Charlie has a secret.
His Auntie Heather is very creative, in fact she’s an artist. She likes to make things that everyone can see and be part of. It’s really cool.
But there’s one problem.
She’s not very good at rules.
In fact she breaks them.
She serves chocolate for breakfast and turns up at Charlie's school to do surprise drama workshops. She sneaks backstage at shows to introduce Charlie to performers and let's him stay up late, way later than normal adults do. But that’s not the secret…
Charlie’s Auntie Heather is a VANDAL!
Told by twelve year old Charlie Tonner, My Auntie’s a Vandal, is a story about what it’s like to grow up with an Auntie who doesn’t conform to the family norms. It celebrates individuality and explores how we can communicate with our communities whilst in lockdown.
Heather will be creating live art works and distributing materials to families who may not have access to the internet during lockdown. These will include illustrated story sheets and materials to make your very own piece of guerrilla art.
My Auntie’s a Vandal has been designed to engage with young people on and offline. The story provides legal street art activities for families to do together whilst looking at the history of street art- from New York trains that carried messages from one area of the city to the other, to Scottish sticker artists who connect with people via lampposts.
“The children benefited a lot from taking part in the ‘My auntie’s a vandal’ project. As for many of them, the lock-down triggered the trauma that they’ve been through in Syria; experiencing nightmares and flashbacks. They were also too anxious to go out at all, even for a walk as they felt unsafe to do that. The project was a great opportunity of encouragement to them all to go on these walks, as they loved the idea; seeing Charlie and hearing his experience, they could relate to it all and wanted to try what he did. Parents reported to us that their children went on walks in local forests and spread many positive notes to their neighbourhoods and communities in the shops, bus stops and trees. This project was a great chance for the children to overcome their worries and anxieties about the lock-down, improved their mental health and the PTSD symptoms they had and made them feel safe to go out with taking the needed precautions. It also empowered them by enabling them to play a role in spreading positive messages to their communities, therefore, improving other’s mental health too and spreading love.”
Edinburgh Multicultural Family Base.
My Auntie’s a Vandal is supported by Imaginate.
Heather and Charlie are delighted to be working with Imaginate again after creating Sometimes Words Get Stuck in 2015.
For this project they will work with illustrator Alice Carnegie with BSL translation by artist Jamie Rea.
How to get involved
This project is open to everyone who would like to take part- all you need is to watch the video at the top of the page for inspiration and start creating your own street art with stickers or tape.
Remember that My Aunties a Vandal is about sharing positive messages. Please only share your art in safe places and not on private property.
Use #myauntiesavandal to help us find your art on social media.
In addition we will be supporting specific groups who work with children in particular need of art supplies and things to do, and who may not traditionally engage in the arts due to social and/or financial barriers. These groups will be posted out materials packs and include Refuweegee, Multi-cultural Family Base and Edinburgh Young Carers.