This #SundaySpotlight is Kay Adekunle Rufai (@universoulartist) the artist behind the S.M.I.L.E-ing Boys Experience✨ Kay is a British-born Nigerian photographer, poet, filmmaker, mental health researcher, playwright, and immersive artist. Kay's goal is to engage diverse audiences to raise awareness about mental health, masculinity and community cohesion. The S.M.I.L.E-ing Boys Project was created as a response to a rise in youth stabbings in London around 2017-2018. Which led to a series of government approaches regarding increased criminalization of youth and police presence in minority communities. Kay was inspired by this to investigate the mental health provisions for the black youth community. He also wanted to remind the public that these are young boys, even though they are often treated as men. Kay's project involved trips to Scandinavia and Bhutan to explore why these countries are ranked in the top 10 happiest countries in the world and have been for the past decade. This is where Kay developed a number of workshops around the eight pillars of happiness♥ In 2018 Kay recruited around 30 boys from three schools in London after being identified by their teachers as the most disengaged. Over the course of eight weeks, the boys were given cameras to photograph the aspects of their lives that were working for or against their level of happiness. The results from this project were displayed in a number of exhibitions. Since then Kay has engaged with 400 boys from 24 schools across London. Kay recently worked with 16 boys from Leytonstone School and the final photograph exhibition is across our Level G space📸