Artist, writer and lecturer at the National College of Art and Design (NCAD) Fiona Whelan introduces Boys in the Making, currently exhibiting at the NCAD Gallery as part of a long-term collaborative project exploring how men and boys are shaped by and influence the world they live in.
Boys in the Making is an exhibition and series of events that emerged from a long-term programme for boys and young men, developed by myself and Rialto Youth Project. The programme was subsequently piloted in a number of community and school contexts across Dublin, led by a growing team of artists, educators and youth workers.
'He is a boy.
He is from here.
And you are responsible for him.'
This is the prompt that starts the programme for different groups, who each engage in a creative process over time, led by a youth worker and an artist, to co-create a boy and explore his needs and experiences as he interacts with the world around him.
The current exhibition at the NCAD Gallery, curated by Anne Kelly, offers the public an opportunity to see inside this ongoing programme, and connect with some of the fictional characters and collaborative artworks that have been created to date, which includes large-scale figures, animation, films, posters, drawings, poetry and a graphic novel.
The Boys in the Making methodology places central importance on the knowledge of each group creating a boy, with each group of young people drawing on their lived experiences and observations of life in and beyond their own context to shape the proposed life journey of the character they have created together.
What emerges from each process is a fictitious character living in a real world, who embodies much of the knowledge of his young makers.
Themes are not prescribed - instead, themes emerge through the process itself, as each group is facilitated over time to explore the complexity of life for their boy. Groups identify influencing forces they perceive to be present in their fictional boy's life, informing him of what choices he may have, while giving direction based on their own knowledge, observations and experiences.
The process involves a critical engagement with the world around us, as well as a re-imagination of the world, considering how it is and how it could be. What emerges from each process is a fictitious character living in a real world, who embodies much of the knowledge of his young makers.
Watch: Boys in the Making - artist Arron Sunderland talks to Tommy Tiernan
Boys in the Making at the NCAD Gallery was developed by Rialto Youth Project and myself, in collaboration with Scoil Chiaráin CBS, Aaron Sunderland Carey, Feidlim Cannon, Gary Keegan, Dara Clear, Dr Robert Grant, Dr Ernesto Vasquez del Aguila, Dr Ciaran Smyth, Jim Lawlor, Poppintree Youth Project, Space Forms, Heart of Glass and Anne Kelly.
A core component of the exhibition is a month-long programme of events, facilitating an in-depth dialogue in relation to the methodology and the emerging themes, culminating in a conference on the 14th of February 2025.
Through the exhibition and programme of events, Boys in the Making considers how men and boys are shaped by and influence the world they live in.
The programme is part of a long-term project called What Does He Need? which is a collaboration between myself, theatremakers Brokentalkers and Rialto Youth Project. Through public art, performance, educational programmes and workshops, the project aims to create significant public dialogue about the current state of masculinity.
Boys in the Making continues at the NCAD Gallery, Dublin until Friday, 14th February, 2025 - for public opening times, go here.
