On Monday 19th May, at the start of ‘Knife Crime Awareness Week’ in Bristol children and young people impacted by serious violence were front and centre. They were seen and heard, genuinely.
‘Empty Shirts: Lost Childhoods’ was a craftivist art exhibition which gave the platform to local children. We drew inspiration from the rite of passage for children to write on their shirts when leaving school. Instead of focusing on victims and perpetrators we wanted to focus on all children who are missing from this ritual; excluded from school, in custody, or tragically had their lives cut short. We wanted to change the focus from ‘knives’ (as so many campaigns do), to childhoods. To change the conversation and let children lead it with what is important to them.
We deliberately reached out to children who identify as being impacted by serious violence. Over 150 children took part. We are so grateful to the wide range of youth services, school, and the college, who supported us to reach them.
I think the word that sums it up for me was ‘epic’. I can’t articulate how moving, inspirational, and painful it was to see children’s thoughts on violence expressed all together. So many children came to speak and to see what they created. The artworks showed that children have a much broader view of ‘serious violence’ than just focusing on knives, which included domestic violence, sexual violence, child abuse, hate crime, bullying, and exclusion. Many created shirts in memorial for friends lost.
An overview of our aims are summarised in this interview with Bristol 24/7 here: https://lnkd.in/eFncVXjw
The Bristol Post has featured some of the young people who took part:
https://lnkd.in/eN_wHxz8
The project was featured in The Independent, BBC News, The Police and Crime Commissioners Blog. ITV News and BBC Radio also attended (publication forthcoming).
📸 by Bhagesh Sachania Photography
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