S.M.I.L.E-ing Boys

Portraits of local Black boys smiling warmly at the camera were displayed on billboards across the borough, as well as in an exhibition at Hackney Bridge as part of Hackney’s extended Black History in the Making season.

S.M.I.L.E-ing Boys is the brainchild of internationally acclaimed artist Kay Rufai as a response to the rise in youth affected by violence which sparked reactionary approaches from the government regarding tougher criminalisation of youth, more stop and searches and greater police presence in majority communities. 

These approaches inspired Kay to explore the often-neglected public health approach, which required investigating the mental health provisions or lack thereof, for the demographic in question - Black youth. 

Gaining funding from the Wellcome Trust, Paul Hamlyn Foundation and the Arts Council, he created a research-led mental well-being project for Black boys in London. 

After visiting countries with high rankings of happiness including Scandinavia (Denmark, Sweden, Norway) and Bhutan (for its measure of Gross National Happiness instead of GDP), Kay uncovered eight factors responsible for happiness. These factors were used to design a series of workshops with 13-year-old Black boys involving poetry, discussion-based art sessions and photography. 

Kay has worked with over 300 Black boys from ten London boroughs with the outcomes being used to create exhibitions across London. 

Thanks to Kay, the boys who took part discovered new ways to express themselves, explore a sense of identity and find new ways to manage their own happiness. 

Kay says: "The S.M.I.L.E-ing Boys project has provided me with the opportunity to realise a vision of creating a humanised version of black boys while advocating for a more care-centred approach to supporting their mental well-being. It is the project I needed when I was 13 and never had, which is bringing me healing and joy simultaneously"

Visit the S.M.I.L.E-ing Boys exhibition at Hackney Bridge

Hackney Bridge are excited to be supporting this community-focused project and will become the focal point of the project by displaying all 17 portraits. Visit the exhibition at Hackney Bridge, Units 1-28, Echo Building, London E15 2SJ. View map 

About the artist 

Kay Adekunle Rufai is a Photographer, Poet, Filmmaker, Mental Health Researcher, and the first national Artist In Residence for the West Midlands Police. His work spans the past 5 years in a handful of countries including the UK, USA, Ethiopia, Bhutan, Germany, Scandinavia, Mexico, Nigeria and Colombia. 

He has spent the past 3 years exploring the public health approach to violence reduction, Mental Health, Masculinity and community cohesion through art, photography, educational workshops and public speaking. 

A great deal of his work has directly engaged diverse communities, minority groups, incarcerated young people, gang members, refugee and displaced groups of people as well as collaboratively creating bodies of work with them.