Celebrating Young Parents through Mums In Focus: Our Stories Exhibition

Tuesday 19 May marked the opening of Mums in Focus: Our Stories, an art exhibition offering an intimate glimpse into the joys and challenges of parenthood, told be the parents of the Cashback for Communities Project.  

The exhibition featured photographs taken by participants and their children, alongside acrostic poems created by the families. Each family was given a disposable camera and invited to capture images reflecting what parenthood means to them, as well as what matters most to them within their local community. Complementing these personal photographs is a series of professional images by photographer Brian Hartley, documenting the joy and connection experienced by participants throughout the project. Families also created acrostic poems, which were later transformed into original songs by artist Claire Docherty. 

Supported by CashBack for Communities, the CashBack for Young Parents programme is delivered by Starcatchers and Fife Gingerbread supporting young parents through arts and creativity to strengthen the parent-child bond, increasing parental confidence, breaking down barriers to access, and offering an opportunity for peer-support in an informal and fun environment.  

The exhibition has been created through a series of weekly creative play sessions delivered by Starcatchers Artists, offering beautiful, accessible and unique play experiences for the young parents of the programme and their babies from birth to two years. All the elements of the exhibition have been created by the parents and children themselves with support from artists Roz McAndrew, Kirstin Abraham and Claire Docherty. These sessions are also attended by a Fife Gingerbread Support Worker, who offers one-to-one sessions to the parents taking part in the programme.  

The art exhibition was held at the Glen Pavillion at Pittencrieff Park, Dunfermline, offering an opportunity for families to come together and celebrate all they have achieved through the project.  

Starcatchers’ Lead Artist in Fife, Roz McAndrew said, “This exhibition celebrates the young parents and their babies, placing them at the heart of community life and creative expression. Through analogue photography, participants have developed new skills, explored portrait and landscape work, and captured the people, places, and everyday moments that matter most to them. This project honours the unique perspectives of babies and the creativity within each family. The exhibition has been created and curated by the participants themselves, proudly showcasing their work, strengthening confidence, and celebrating young families as active and valued contributors to our cultural community.” 

Starcatchers’ Lead Artist in Fife, Kirstin Abraham said, “Parents, babies and older siblings have given so much time, patience and creativity to create a playful exhibition that showcases snapshots of their parenthood journey.  

Families have allowed us into their homes, gardens, days out and even toy boxes introducing us to multiple generations of family, friends, loved ones, and cherished objects, all through their photographs. 

Over the past few months, we have collaborated with a wide range of artists and worked closely with families to ensure their voices remain at the heart of the exhibition, shaping how their photos, artwork, poems, and songs are presented together as one collective piece. 

At the heart of the project has been a commitment to honouring participants’ ideas and bringing them to life as fully as possible.” 

Parents have said: 

“I absolutely love the exhibition and feel proud of it! It’s been really nice showing my grandparents what we’ve been doing. It’s been so fun doing all the different activities to put it together. We especially loved the music one! And it’s so special to have a song especially for my daughter” 

“The exhibition is really cute! It’s been fun doing all the stuff for it. My daughters love cameras after we did the photography stuff – I had to buy one for them to play with at home. It was also great being able to play with different instruments when we made our songs. It’s been so lovely to see the reactions of my older daughter listening to the song about her younger sister. It was so special!”