Shooting Young Offenders

'Shooting Young Offenders' tells the story of a group of thirteen 14-18 year old young offenders who I photographed every day for 5 weeks while they attended a summer arts college course designed to rehabilitate them using art. You can find out what happened by visiting my blog at http://www.kirsteenashton.wordpress.com. I witnessed the power of the creative process to engage these children, and watched them change. In my images, I captured their personal journeys from hostility, through vulnerability, to achievement. Collectively, this work questions the approach of the justice system; tougher sentencing for kids as a deterrent, or greater investment in them so that they can be shown an alternative path?
This series was exhibited at Project Space Leeds in December 2010