'Growing up in foster care you don't have a voice'

Young people who grew up in the care system have turned their experiences into art.

The work is on display at Tullie, in Carlisle, and was made by care leavers aged between 17 and 26.

Sinead Diamond, 23, said she felt emotional seeing the exhibits displayed on the wall.

She said: "It's very personal to me and growing up in foster care everything's decided for you, you don't have your own voice so this was kind of a way to rewrite my story with my own feelings and my own intentions."

Her painting, called Growing Up Between Goodbyes, represents her experience of being separated from her family and only meeting them for one hour at a time in formal meetings set-up for siblings in care.

"That was really difficult growing up, because it feels like you're missing out on a lot of milestones," she said.

For 17-year-old Leo, growing up in care was like wearing a mask. His painting represents a face that is half devil and half angel.

"I kind of had that mask, I was good but I was struggling at the same time," he said.

"Every time I said something about me struggling [I was told other] people have it worse and things like that."

He said seeing his artwork on display was "nerve-wracking" at first, but he was happy to be able to show what life in care looks like for young people.

A 21-year-old artist of an untitled piece, who did not wish to be named, said her work conveyed the anger she felt growing up in the system.

The collage piece features a house, string, a broken face and a phone.

"The phone call is wanting to tell my younger self things that I couldn't tell, or wanted to tell her," she said.

"I feel very proud of it, but it took me weeks to be proud of my own artwork."

Art has always been a big part of Allie James's life.

The 24-year-old art student said it had always provided a way to express herself.

"I was growing up in a very sheltered environment, you weren't allowed a lot of self-expression," she said.

"Art, for me, was a way of being able to be a child and get to express myself in that way, and it was - I guess, for want of a better word - allowed."

She added care leavers often felt isolated, but coming together to work on this project, coordinated by Cumberland Council, helped them feel part of a community.

"It just brings a bit of light onto the situation which I think is immensely needed and called for, which is why these creative spaces are so important to tell these stories," she said.

Kimberley Jackson, 26, said her work represented how those in care feel overwhelmed.

She said her piece, Chasing Time asks the question why mandatory support for care leavers stops at 25.

"What it really reflects is that challenges don't usually stop around 25," she said.

Her artwork represents feelings including being judged and "cursing missed opportunities".

"It's feeling like I'm running out of time and there's a time schedule in having to figure out everything, but also kind of keeping hope," she said.

She added it also represented trying to overcome struggles specific to growing up in care, such as rebuilding a relationship with her sister.

They worked together on a piece called Burning Bridges, part of the exhibition.

"Me and my sister got separated when we were quite young and what it's representing is the transition between childhood and adulthood and feeling like the bridges were burnt through no choice of our own, but also [trying to make] up for lost time," she said.

The exhibition, called Rewrite The Narrative, is on display at Tullie until 25 January.

Jane Wheeler, assistant director for family help partnerships and youth justice at Cumberland Council, said it was a chance for people to hear directly from young people.

"This exhibition is all about listening, but really listening - listening to our children and young people, listening to their lived experience.

"Too often I think their stories are seen but not heard, so this is about them expressing themselves in a real way that's really raw and really powerful and so we absolutely want people to come along and to hear directly from them."

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