THE SECRET LIFE OF THE PENCIL

Children In Crisis

Decisive and Moving Creators

The secret pencil is found where most of mankind’s greatest achievements begin. But will the touch-screen generation ever feel the pleasure of a freshly sharpened pencil or the frustration of a shattered lead?

This brilliant photographic project seeks to savour the use of the secret pencil – documenting them in stunning detail, and thereby showing the secrets of their use and revealing an insight into their users: professionals who have defined themselves and their craft with the help of the modest stylus. This collection of pencil images is a direct link back to some of the 20th and 21st centuries’ greatest illustrations, buildings, artworks, photographs, products, make-up designs, graphics, novels, poems, fashion, cartoons and even films.

Children in crisis, Pencil, the life of the secret pencil, WeAreShuffle, Agency, Shuffle, Photography, Film, Alexander, McCall, Smith, Yellow

Children in crisis, Pencil, the life of the secret pencil, WeAreShuffle, Agency, Shuffle, Photography, Film, Michele, Burke, Orange

Children in crisis, Pencil, the life of the secret pencil, WeAreShuffle, Agency, Shuffle, Photography, Film, William, Boyd, Pink

Children in crisis, Pencil, the life of the secret pencil, WeAreShuffle, Agency, Shuffle, Photography, Film, Anish, Kapoor, Green

Children in crisis, Pencil, the life of the secret pencil, WeAreShuffle, Agency, Shuffle, Photography, Film, David, Bailey, Red, Black

Children in crisis, Pencil, the life of the secret pencil, WeAreShuffle, Agency, Shuffle, Photography, Film, Dave. Eggers, Black

Idea

Allowing a snapshot into these beautiful pieces by creating a short film to showcase the project, whilst providing a backdrop for the auction and exhibition as well as insight into the curators Alex Hammond and Mike Tinney.

With over 50 of the biggest names in the arts who have contributed to the project – from Sir Quentin Blake to Dave Eggers, Peter Saville to Nadav Kander. The appeal of the photographs comes particularly from the habits and tastes that they reveal about the participants: Stephen Fry’s hand-shaved pencil against James Dyson’s far more technical tool, for example.

The project is supported by Sir Paul Smith, with an exhibition of the photographs and a charity auction, of both the prints and some of the pencils themselves with proceeds raised, donated directly to Children in Crisis.