There is something subversive going on at the Foundling Museum this autumn. Their latest exhibition is an expression of ‘lockdown’ frustration via a cacophony of voices that have used a creative outlet on a government missive to shout about what matters in these confusing times.
As debates rage in parliament over free school meals we are reminded that children rarely get a chance to raise their voices enough to be heard. Whilst wholesome pictures of rainbows and NHS hearts adorned many neighbourhood windows over the last few months, the ‘Covid Letters’ exhibition is a much more ‘in your face’ outlet not just for support of our NHS but also an uncompromising view of our government and its leader, Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Jonny Banger, designer and owner of fashion label, Sports Banger, has invited children under the age of 16 to customise the letter sent to every household in the UK by Boris Johnson that urged residents to ‘Stay at home, Protect the NHS and Save Lives’ at the very start of ‘lockdown’.
The selection of over 200 works are more colourful and joyous even in their anti-government sentiment than I expected. From letters simply used as extra colouring paper and space to stick Peppa Pig to some wickedly imagined caricatures of Boris. It is the simple ones I can’t help smiling at the ‘Poo Man’ and ‘Stoopid, So Stoopid Boris’
There are a few clever parent and child collaborations that vent the creativity and frustrations of all ages. But solo child submission are at the heart of this exhibition with some impressive skill on show too.
One of my favourites is actually the one saved from the bin, scrawled on, ripped and torn asunder very much like the society we find ourselves in. Yet somehow saved for a higher purpose.
I think back to the letter we received, instead of opening it, I decided to keep it intact and stick it in my memory box. I naively thought it would be something to remind ourselves of a strange time which would be over soon. Well didn’t we all think that back in March?
But whilst my letter sits preserved and unbroken, a time capsule that sits as if in aspic, here the same letter is set loose and free. I have preserved a government missive but this exhibition preserves something much more important – moments of boredom and creativity, lost summers and stunted childhoods.
Jeremy Deller, the artist and Foundling Museum trustee, invited Jonny Banger to show the fruits of his call to artistic arms in the Foundling Museum. What he has done is raised those voices up and given them power and energy.
By sticking them up on the walls of the gallery it powerfully gives kids a voice to say – ‘I am here, I don’t like this new world and I want my childhood back’.
In the short video about the exhibition Deller and Banger chat through the genesis of the idea. Banger talks of the joy every time he got a new one sent through the post and opened it. I love that. I think that would be a great idea to parcel them up and send them back out into the wild. A little bit of subversive fun through your letterbox that would be much more welcome than a letter from Boris Johnson any day of the week.
I think the young artists should be very proud of themselves, sowing the seeds of a dissenting new generation that will keep questioning the status quo. I get the feeling we are going to need them more than ever.
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The Covid Letters is on at the Foundling Museum, from Saturday 24th October till 17th January 2021 for opening times and to book please visit the website – https://foundlingmuseum.org.uk/events/the-covid-letters/
Tincture of Museum 