Sadness
/ ˈsæd.nəs / noun 1. the state or feeling Grief, Anger, Loneliness, Fear, Entrapment, Acceptance and Hope.With support from Arts Council England and the National Poetry Library, DYSPLA collaborated with neurodivergent children in East Enfield—an area of high deprivation—to explore ‘sadness’ through poetry and digital art, producing 208 poems and 8 films that highlight traits of the Neurodivergent Aesthetic while questioning the accessibility of artistic expression when living in poverty.
Artists:
DYSPLA
AVB
Child 2
Child 3
Child 4
Child 5
Child 6
Child 7
Child 8
Year: 2024
Digital Sculptures: 8 x .stl, 500mb (approx)
Film: 8 x 120 sec, 4k, .mp4
Banners: 8 x (1.2x1.8m) 500gsm Polyvinyl Chloride
Text: 208 poems
DYSPLA
AVB
Child 2
Child 3
Child 4
Child 5
Child 6
Child 7
Child 8
Year: 2024
Digital Sculptures: 8 x .stl, 500mb (approx)
Film: 8 x 120 sec, 4k, .mp4
Banners: 8 x (1.2x1.8m) 500gsm Polyvinyl Chloride
Text: 208 poems
Sadness in exhibition at Stephen Lawresnce Gallery, 2026
In 2023 DYSPLA were awarded Arts Council England funding to explore the concept of ‘Sadness’ from the perspective of neurodivergent Primary School children from the East of Enfield, an area of high deprivation. This became known as the Sadness Poetry Project, a series of 8 in person workshops
These workshops took place in a Honilands Primary School in the East of Enfield, which is known for high deprivation due to historical lack of funding. As a result of the inequality in the borough, life expectancy between the East and West of Enfield differs by 6 years and children from East are also more likely to experience mental health problems compared to their wealthier counterparts in the West.
A recent NHS report conducted between 2017-23, confirmed that mental health difficulties in children have been rising over the last six years and found the following:
- 1 in 5 children have mental health difficulties
- The most common mental health problems among young people are anxiety and depression.
- Children and young people from low-income families are four times more likely to experience mental health problems than children from higher-income families
It is within this climate of austerity that DYSPLA began to question - ‘Can Poverty Afford Poetry?’
With the support of the National Poetry Library, Honiland Primary School and Ordnance Unity Centre Library, DYSPLA facilitated eight in person workshops with children living in the East of Enfield and invited students from Honilands Primary School and Ordnance Library to also participant in the Sadness Poetry Project.
The outcome was the completion of 208 poems, 8 films and the engaged 84 children from the East of the borough who shared their poems. These poems touched on universal themes of Grief, Anger, Loneliness, Fear, Entrapment, Acceptance and Hope.
Examples of hand written childrens poems on postcards
