‘Where’s Your Head At?’ display celebrates children and young people’s creativity
13 July 2026
Imaginative artworks by 172 children and young people from across the Southwest are now on display at The Box as part of ‘Where’s Your Head At?’.
The display showcases work created in response to an open competition delivered in partnership by The Box and Arts University Plymouth earlier this year, where participants were asked to take their inspiration from the theme of ‘Art and Emotion’ and encouraged to explore what goes on inside their minds through a wide range of techniques and materials.
Entries were submitted in four categories: Early Years, Primary, Secondary and 18-25, with two prizes awarded in the Primary category due to the exceptionally high standard of entries.
Early Years
The Early Years winner is Ailla Batchelor (born 2021), whose vibrant mixed media artwork Ailla's Magical Hair and Happy Thoughts and Dreams celebrates her curly hair and the joyful ideas that fill her imagination. Rainbow gemstones represent her hair because it is special to her, while flowers, sunshine and rainbows illustrate the thoughts she says are 'ready to be drawn'.
Primary
The first Primary category winner is Grace White (born 2015), whose mixed media sculpture Mixed Emotions reflects the excitement and nervousness of preparing to start secondary school, reminding viewers that it is perfectly normal to experience many emotions at once.
Sharing the Primary prize is Mali Daykin-Rhys (born 2021), whose mixed media work Head Full of Feelings explores the different emotions she experiences simultaneously, including happiness, sadness, embarrassment, anger and excitement. Combining clay, sticks, paint and drawings on card, the piece captures the complexity of childhood emotions in a playful and thoughtful way.
Secondary
The Secondary category was won by Molly Cheetham (born 2012) for her colourful watercolour and pencil artwork Mind Poetry. Featuring a landscape bursting out of the top of someone’s head and Molly’s favourite puffin scarf, the painting was inspired as much by the joy of creating as by the competition theme.
18-25
The 18–25 category winner is Agnes Wilkinson (born 2007) Fine, a powerful self-portrait photographed in 2023 while wearing her school uniform. Originally exhibited at Falmouth University as part of a conference supporting autism awareness, the image explores the experience of autistic pupils, the pressures of masking and the emotions hidden behind practiced smiles.
The winners were selected by a judging panel consisting of Sara Rhodes, Learning and Engagement Manager and Hannah Hooks, Contemporary Art Curator, both at The Box Plymouth, along with Paul Fieldsend-Danks, Vice Chancellor of Arts University Plymouth.
Sara Rhodes, Learning and Engagement Manager said:
'Where’s Your Head At?' celebrates the extraordinary creativity, imagination, and emotional insight of children and young people from across the region. The artworks on display reveal the many ways art can help us explore, understand and communicate our feelings, while offering a powerful reminder of the value of creativity in supporting wellbeing and self-expression.
Ailla, Grace, Mali, Molly and Agnes’ works are now taking centre stage in one of the first-floor galleries at The Box. They’re shown alongside the other entries to the competition, including a selection of ‘Highly Commended’ works by Leo Simo Lopez (Early Years), Reggie Voke (Primary), Erin Kavanagh (Secondary) and Tilly Waller (18-25).
'Where’s Your Head At?' is on display until the end of Sunday 4 October.