied with different teachers at Independant Dance in South London and also with a long involvement with Contact Improvisation. In 2008 she undertook an MA in Research Architecture at Goldsmith's College researching sensory and perceptual embodied learning styles in non-verbal autistic children at "Memory Gardens". Ruth has a further Diploma from the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust in "Child, Adolescent and Family Mental Well-being", 2017. As a Dyslexic Practitioner she considers herself part of the community of Neuro-Diverse Practitioners and artists currently questioning things around community, perception and identity. This is based on a shared practice of care and sensitivity that can be nurtured in the Special Needs community and then reach out beyond to include others.
Please see link below for Ruth's Shiatsu Website:
http://www.shiatsuloop.com/
Annie Pui Ling Lok
Guest Practitioner
Annie has been a freelance dance artist since 1999, and graduated as a biodynamic craniosacral therapist (BCST) in 2014. She works with live performance in processes that are experimental and collaborative. Teaching and facilitation remain a key part of her practice and she has taught in numerous community, professional and Higher Education settings. Annie is Co-Artistic Director of Siobhan Davies Studios in collaboration with independent producer Kat Bridge. Both work on a part-time basis and Annie continues to freelance and take care of her 4-year old daughter.
Ansuman Biswas
Musician
"Music spreads throughout the environment like a perfume. It soaks into the fabric of other things and people. Music communicates". (Ansuman)
Ansuman plays a large variety of instruments from flute, violin, hung to percussion and voice. He plays regularly in Contact Dance Improvisation Jams and in many other musical and theatrical contexts. He has worked as a visiting musician at Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital. He creates wide yet intimate atmospheres at the Hand and Sky Events where children, staff and parents come together to spend time together.
Trustees and Friends
Molly Porter:
Molly is a long-term Friend to Memory Gardens and she has been involved from the beginning.
Molly is a Quaker with interest in Community, joint Stewardship of the land and care of one another. Over the years she has built important links between people on the ground especially in our first garden project which created an association between people on the autistic spectrum and people living with mental health issues in the neighboring café. She has also methodically and carefully sourced and shared relevant news items and film links connected to our interest in Neuro-Diverse processes of thought, perception and experience.
Dr Christina Macrae:
Christina works at Manchester Metropolitan University and has been involved in a slow research residency with a Nursery School and Children's Centre. Before this she practiced for many years as an Early Years Teacher. Her research has a focus on young children and famillies and she is interested in embodied and relational approaches to learning. She also builds research collaborations with artists working with young children because she believes passionately that they bring unique skills and process-orientated approaches.
Lyna Taleb
Lyna is a Bio-medical graduate who joined the project in Spring 2021. She assisted as a Volunteer in the "Outdoor Living" sessions, making easy connections with participants and helping the main Practitioner in many practical ways. She has now accepted a role as a general Trustee with our Organization and we are so pleased to welcome her into this Management role. She started working as an Associate Special Needs Teacher in early 2022 in a school in Islington and then begun her Science Teacher Training course in Autumn 2022. As part of her studies she is currently researching good practice around the participation of students with Special Needs within a mainstream setting.
George Hobhouse
George has worked considerately and patiently with us since 2021 as a Volunteer Accountant. He works for a firm in London and is a qualified and experienced accountant. He has filled in some of the gaps in our knowledge base regarding numbers and audits. He has recently joined us as a Trustee and we warmly welcome him into this role.