Not This Future is participatory performance. Employing pseudo shamanic ritual, Not This Future takes the emotion 'Grief' as a site for solidarity and communal care. This work commemorates and critically revisits the Essex 39 incident where thirty-nine Vietnamese were found dead in the back of a lorry having been abandoned by a people smuggler in 2019. As a core part of the commemoration, this spiritual performance accommodates 39 offerings from different parts of the world, gathered through the exclusive call out for those whose creative practice and research weigh on migrant justice and challenge the idea of borders.

In March 2021 Youngsook held three conversations to expand on the themes of the work. firstly ‘Grief, it takes a community’ with activist nd member of Remember & Resist, Tessa Qiu, followed by ‘Grief with strangers’ with curator Annie Jael Kwan and finally ‘Prayer from the ancient future’ with musician/artist Ceara Conway.

These conversations have been brought together into this layered soundwork by Youngsook and edited by Karolina Skorek.

You can find more information about Not This Future on our website here: www.heartofglass.org.uk/projects-and-…this-future-1

Not This Future, Conversations

Fox Irving in conversation with Amina Atiq, Kyra Cross, Maria Paul, Adiam SGS and Jasmine Shigemura Lee discuss their engagement with the arts and how they came to access these opportunities. They also reflect upon the difficulties many young women face when accessing the arts, whether as an audience member or as an aspiring practitioner.

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Young Hearts Resource One

TEXTBOOK - Audio Description

How to Look After a Grieving Elephant (and other social animals) is a children’s participatory art project about grief, by artist Jenny Gaskell. The aim for this project is to get children and adults talking about grief, how we might care for each other, and of course, to have fun along the way. 

Working with children aged 5-10, Jenny researched how some animals act differently when an animal close to them dies. Over a series of art workshops, games and crafts, our collaborators learned about some of the ways that animals - including elephants, giraffes, whales and wolves - share their grief, and how we can look after ourselves as humans too.

The Grief Helpline for Social Animals provides a wealth of information on how social animals experience grief, how to look after ourselves, and each other too. Listeners will hear children’s perspectives on empathy, care, and support, shared in the warm, honest voices of young people. Also available to experience via a phone installation at locations in St Helens (2024-25), The Helpline opens up a compassionate way to consider grief and loss, inspired by the ways animals naturally support each other.

Heart of Glass

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