The Coats We Wear
The Coats We Wear is a collaborative artwork created through a series of creative workshops with carers, as part of a project delivered by Cosmos Arts for Health and Topology in partnership with Carer Gateway.
The coat represents the many roles, responsibilities and emotional layers carers carry each day. It speaks to the visible and invisible weight of caring — the love, strength, patience, exhaustion, worry, resilience and deep connection that often sit beneath the surface.
Through fabric, colour, stitching, words and shared conversation, carers were invited to reflect on their own experiences of care. These stories also helped shape the writing of an original song, Ode to Carers, developed with Topology as part of the project. Together, the visual artwork and song give voice to experiences that can sometimes be hard to express in words alone.
Each section of the coat holds a small story, forming part of a larger shared artwork that honours the voices and lived experiences of carers in our community.
As a finished legacy piece, The Coats We Wear stands as a lasting tribute to carers and the many coats they wear. It invites viewers to pause, reflect and recognise the quiet strength of those who give so much of themselves in support of others.
