Pupils at Ysgol Aberconwy have turned a simple but challenging question into a major public exhibition exploring racism, fairness and belonging in North Wales.

What’s It Got To Do With Me? began as a discussion point often heard when issues of racism are raised. Instead of dismissing it, staff and learners used it as the starting point for a sustained project linking lived experience with creative expression.

Developed in partnership with ARWAP, Oriel Colwyn and Conwy County Borough Council, the work has grown into a large-scale installation shaped by hundreds of young people. Oriel Colwyn’s work and contribution towards the project is funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

The project gained momentum following a community workshop led by Professor Charlotte Williams and artist Mfikela Jean Samuel. Their input helped guide pupils from Years 7 to 9, alongside GCSE and A Level art students, through conversations about identity, cynefin and community.

Cynefin is a Welsh word that describes a deep sense of belonging to a place, shaped by culture, history and lived experience.

Over time, the work evolved beyond classroom lessons into a wider enquiry into what fairness looks like in school corridors, in local neighbourhoods and across Wales.

It comes as Wales continues to pursue the ambitions of the Anti-racist Wales Action Plan, which aims to make the nation anti-racist by 2030. While North Wales is often perceived as less diverse than larger urban areas, recent census data shows growing ethnic diversity across Conwy and Denbighshire, particularly among younger age groups.

Nationally, official figures have also shown a rise in recorded hate crimes in recent years, mirroring trends seen across the UK. Against that backdrop, schools have increasingly been encouraged to create space for open and honest conversations about race and belonging.

A major inspiration for the exhibition has been Professor Charlotte Williams’ memoir Sugar and Slate, which reflects on identity, visibility and the desire to feel recognised within your own community. Those themes are woven throughout the installation, alongside creative influences from Ndidi John’s play Roots, studied within the school’s Expressive Arts curriculum.

Visitors will see painted roof slates, cynefin maps, photography, digital artwork and collaged pieces exploring welcome, exclusion and solidarity. Doors have been used as symbolic thresholds, marking the line between inclusion and exclusion. One double-sided door carries the title work built from student reflections; turned around, it becomes a pledge signed by pupils and staff, signalling a commitment to action rather than words alone.

More than 400 individually crafted clay tiles form part of the display, each representing a personal mark of identity. Alongside them are over 350 self-portraits exploring the wide spectrum of skin tones, challenging simplistic ideas of “black” and “white” and instead emphasising variation and shared humanity.

A video installation brings the portraits into motion, accompanied by students’ own voices describing their experiences and reflections on racism and prejudice in North Wales. Organisers say the intention is not to speak for young people, but to amplify what they are already saying.

The exhibition opens at Coed Pella on Thursday 26 February at 4pm before moving to Oriel Colwyn on Conwy Road in Colwyn Bay. Organisers say it is an open invitation to the wider community to reflect on the question posed by the pupils themselves: what’s it got to do with me — and what am I going to do about it?

The Oriel Colwyn web page for the exhibition can also be found at: https://orielcolwyn.org/en/Exhibitions/Whats-It-Got-To-Do-With-Me.aspx

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