Author: Sam Harrison

Event: Savera UK Youth #EndFGM Exhibition

After the success of the FGM exhibition launched as part of the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation (6th February), Savera UK Youth Advisory Board wanted to expand on this exhibition and launch it in the North West with photographs and photography by the young people.

The aim of this project is to educate young people about FGM and the impact it has on those affected whilst teaching them that culture can be beautiful but we can challenge harmful traditions that violate human rights. The exhibition will put a spotlight on these issues and showcase the poetry, performance and photography skills from the young people.

The youth led exhibition will be on Tuesday 5th November at LJMU Peter Jost Building, Peter Jost Upper Lecture Theatre and Exhibition Space (1st Floor) Liverpool, L3 3AF at 2:30pm – 5:30pm as part of UK Parliament Week which engages people from across the UK with their UK Parliament and explores what it means to them and empowers them to get involved.

The event will be opened by the Savera UK Youth Ambassador Maya Jama (Radio & TV Presenter). There will also be guest speaker, Payzee Mahmod who is a survivor of Child Marriage and Honour Based Abuse. Payzee has made it her mission to tackle these practices & break the silence around the conversation of HBA. After losing her sister, Banaz in a tragic Honour Killing in 2006, she has started campaigning to eradicate HBA and Child Marriage .

Savera UK Youth want to use the exhibition to encourage other young people regardless of their background or gender to speak out about this issue and to educate them on the practice. It’s a great opportunity for them to meet other young activists who want to make a difference and have a platform at which to raise important issues of young people today.

This project has been funded by the #iwill Programme. #iwill is a UK-wide campaign aiming to get 6 out of 10 young people involved in social action by 2020.

Book your tickets now, click here.

 

#EndFGM Exhibition

#EndFGM Exhibition

International Zero Tolerance Day #EndFGM Exhibition

Building on the success of the Savera UK Youth Conference and hard-hitting film #StopTheWedding, Savera UK Youth participated in a project with the National FGM Centre to mark the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation on February 6, 2019, which helped to raise awareness about this often hidden crime.

Creating the Exhibition

After speaking with survivors of female genital mutilation and learning more about the practice from Savera UK, the young people then worked with artist Joanne Tremarco and photographer Andrew ‘AB’ Abrahamson to learn valuable image-making and photography skills through a series of workshops.

In these workshops the young people learned how to translate what they had heard into powerful imagery, through sessions with Joanne making collage, assemblage and animation. Then, using the practical skills and knowledge about the rules of photography shared by AB, they took disposable cameras away to interpret their understanding of FGM through photography.  

These photographs approach the subject matter from a more abstract and emotional point of view, informing the staged SLR photographs that carry a more explicit #EndFGM message.

Following further workshops with artist Joanne and Savera UK survivor ambassador and poet Kiara Mohamed Amin, the young people created poems, song and text related to FGM, in response to what they had learned from the survivor stories and from Savera UK. The young people also learned important skills about showcasing their work, such as how to hang an exhibition and how to write about their artwork to communicate its meaning as well as skills in performance and presentation.

#EndFGM at the National FGM Centre Seminar 

The project culminated in Savera UK Youth’s participation at The National FGM Centre’s seminar on February 6 2019 in London.

Leading experts gathered at the seminar to explore the medical aspects of FGM, the medical challenges of identifying FGM and implications for the law. The feedback from seminar delegates on the exhibition was extremely positive and the young people also found the project extremely valuable.

Ayo Folarin, Savera UK Youth Participant at National FGM Centre seminar, said: “I’m blessed to have taken part and can’t wait for projects in the future.”

#EndFGM Exhibition Tour

Plans were made for the exhibition to be toured in the North West, however before this could happen, in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and these plans were put on hold.

In February 2022 the exhibition was displayed once again in the ‘Make Space’ exhibition space of the International Slavery Museum in the Albert Dock, Liverpool. The exhibition opened to mark  International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM 2022 and was on display for a month.

The exhibition highlighted how FGM is not culture, that culture is beautiful and never an excuse for abuse and aimed to educate young people about FGM and the impact it has on those affected.

It also encouraged young people to speak out about this issue regardless of their background or gender and provided an opportunity to meet other young activists who want to make a difference and raise important issues among young people today.

You can learn more about the 2022 exhibition here.