Crafting rituals of Connection
Music and storytelling are deeply intertwined in African culture, serving as powerful tools for healing, reflection and connection.
Delivered in partnership with St Columba’s Hospice Care, National Museums Scotland and Helderberg Hospice (South Africa), the project brought together hospice and museum communities in shared creative spaces.
Through storytelling, music and papercraft, participants crafted paper swallows and swifts—migratory birds whose journeys connect Africa and the UK—shared stories and contributed personal Messages of Hope.
Project deliverables
Artist Ed Harrison shares his creative journey & the backstory behind Wild Wings of Hope, which comes from a place of transforming grief & loss.
Chief Gift Amu will bring traditional African rhythms into the shared music sessions through participatory drumming.
Participants are invited to craft paper barn swallows individually, coming together as a group to create a shared flock– a mobile of hope.
of hope
Participants are invited to write personal ‘messages of hope’ to be added to community-created mobiles.
The Drumming Circles
African Sounds & Stories sessions brought together National Museum Scotland and St Columba’s Hospice Care communities through collaborative workshops delivered at both the museum and the hospice.
Participants from both communities attended, creating a shared creative space through craft and improvised music circles led by Ghanian storyteller Chief Gift Amu and St Columba’s Hospice Care music therapist Bruce Armstrong.
Wild Wings of Hope has had a profoundly positive impact at St Columba's Hospice Care, creating opportunities for reflection and creativity across our community.
The Craft
Participants crafted barn swallows and swifts from paper — two migratory species that travel between Scotland and Ghana each year.
Through this simple act of making, the workshop became a vehicle for conversation: exploring biodiversity, interconnected ecosystems, and the shared journeys that link distant places.
Each participant took home their own papercut bird, alongside contributing a message of hope — sent onward to a partner hospice in South Africa as part of a growing cross-continental exchange.
Messages of Hope
MUSEUM > HOSPICE connection. As paper birds and messages of hope accumulated, hospice corridors became living artworks of collective care. Patients, staff, visitors and loved ones were invited to add their own reflections, creating growing, community-created displays that brightened shared spaces and fostered a sense of connection and belonging.
National Museums Scotland launch
A three-day celebration of papercraft, oral storytelling and conservation, marking the public launch of Wild Wings of Hope during the Scottish International Storytelling Festival 2025 and Black History Month Scotland.
