The Head

Author ········· Bollo Studios
Medium ········· Wire, plaster, paint, paper
Published ······ 2018
Language ······· English

Young people at Bollo Brook Youth Centre were asked to think about how they learnt what race, class, status and community meant to them and how they have navigated this. For many, this involved looking back into early childhood. For example, a young mixed-race woman growing up in Spain had a visit from her Nigerian father. She spoke about how all the other kids stared because they had not seen a black man before. In fact neither had she. A young black man spoke about studying Black History Month at a predominantly white school and rather than feeling included, feeling singled out as different. There were hundreds of other examples.

We are often put into boxes depending on race, gender, class, age, (dis)ability, sexuality,… How we understand these, how we have been conditioned to understand them, can be a very personal journey. The head is filled with some of the images that young people came up with from their own lives.

The head was made at the youth centre’s premises and does not fit inside the new, smaller building. It is in need of a permanent home.

Do you recognise any of the images in the head? What have they meant to you and your perception of self?

What has conditioned your concept of who you are and your preconceptions about others?