Steve McQueen’s Year 3 project features photographic portraits of thousands of London schoolchildren.
This panel discussion invites contributors to reflect on the installation and how it might speak to current debates around identity, childhood and belonging. What does this project say about the future of London? How does it relate to the status of arts education today?
Contributors include the poet Theresa Lola, the primary teacher Ben Jones and the writer and curator Ekow Eshun, with the discussion chaired by Gaylene Gould.
Biographies
Ekow Eshun
Ekow Eshun is a writer and curator. He is Chairman of the Fourth Plinth Commissioning Group and the former Director of the ICA. His book Black Gold of the Sun was nominated for the Orwell prize and he writes for publications including the New York Times, Financial Times and Granta.
Gaylene Gould
Gaylene Gould is a Creative Director, presenter and Cultural Ambassador for London. She has spent over 25 years spearheading arts initiatives internationally across film, theatre, performance and digital practice which interrogate and broaden our view of ourselves and the world.
Ben Jones
Ben Jones is Creative Arts Lead at Mayflower Primary School in Tower Hamlets. He has been a primary teacher in London for eleven years, after completing a PGCE at Goldsmiths University and a degree in Fine Art at Northumbria University.
Theresa Lola
Theresa Lola is a British Nigerian poet and facilitator, and is the current Young People’s Laureate for London. She is an alumni of the Barbican Young Poets programme, and was joint winner of the 2018 Brunel International African Poetry Prize.