The Threads that Bind Us

The Threads that Bind Us was an exhibition of style and fashion photography created by Tiber Young Producers showcasing garments designed and made by Toxteth young people with the support of fashion designer Andrew Ibi. The exhibition featured portraits of the group wearing their own designs and included the young people’s reflections on their experiences of community, where they feel most powerful in their own lives, what it is like to be a young person in 2024 and how collaboration creates positive change.

The group designed and created all parts of this exhibition with the support of Producer and Photographer Emma Case and Tate Liverpool Curator of Learning Stef Bradley. They made their own garments and worked with luxury fashion retailer CRICKET to professionally style their outfits. They directed their photo shoot at YETI Creative and curated their exhibition space at the Metquarter. The group also exhibited behind the scenes footage and photography showing their journey throughout this project.

Tiber Young Producers are a group of creatives aged 13–18 formed through the support of Tiber and working in partnership with Tate Liverpool. Tiber's vision is to build world class facilities, raising aspirations, encouraging and supporting young people in achieving their goals and getting the best from life by being positive role models in and around the L8 area. The young people are offered training opportunities, involvement in entrepreneurial projects, enterprise and leadership programs, and work closely with local residents, businesses, volunteers and community organisations to fulfil theirs and Tiber’s vision.

The Tiber Young Producers included:

Shanti-Deva Helena Dubicki Wild, Kaidyn-Lee Morris-Browne, N’Kias Coker, Amani Benjamin-Abbey, Fuad Nassir, Magda Defreitas, Sha-Rae Riley, Cecilia Deakin, Rihanna Alkunshalie, Amira Taher, Elsie Kinzambi, Kelyce Morris-Browne, Aimee May Gregson, Jasmin Kosmos, Idris Baten and Selina Karaca.

Tiber Young Producers worked together for 5 months to develop the project and realise the final exhibition. They connected with a number of creatives to support their research and develop the skills needed to create their final photo shoot and showcase.

The group worked with artist Neil Keating to look at ways that they could expand their creativity, learning Neil’s free flow drawing technique then designing their own characters and designs for T-shirts. Neil also helped support the producers to create a graffiti background for a mini photo shoot, to test out how they felt in front of, and behind, the camera. Neil later returned to help the group to install their exhibition at the Metquarter and they worked together to create the designs on the walls in the space.

The group also worked with writer Mike Pinnington to help find a strong voice in their own writing, sharing their own reflections on where young people have power in their lives and how they can influence others and make positive change in their communities.

Tiber Young Producers decided to focus the project on fashion and style, seeing this as a powerful form of expression.

They worked with stylist Mithila Ramagavigan to explore ways of expressing their individuality, looking at how style could express identity, culture, interests and beliefs and how style can reflect our personalities.

The group worked with fashion designer Alena Kudera to hone their design skills, learning new ways of reworking garments and experimenting with new techniques.

They invited fashion designer Andrew Ibi to help create fashion mood boards and sketches of their final design ideas. They took on the challenge of producing the clothes themselves, adopting the role of style activists, acting against fast fashion and giving new life to items of unwanted clothing.

Once the group had made their items of clothing by recycling unwanted items, they worked with luxury fashion retailer CRICKET to style them. They were able to browse the different floors of CRICKET and select any items that they wanted to try on. They pushed themselves to try different looks and to step outside of their comfort zones. They worked with CRICKET stylist Laura Fraser to help select items that might work well with their own designs and then borrowed these clothes for their photo shoot. Laura joined them at the studio as a stylist for the shoot.

For their photo shoot, the group worked with production studio YETI Creative and their team of industry professionals to take over the space and get advice on approaches for their own shoot. YETI gave access to their studio spaces and professional equipment. YETI also provided advice on their team members’ careers in film, photography and media. They helped the group to document the day with behind-the-scenes photography and film.

The group were supported to develop their photography skills throughout the project, taking on photography challenges and taking pictures in every session to show their work at every stage. Artist Emma Case continually encouraged the group to think outside of the box with their own photos.

Tiber Young Producers were also greatly inspired by photographer and performance artist Benji Reid. He shared his creative journey and his gravity-defying images and encouraged the group to do things in their own way without worrying what others might say.

The group responded to photography challenges throughout the project and also chose to exhibit their own photography responding to their chosen exhibition title, The Threads that Bind Us and the theme of ‘power’.

Tiber Young Producers led all aspects of their project from start to finish including designing their exhibition space and working to install their show. The group visited the empty shop space in the Metquarter and worked together to create a shared plan for the layout of the space and what would be exhibited in their show.

They then invited artist Neil Keating to return to collaborate with them to decorate the walls and windows of the exhibition space and worked together across 3 days of installation to realise the final design. The group also worked with Tate Liverpool's art handling and curatorial staff to help assemble the furniture in their space and install the final artworks.

The Threads that Bind Us launched to a full house on 21 August 2024. Tiber Young Producer N’Kias Coker introduced the exhibition and welcomed guests.

The Threads that Bind Us was open to the public at Metquarter from 22 – 28 August 2024.