“I painted this picture after seeing a robin in the garden.”

Cressida, aged 5.

“I was interested in how black people have been depicted in western art and specifically in the colours that artists used for black skin tones. I decided to paint 12 girls at my school who all have very different tones of black skin, but who are described as black.”

Sophia, age 18.

“Lemogranate is a mix of a lemon and a pomegranate. With both being very different, the idea is that the depiction of two merged fruits conveys that what you see on the outside is not always what is on the inside, or in other words, life is not always what it seems.”

Anna, age 13.

“I listened to ‘A Night on Bald Mountain’ by Modest Mussorgsky and painted how the music made me feel. Sometimes I felt calm and sometimes I felt excited.”

Archie, age 10.

“This was painted in the midst of the disoriented time of global lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The figures are cooped up in a room that is brought to life by an amalgamation of patterns and colours. The painting bustles with familiar symbols and motifs of this strange time, conveying the experience of being socially isolated and kept in a cage; your own home.”

Honor, age 18.

“My project focused on the mundane contents of bags. The raw canvas background becomes the surface upon which the salad leaves are displayed.”

Hannah, age 18.

“I wanted to draw a sloth as they are my favourite animal. I love how slow they are and their fluffy fur. I used pastels and shaded it to try and show its fluffy fur.”

Willow-Rose, Age 7.

“Mrs Obi has taught me since reception. She is very kind and caring.”

Jemima, age 10.

“This was a collaborative piece using acrylics and mixed media. During a visit to the local Primrose Woods, Archie and Zac sketched the view and the edge of the woods then combined their sketches to produce this abstracted piece.”

Archie and Zak, age 7.

“This is a portrait of my brother, he is in year 9 and lives in South East London. I’m interested in how he is navigating his identity at this crossroads of his life. Through symbols normally associated with the traditional dress of women in West Africa I want to ask the viewer to question typical assumptions about masculinity.”

Jennifer, age 16.