#sociallyengaged

Participants created their own “VIP Art Critic” badges and costumes to question what authority looks like and how costume can shift who feels entitled to speak about art. The group then re‑wrote real art reviews using only words added to the dictionary in 2024. Terms like nepo baby, barbiecore, girl dinner, and climate breakdown prompted discussions about contemporary language and who gets to shape cultural narratives.

Participants then wrote their own responses to objects in the museum’s collection, working individually and in conversation. The workshop emphasised that criticism can be conversational, personal, and rooted in everyday language rather than exclusive jargon.

To conclude, the teens photographed one another in their “art critic” personas. This workshop is designed to empower young people to write confidently about art, challenge traditional gatekeeping, and experiment with criticism as a creative practice.

Participants explored the idea of “future‑proofing” their practice through small, meaningful actions that can support them during periods of uncertainty or transition. Through group discussion, they considered key questions around anti‑capitalist approaches to making: Do we create to sell? How do we define productivity? What does success look like on our own terms?

The practical element of the workshop involved creating affirmation mobiles - hanging sculptural pieces designed to act as companions in studios or making spaces. Each mobile incorporated personal statements, reminders, and values chosen by the participants, functioning as both artworks and tools for self‑support. The making process emphasised care, reflection, and the importance of building environments that nurture creativity rather than pressure it.

By the end of the session, participants had produced individual mobiles that articulated their motivations and priorities as emerging artists. The workshop offered a space to rethink sustainability in creative practice, foregrounding wellbeing, autonomy, and community over traditional markers of achievement.

Drawing on visits to twelve galleries and exposure to a range of organisational models, the workshop explored how different curatorial approaches shape programming, access, and sustainability.

Experiences from the course highlighted barriers such as inaccessible planning and classist assumptions. When these reflections were shared publicly, more than forty peers responded with similar accounts. These anonymised experiences formed the basis of a 30‑minute activity mapping them against the Wheel of Power, prompting discussion on what could be made explicit, supported, or changed. Participants identified needs across organisational culture, sector pathways, and workforce development, including more diverse leadership, funded entry routes, and confidence‑building opportunities for emerging and established practitioners.

Collaborating with sound healer Lola Bartlett, passers‑by were invited to experience a sound bath and to add their own wishes to the fallen tree, continuing a long‑standing tradition of communal hope‑making. 

Coin trees appear at more than forty sites across the UK. The earliest known example stands beside a holy well on Isle Maree in the Scottish Highlands, where pilgrims once left offerings in search of healing. While British coin trees use metal tokens, similar “wish trees” appear across Pagan, Hindu, and Thai traditions, where rags and fabrics are tied to branches as acts of devotion or hope.

The project began with an observation: the UEA campus is full of secluded spots that students and staff claim as “our place.” This artwork aims to create one more; a shared site of reflection and ritual.

“In crises, we pray. Our engagement with religion continues to change, and I wondered how God can act as guidance in the modern world. In the dark days of post ww1 Britain, spiritualism became so popular it almost overtook the Anglican Church, and that same thirst for spiritual comfort has been mirrored during covid. I spoke to a spirit guide and a medium to see what messages and spiritual lessons we can take forward. Working with a group of children from Earl Soham Primary School, it was refreshing and surprising to see what the young think the world will look like in 25 years, allowing the content to be both playful and poignant, two things I always strive for.”

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All Philosophy Starts With Wonder

All Philosophy Starts With Wonder is an audio-guide of the "In The Studio" exhibition at Mall Galleries, London, created using the thoughts, critique and praise of 35 children from Southwark Food Bank who have never visited an art gallery before.

https://www.mallgalleries.org.uk/news/qa-studios-maddie-exton