Ilse Blanquet

The Visible Justice exhibition featured immersive installation, photography, video, sound, and a series of talks, performances, screenings and events – including an open discussion on knife violence. 

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For Young Blood, media and photography students worked on photography, interviews and research about knife crimes among young people. As part of the exploration and analysis of the topic, we decided to showcase a visual counter-narrative touching on the other side of history. That's how we found the movement #BikesUpKnivesDown; which is about big communities of bikers that welcome anyone who wants to join to wheel across the UK, instead of joining gangs.

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We interviewed a group of young bikers who enjoyed riding around Londons' main avenues and streets such as Oxford St. and Regent St. During these interviews they shared how they found their place in the whole biking community, how this was helpful for them, including the benefits for their mental health, the importance of finding something that keeps people, especially the youth, away from gangs, violence, and drugs and their insights and personal experiences while being exposed to knife crimes. 

 

The showcase included still portraits, videos and a small section of selected quotes about the movement, their opinions and news highlights regarding knife crimes across the UK, specifically London.  

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