Shoebox Living: Children in our Community… the story behind it.
Evie Jagger, our Psychotherapist, Hazel Crawford, our Art Therapist and myself have had the privilege of running workshops in local state, catholic and independent schools in Logan. Principals have very generously approved the provision of art materials and sought permissions from parents and teachers have very generously knocked on the doors of local shoe shops to collect a shoe box for every child in the their class. Cared4 by DJM Psychological Services donated the therapists time…and enthusiasm.
So what did we do? We were inspired by the exhibitions of Shoebox Art around the world but particularly by the art work collected by Kids Company from their therapy sessions with traumatised children living in London. They recruited famous artists such as Damien Hirst to create a shoebox of a room in their home. This work was then auctioned to raise funds for their programs with traumatised children and the work was exhibited at the Saatchi Gallery…
Our Shoebox Art workshop consisted of us exploring with stimulus pictures what community meant to the children. After brainstorming images and key words the children each selected a shoebox and art materials and set to work supported by us to create an expression of what community meant to them…good…bad… indifferent.
We also gave them a cut out doll figure to write a key word or summary of what their shoebox represented. The result was astounding as you can see below and we have exhibited the work at the Logan Exhibition Centre during the Wakakirri Festival and more recently The Butter Factory Museum. The initiative serves to raise awareness and funds for our Champion A Child’s Therapy scheme which encourages local businesses and individuals to sponsor a child’s therapeutic intervention. Why don’t YOU Champion a Child today!