The Mall Wood Green is hosting an exhibition of the S.M.I.L.E-ing Boys Project in association with artist Kay Rufai and local charity, the Godwin Lawson Foundation.

Featuring portraits and artworks created in collaboration with students from Woodside High School in Wood Green, the exhibition is on display until 11 October.

The internationally acclaimed artist, Kay Rufai created the research-led mental well-being project as a direct response to the rise in youth stabbings. This inspired Kay to explore the often-neglected public health approach, which investigated mental health provision for the demographic in question – overwhelmingly black youth.

This exploration later led to the Wellcome Trust & Arts Council funded S.M.I.L.E-ing Boys Project. The project involved research trips to Scandinavia (Denmark, Sweden, Norway) and Bhutan (for its measure of Gross National Happiness instead of GDP), to explore the factors that contribute towards enabling these countries to consistently rank amongst the top 10 happiest countries in the world.

Ongoing research uncovered eight main factors responsible for the high happiness ranking average in these Scandinavian countries, which were then used to design a series of photography, poetry and discussion-based art workshops with 13-year-old Black Boys, delivered by the artist.

The outcomes of these eight-week-long workshops were curated into a multimedia exhibition at City Hall (Mayor Of London’s office), Battersea Arts Centre, Theatre Peckham, Brixton Village in the Guardian, and now The Mall Wood Green, consisting of photography, creative writing, films, installations and a poetry album ‘Boy And A Bike (Miseducation Of Black Youth)’, which was written by Kay as a self-therapeutic response to the honest discussions which were held in the classrooms and also feature as interludes on the album.

Nyre, one of the participants, commented: “It’s helped me to feel more confident in being my real self, being more free and open with my emotions, and to just be myself without fearing judgment.”

Miss Boothman, Deputy Head at Woodside High School, said: “The breath of fresh air that Kay brought into the school was truly a beautiful thing. Kay has shown these boys more love on the project than they’ve received in all their time at school, and I am so grateful. The changes already noticeable in the boys are quite evident, from their confidence to their sense of self identity.”

“I am delighted to see this exhibition take centre stage at The Mall Wood Green,” added Yvonne Lawson, of The Godwin Lawson Foundation. “As a small local charity, it can be hard to reach people in large numbers, but having our message displayed in such a prominent location will make a huge difference in helping to get it out to young people.”

The exhibition is free to enter and is on display on the Upper Mall surrounding the staircase in The Mall, Wood Green.