What keeps me up at night.
My Name is Naomi Wilkinson and I am a worrier , to be more precise a night time worrier.
I wasn't always like this , I used to lead a normal happy night time life ( cue rose tinted memory montage of me on a swing and trying on funny hats) but these days it's different ; the second i turn the light out it begins , I lie there between my beautiful snoring boy and the neighbours cat who is trying to bite my toes and I think.
I think about everything from how much change is put in the bin by accident to what I would say to make Jarvis Cocker my friend.
These are of course light hearted worries some may even say idiotic, but more recently these worries have become increasing dark ( and not just dark in a human centipede kind of way , although the human centipede trailer alone has kept me up for many hours) these worries have become increasingly dark in a realistic ,angry ,worried-about-the-future of thousands of people.
After speaking to a friend who works for a small charity which gives support to young vulnerable homeless people I came away shocked and angry at what the government spending cuts mean for these charities , they are struggling to survive without support from the government and yet we don't seem to hear about it .
I was also told that due to cuts in council funding children who report abuse are not re-homed straight away because of these cuts.
Hearing this made me feel incredibly upset and I couldn't stop thinking about it .
I know everyone is feeling the pinch and it's rubbish about the arts funding cuts and the rise in tuition fees , but not everyone wants to look at paintings or go to university but everyone I know wants children and vunerable young people to have happy lives .
I refuse to become daily maily about this and rant about the politicians, the bankers , the social workers and the parents , instead of ranting lets try and have a go at doing something.
My idea is a project called '' What keeps me up at night'' I'm hoping to get as many new , old ,amazing,famous , unknown , bizarre and conventional illustrators /photographers/makers/doers/artists/sculptors to produce a piece about what worries them at night .They will then hopefully donate something to sell ( anything that illustrates this the brief i.e drawing to edition of prints , finger puppets , videos or doodles ) on an Etsy shop I will set up specifically for this and then the money will go to the charities
Safeplace and
Kid's Company.
If you're an illustrator please consider illustrating something , if you're a maker please consider making something , if you're media savvy maybe you could give me tips on what the hell I should do! I would also love someone to create an animation/film to publicise the cause.
Its in the really early stages and I don't think It will get going till new year but I just wanted to know what you all think about it and if you'd be willing to help.Any kind of help would be great and if I've sent this message to you it means I think you could help ,please send it on to anyone you think would be as well.
Cheers
Naomi
