As the London riots of 2011 died down, anti-social behaviour in Greenwich, South London continued. Greenwich Council asked us to help find a way to stop the problem minority from destroying their own community.We discovered that scientists recently proved that images of babies' faces actually triggers caring behaviour in adults, so we wanted to conduct a social experiment.
We believed that the security shutters that were being ripped from the shop fronts could be part of the problem – they seemed to alienate people and invite crime. We wanted to conduct a social experiment and see if we could use the shutters as part of the solution.
We decided to use the inhuman metal shutters as our media, turning them into giant portraits of babies from the local area. One year on, crime has fallen by 18% in the area of the shops, and it didn’t take thousands of pounds or hundreds of police. Just a few cans of paint.
The locals have shown a real love for the babies, proved by the fact that they remain totally untouched by graffiti and vandalism for a whole year.