WITH ARTISTS OCEAN FARINI + SALLY GILFORD

The exhibition celebrated the design work of Vivienne Westwood, one of the last independent global fashion companies in the world. Westwood continued to capture the imagination and raise awareness of environmental and human rights issues through her work.

For this project, a group of young people called New Beginnings who are from in and around Bootle, came together to talk and create in a space they knew well. Originally formed before the start of the Covid outbreak, the New Beginnings youth group decided to focus on a previous exhibition at The Atkinson, Westwood, as the starting point to explore the role of fashion and photography in society today.

Protest of identity is all about exploring the potential of the politics of textiles and clothes, how we can use them as tools for expression and change, as well as questioning when these things blur the lines between fashion, sculpture, and political statement. What is possible when we use them as a medium for our own private protests for things that matter to us? Open Eye Gallery continues to work with the group and The Atkinson, with a recent visit to explore the current exhibition, the ‘Unselfish Selfie’, which will form the next starting point for their own new creative work.