Without Judgement was made for Stitch for Change, a project initiated by The Refugee Buddy Project in collaboration with textile designer Erin Lewiz. It is a work about hope as a verb, something we can act on and embody in everyday life.
The title draws on William Beveridge’s 1942 report, whose central tenet was that all citizens, regardless of economic status, were entitled to financial and medical support without judgement. Adopted by Labour in 1945, this became the foundation of the welfare state and the NHS. That egalitarian settlement has since been eroded by successive governments and exacerbated by the media, who have drawn a line between the deserving and undeserving.
The piece also speaks to Carl Rogers’ therapeutic principle of unconditional positive regard, the discipline of examining one’s own judgements before offering an open, non-judgemental relationship to another, and of holding to account those who work against the fundamentals of equity.