Arts projects on harmful practices

Our Arts Projects on Harmful Practices are tailored workshop series to support young people to learn about harmful practices and then use the arts to create materials to raise awareness. 

We have supported young people to create posters, artwork, film, displays, drama and booklets on issues such as FGM and forced marriage. Our young champions have also run art competitions, delivered talks at conferences, run stalls and created a procession piece to carry at Cowley Road Carnival. 

We run one Arts Project each year. Please contact us if you are interested in working with us.

Art activism (2024)

We ran a programme of 5 workshops on Body Image and the Media at Cheney School for sixth form students. The workshops included the creation of artwork to raise awareness of issues covered including the beauty industry, colourism, pornography, FGM, female cosmetic genital surgery and body alterations.The artwork was displayed at the school to share learning with other students.

Creative writing (2023)

We inspired creative expression and discussions on “shame” in a creative writing workshop focusing on overcoming feelings of shame in relation to harmful practices. The event began with talks by Rubie Marie, who shared her story of surviving a forced marriage and Mariama, a survivor of FGM. The audience then took part in a creative writing workshop led by professional creative writer, Sunita Thind.

Art activism (2022)

We ran a programme of 5 workshops on Body Image and the Media at the Oxford Academy for sixth form students. The workshops included the creation of artwork to raise awareness of issues covered including the beauty industry, colourism, pornography, FGM, female cosmetic genital surgery and body alterations.The artwork was displayed at the school to share learning with other students.

Art activism

‘Honour’-based abuse art competition (2021)

We ran an art competition to raise awareness of ‘honour’-based abuse. The judges were from HBA-affected communities and were invited to join our HBA workshops as part of the competition process. We also ran HBA workshops for two Year 10 classes at Cherwell School, Oxford – the students were then inspired to create artwork for our competition.

Honour-based abuse art competition

Hand-lettering (2020)

We ran a hand-lettering workshop to raise awareness of FGM and support people to start conversations. The event included a talk by a survivor of FGM followed by an art workshop supported by a local graphic designer. The workshop was part of Oxford International Women’s Festival.

Creation of procession piece for carnival (2019)

Our young champions partnered with Oxfordshire arts charity, Cowley Road Works, to create a processional piece for Cowley Road Carnival in Oxford with the support of a professional costume designer. The theme of the carnival was Space and our team created a ‘galactic mother of the universe’! The structure is a space-like pregnant lady representing femininity and natural diversity in the female body. Our mother universe towered proudly above the crowds at the carnival!

Creation of procession piece for carnival - 1
Creation of procession piece for carnival
Creation of procession piece for carnival

Charity banner (2019)

Young people at Cherwell School created a banner for our charity whilst having informal discussions on FGM. Cherwell students had facilitated lessons on FGM and run a stall earlier that year.

Charity banner

Dance (2019)

We ran a dance workshop to raise awareness of FGM with Oxford Sudanese Group. The event began with learning on FGM delivered by a Sudanese facilitator, followed by a dance workshop incorporating messages of growth, change and solidarity.

dance

Song and music video (2019)

A group of young champions released a song and music video to raise awareness of female genital mutilation (FGM), breast ironing and female body rights. The video, For Every Girl, was released at the beginning of the school summer holidays when girls from practicing communities are at highest risk of FGM. The song and music video were created entirely by young people, with no adult interference! The girls performed the song live twice, at Womanity, run by the Young Women’s Music Project and Integrate UK’s 2019 Youth Conference.

Song and music video

Football (2018)

Our charity partnered with East Oxford United, a community football club, to support 19 teenage boys to learn about healthy relationships and FGM. The project ran as a workshop series, with learning in the classroom and then on the football pitch. The club coaches helped embed learning on the pitch with players using terms such as “respect!” “speak up!” and “cancel and continue!” to reinforce workshop material.

Football
Football

Arts and story-writing for young children (2018)

We ran an event for children from 3 Oxfordshire primary schools to learn about their bodies, their rights and keeping safe from sexual harm. The children drew pictures and wrote stories to reinforce learning.

Arts and story

Display board (2018)

To mark International Women’s Day, young champions in the sixth form of The Oxford Academy created a display board at their school. The board included sections on FGM, women throughout history and periods.

Display board
Display board

Display board (2018)

To mark Zero Tolerance for FGM Day, Cheney School created a display about FGM.

Display board
Display board
Display board

A cappella (2017)

Young champions from Cherwell School and Headington School took part in the filming of a song, written by In the Pink, a local group of female student a cappella singers from Oxford Brookes University and the University of Oxford. The song, Together We Stand, calls for solidarity from all communities to help end the practice of FGM.

Art display (2016)

Students in Year 7 at Didcot Girls School created an art display of rose pictures, with messages of solidarity, to help raise awareness about FGM. The initiative was led by the School Health Nurse, after working with our team to deliver lessons on FGM to year 7 students. The artwork was displayed at our Rose Awareness event that we hosted to raise awareness about the services provided by the Oxford Rose Clinic for survivors of FGM.

Art display

Film-making skills (2016)

Young champions from Cherwell School, Oxford Academy and St Helen and St Katharine School took part in our project to create a film, Are You Ready to Know?. Eight champions, aged 13 and 14, participated in a series of workshops to create a film to demonstrate how parents can talk to young children about FGM. The group learned about FGM, advocacy, storyboarding, interviewing, filming and editing. The young team worked with a professional film-maker and was given full control over the film content and all the editing decisions. A Cherwell School champion who took part in making the song, My Clitoris attended Integrate UK’s conference in December 2016 where she presented ‘Are You Ready to Know’ before it was screened for the Bristol audience.

Film-making skills

Art for peer learning (2016)

Two Cherwell School champions facilitated an arts and advocacy workshop for young people. They showed the group a film and facilitated discussions about FGM. The group then created a banner for our charity.

Art for peer learning

Film (2015)

Anti-FGM champions at Cherwell School spread awareness by creating their own film, working completely on their own with no help from any adults!

Theatre (2015)

Students from Oxford Academy and Cherwell School took part in a theatre project to help raise awareness about FGM. The project was designed to give students a “product” they can use to talk about FGM with peers, so they become anti-FGM champions in their schools. The workshops were led by a human rights activist and a professional actor. Students learned about issues around FGM, awareness-raising/campaign work and participated in a play reading. They also met a survivor of FGM who talked about the difficulties in “speaking up” and then created some improvisation work based on her story and artwork as visual stimuli. The students performed the play reading and improvisation alongside our charity’s art exhibition launch at the North Wall Arts Centre.

Schools booklet (2015)

Anti-FGM champions from Cheney School took part in our schools booklet project. Students from year 12 and 13 formed a committee with students from Cherwell School to create a booklet about FGM. The booklet was designed to help professionals start conversations with girls at risk of FGM. The students attended a series of workshops to learn about FGM and campaigning skills and create the booklet. They wrote the text for the booklet and ran an art competition, setting the criteria, deciding on the themes and judging the final artwork.

 

During the project, some students from Cheney School ran their own art workshop to help raise awareness about FGM and encourage year 7 students to get involved with the competition. The workshop focused on rights that affect the human body and students created cut out people of themselves with messages to understand positive body image.

The artwork from the competition was displayed at an exhibition at The North Wall Arts Centre in Summertown, alongside the work of professional artist, Jeroo Roy. Cheney students also presented at the exhibition opening event.