For six months, I worked collaboratively with Warrington Youth Zone, Healthwatch Warrington and the Poverty Truth Commission to consult with babies, toddlers, young people and families about what it feels like to live in Warrington — the obstacles they face, what matters to them, and what they need in order to thrive.
Using gentle, creative crafts and art-making as a way to open up conversations, I created safe and accessible opportunities for participants to share their experiences, hopes, wishes and feelings. These conversations were gathered throughout the six-month project and brought together to create a powerful collective picture of life in Warrington from the perspectives of its children, young people and families.
Alongside the consultation work, we created a body of artwork representing the stories, experiences and emotions shared by participants. This culminated in an immersive final exhibition, combining visual art with an audio landscape featuring recordings of the stories and voices collected throughout the project.
We invited local decision-makers from Warrington Borough Council and other governing bodies to experience the exhibition, providing them with an opportunity to listen directly to the voices and experiences of the communities they serve.
Every participant was also invited to contribute to a large-scale cardboard model of an imagined Warrington. This became a collaborative exploration of the buildings, spaces, services and physical amenities that children, young people and families would like to see more of in their city — giving them the opportunity not only to describe the Warrington they experience, but to imagine the Warrington they want.
This project felt like one of the most important pieces of work in my career to date. I was incredibly proud to support the children and young people of Warrington to amplify their wonderful voices, create space for their experiences to be heard, and contribute to meaningful conversations about positive social change in their city.
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