'Hackin and Snackin' curated a creative collaboration between young people in three Birmingham Schools of Sanctuary and a College of Sanctuary, a group of community artists, and researchers at Birmingham City University facilitated through the 'Collaborative, Community Mapping of Young People's Learning Experiences during COVID-19' (Co-MAP) project.
Launched in 2021, whilst the UK was still under Covid-19 restrictions, Co-MAP is a two-year project funded by Erasmus+ and led by Birmingham City University. COMAP is a multinational partnership that has brought together young people, families, teachers, headteachers, charities, street newspapers, and researchers from five European countries: UK, Germany, Greece, Hungary, and the Netherlands.
VANESSA CUI
Senior Research Fellow in Health, Education and Life Sciences
Following a Co-MAP exhibition at Birmingham City University’s (BCU) campus, young people’s involvement in the project took another exciting turn.
The ‘Hackin and Snackin’ exhibition displayed the work of young people from Halesowen College, Erdington Academy, Oasis Foundry, and Somerville Primary at Location 29 gallery in the Jewellery Quarter.
The exhibition, curated by three of the Co-MAP community artists, Polly Brant, Mia Osborne and Marwa Sayed, invited young people, their families and community members to view the artwork created by young people during the project and to share their reflections about what they saw at the exhibition. The gallery was transformed into spaces like family living room and bedroom with tables, chairs, duvets and pillows where young people were encouraged to draw and write on them to co-create new art work.
Photograph of duvets and pillows with drawings by young people at the exhibition sharing their experiences and reflection of learning during COVID lockdowns.
The exhibition happened in three stages. Part one was a family day where the BCU team invited the young people who had participated with their families.
The second part was a Schools of Sanctuary day. Young people were invited to visit the gallery to see the artworks from the Co-MAP workshops and to co-create more artworks at the gallery.
Benson Community School’s Year 4 class visited the exhibition and engaged with the work of the young people and added their responses and their own experiences to the exhibition.
The Year 6 children from Oasis Foundry who had taken part from the start of the project also visited and were excited to see their work in a real art gallery.
Finally, there was an evening event where school leaders, teachers, community and arts organisations, university staff, and local councillors were invited to the exhibition to celebrate this partnership work with Birmingham Schools of Sanctuary and to learn from the young people’s experiences.
At this event, first year Journalism students, Lauren Winters and Emil Emil, interviewed artists, the gallery owner and visitors about the Co-MAP project and the exhibition. The video they created showcased the artworks young people co-created with the artists during the project.
Photograph of collages, drawings and masks at the exhibition sharing experiences and reflections of learning during COVID lockdowns.
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