Flower of Life Installation
Students created an installation for Newport Bus Station to promote understanding between generations and better community cohesion, as part of a wider crime reduction project funded by the Police and Crime Commissioner for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
The Flower of Life resulted from a 12 week project where the students from the Island Learning Centre (now renamed Lionheart School) worked with artist Nathan Holt exploring themes around empathy and how we treat others, particularly across the generations.
An important aspect of the Young Cultural Changemakers programme is promoting youth leadership. In this project students got the opportunity to share their skills by leading workshops with younger children at Hunnyhill Primary School and older people from Northbrooke House and Independent Arts.
These workshops contributed to the final Flower of Life installation, made up of 90 individual MDF petals, each decorated by a different person in the community. The piece celebrates diversity and individuality coming together as a community through creativity.
“I think having it here is going to make a difference. Even while we’ve been here, about five people have come and asked us about it and some have even taken photographs! I think people are going to enjoy looking at it – particularly the older people. It brightens the place up.” – Lionheart School Student
Others who contributed to the piece included staff and governors at the Lionheart School; staff at Southern Vectis where the work is sited; Veteran Outreach Support; Active Living; IW Council’s Director of Children, Young People and Families Ashley Whittaker; and Richard Quigley MP.
“Students identified particular groups they would like to work with and we were able to implement this through the opportunities this project provided. This offered real life experience, widened conversations and generated understanding which has created lasting consideration for the people the students have met.” – Juliet Lainson, Art Teacher, Lionheart School
They are wonderful, it was so lovely that they came and spent time talking and helping us old people! I have thoroughly enjoyed myself, I would love it if they came back to visit us again.
Thank you to our partners on this project including: Lionheart School, Police and Crime Commissioner Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, Southern Vectis, Independent Arts, Riverside Centre, Hunnyhill Primary School, Northbrooke House.