COLLAGE

A collage colaboratively produced by participants in the Consortium on Practices of Well-being and Resilience in Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Families and Communities (Co-POWeR).

The idea for the collaborative collage was to highlight eclipsed activities and thoughts in BAME youth lives. The young person represents a surface image that might not always reveal internal struggles.  

The illustrations in the light express critical observations and tensions between image, preconceived perceptions and being misunderstood in society. But the light also acts as a spotlight - not to expose them or put them on the spot - but to accentuate that here too there are issues that need equal attention and just action. 
Capturing the struggles in shadows further emphasises the need to reach out beyond the facade, because not everything is as it seems.

A collage of pencil and pen drawings made by the research participants

A detail of the collage of drawings made by participants inside a speech bubble. A family frozen in ice, and a woman with a megaphone saying "people you need to do more"

A DETAIL OF THE LARGE COLLAGE WITH MORE DRAWINGS FROM THE PARTICIPANTS INCLUDING A GARDEN, BICYCLES AND A TENNIS COURT AND A GROUP OF HEADS SAYING :I CAN'T BELIEVE IT"

A detail from the collage made by participants. Lots of notes of money, a figure in a BLM t-shirt holding syringes and a laptop

The focal point of the collage, a young black man in track suit and sneakers standing by a wall. The rest of the drawings form part of his shadow