Our ‘Forward To The Future’ Youth Exhibition at Poplar Union is finally open to visit for free throughout the month of April – open from 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM every weekday!

Last summer, our founder Sir Jack Petchey turned 96. From the discovery of antibiotics to the first World Cup to the first man on the moon, Sir Jack has lived through some incredible achievements and moments of change! Reflecting on these inspired us to look positively to the future and think about what the next 96 years could hold…

To celebrate Sir Jack’s milestone, we launched the Forward To The Future creative competition. Here, we asked young people from London and Essex aged 11-19 to send us a creative piece that showcased their positive vision of the world, 96 years in the future!

This was our biggest creative competition yet, with young people sending in over 160 entries! These spanned a range of art forms, including paintings, poems, songs, and even video games. We were blown away by the quality and creativity of this work, which made shortlisting a very difficult process for our panel of young judges.

We are delighted to showcase 36 shortlisted pieces of original artwork in a multi-media ‘Exhibition of Life in 2117’, an exhibition created by young people, for young people!

One of our shortlisted entrants, Oscar Wong, wrote a positive piece about his inspirations and process in creating his piece for the competition.

My artwork, “A Green Skyline” is an optimistic view of life in 2117 by portraying a green skyscraper. This idea is based on sustainable technology and the future of what our life could actually look like. Green buildings are really fascinating and so I drew a dramatic tall skyscraper, reflecting population pressured accommodation, with a green wall and many little windows.

I had been experimenting with using pencils to outline work and used this style for the artwork. Everywhere I added hints of sci-fi and realistic future technology. The train in the background hints at hyperloop and high-speed rail, and the lab at the top hints at lab-grown food, even with a viewing bridge above it. The road bridge in front was from my imagination though.

Overall, I actually really enjoyed creating this artwork and watching it come to life. I hope it spreads the vision for a greener, better future.

Great job Oscar, we love the intricacy of your work and the thought process behind it, here’s to an environmental friendly future!

Want to tell us about your story to inspire others? Let us know! We would love to post all about it, email us on pr@jackpetchey.org.uk 

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