Art for a Better World

Throughout Summer 2024, we exhibited Art for a Better World at Kirkleatham Museum, Redcar. The exhibition brought academics, artists and young people together for positive social change and was generously supported by the Open University, King’s College London and the British Association for the Study of Religions.

The display interested me very much… thank you

Cllr Dr Tristan Learoyd

Art for a Better World allowed visitors to take a journey around the world, through cartoons, mixed media and video from international artists, making the latest research about pressing social challenges accessible to general audiences. It also introduced visitors to the social issues that matter the most to local Year 10 students, through a collection of artworks they produced in our collaborative art workshop.

In November 2024, Art for a Better World was exhibited at The Foundry Social Justice and Human Right Centre as part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science. There, it was displayed alongside works that early career researchers and activists created in our workshop on how to use art when words are not enough to convey social challenges.

Workshop: Creating art about the things that really matter

Students found the workshop different, interesting, and really liked spending the time creating a final outcome.

Kelly Smith, Art Teacher

Facilitated by Joanna Mamede of Face in The Hole and Dr Precious Chatterje-Doody, this workshop introduced local Year 10 students to some of the ways that influential artists and collectives have used their work to address the pressing social issues of their times, as well several techniques used in these works.

After choosing their own preferred topics of focus, the students were empowered to create artworks to that would bring their concerns to a wider audience. The results were installed for public display alongside the work of professional artists in the Art for a Better World exhibition at Kirkleatham Museum.