24/07/2026
“Just because we are young, it doesn’t mean we think small”🧠
In preparation for the ‘Think of Us’ unveiling, our Curator of Learning, Katie, and artist facilitator Klaire Doyle have run 21 workshops to 400 year 6 school children across 9 schools in Merseyside!
In the planning of the project, we visited Holton Lodge School as a starting point, to discuss the 3 key themes of, ‘Portraits and Identity’, ‘Reclaiming Public Spaces’ and ‘Art and Social Change’, with the children to hear their thoughts.
There was lots of interesting discussions with the children, some of the key themes that emerged as important to them were:
⭐️Care for spaces and each other
⭐️Wanting more say in designing outdoor spaces (making them more playful)
⭐️Feelings of judgement from adults in public spaces
The title 'Think of Us' came from, which came from a direct quote from one of the schoolchildren at Holton Lodge School, he went on to say, “don’t just think of us, remember us”. He was very surprised and excited to hear that this inspired the title of this project!
Following our initial workshops with the schools that introduced the project, we later brought photographer, Emma Case, to take the portraits, where the children were encouraged to consider how they express themselves, whether that was through their favourite things, what they wear or what poses and expressions they make.
The schoolchildren were asked to create posters as a way to communicate what 'Think of Us' means to them, what they want to say to grown-ups, and how they want grown-ups to think of them. Composer and Sound Recordist, Sara Wolf, then worked with the children to turn these thoughts into voice recordings, which will become 5 separate soundscapes that will become available to listen to on our website.
‘Think of Us’ is a direct call to action as part of Inside Out Project, where we’ll see all the children’s ideas come to life through the display of their portraits, as well as hear more about their thoughts, at the Royal Albert Dock, launching soon!📅
You can help us to continue delivering projects like this all year round by donating the link below👇️
https://www.biennial.com/support/donation-now/
