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This year's children's commission at the Whitechapel Gallery was created by Brazilian artist Rivane Neuenschwander, who noticed that people's fears often surfaced in her earlier work exploring people's wishes. For this piece of work, she worked with children from local primary schools to explore childhood dread and anxieties. The kids were asked to design a cape that would protect them from their fears, and the video that accompanies the display details how the artist worked with a fashion designer to translate the drawings into fabric capes (the video is located slightly apart from the exhibition so look out for it as it gives invaluable context to the process).
The faithfulness with which Neuenschwander brings to life the children's ideas is a testament to the credit the youngsters' feelings are afforded – the horrors of ebola and drowning are treated with the same respect as an aversion to spiders and thunder. The resulting work, titled 'The Name of Fear', is composed of colourful capes in an eye-catching variety of fabrics, including embroidered felt, bubble wrap, silk and glow-in-the-dark material. It's an illuminating and often touching collection that reflects and comments upon a childhood lived in the metropolis.
Pick up a free family trail at the front desk for a more intractive experience.