Old Portsmouth community art exhibition produced by young people explores Falklands War and Platinum Jubilee

The Your Voice 2 exhibition at the Round Tower in Broad Street, Old Portsmouth displays a selection of works produced as part of a community venture run by youth charity Motiv8.

Young people aged 13-18 from vulnerable backgrounds took part in workshops with prominent local artists to create collages, sculptures, photographs and textiles.

The workshops used oral recordings as a springboard, previously recorded by the young people of both themselves and mature and elderly people from the community speaking about their lives and lived experiences. These discussions - held in 2022 - explored touched on the 40th anniversary of the Falklands War and Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee and highlighted intergenerational connections.

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Motiv8 Skills and Enterprise Hub service manager Sophie King said: ‘It led on from a project we had last year which was Heritage Lottery funded. The arists have chosen some of the words from the interviews and the young people have worked with them to create art around that. All of the workshops they did and the mediums they used, the young people had never done before. People can get an inside insight into what Motiv8 offers around the city, how you people can get involved, they can see some collaboration between you people and established local artists, and they get to go into a building that’s not usually open to the public. They can also see some of the conversations that have been had - the oldest people would have been 82 in the interviews. It really shows the similarities between the youth and the older generation.’

The exhibition opened on Wednesday, April 6 and runs until Friday, April 14th. The workshops – part of Project Caboodle – were run by local artists Tom Boulton ,Lauren Fry, Ashley John, Rachel Johnson, Tony Spencer, Michael Whelan in association with Motiv8. The oral recordings which inspired the mixed media creations can be heard on the project’s podcast, and are held at the Portsmouth City Council Archives for future generations to access.

Project Caboodle creative director Michael Whelan said: ‘The Your Voice 2 project focuses on building skill sets and increasing confidence through a series of creative workshops and activities for young people in the Portsmouth area. These skills help build resilience by providing the tools necessary for young people to gain real life work experiences and develop transferable skills within the creative industry. In turn, this emboldens a new generation of young people from diversified backgrounds to enter the industry and transform the cultural landscape.’

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Motiv8 South is a Portsmouth based charity that supports young people by building trusting relationships and helping equip them with the skills, resilience and opportunities to thrive. Project Caboodle collaborates with charities and organisations using art and educational activities to help tackle some of the challenges that society is facing.

You can visit the Your Voice 2 display for free between 11am and 3pm.