The October Gallery Youth Collective were inspired by the experiences of Adam Hogarth's recent trip to the migrant camp in Calais and Georgie Fay's work exploring the theme of 'Loss of Imagination' in relation to den and shelter building. They then produced a body of work which addresses the current migration crisis happening in the world today.
Dens were exhibited to represent safe spaces in which, instead of escaping from the world, the young people could think and talk more freely about some of the major issues affecting it.
The students created a short film about Romuald Hazoumè's exhibition and made their own art pieces in response to the project. They also received education volunteer training to assist with school and community groups, as well as exhibition training, promotion and curation. This enabled them to develop techniques to talk about their own artwork and the exhibition as a whole, adding to their creative and professional development.
They worked with artists Georgie Fay and Becky Snow to curate and install an exhibition of all their work and the private view brought together people of all different backgrounds to cone together and reflect and listen to the youth collective's responses to the current immigration crisis.