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School Shirts Art Exhibition Highlights Problem of Knife Crime in Bristol

Knife Crime Awareness Week runs from 19 to 25 May and is an annual campaign by the Ben Kinsella Trust. (University of Bristol)
Knife Crime Awareness Week runs from 19 to 25 May and is an annual campaign by the Ben Kinsella Trust. (University of Bristol)
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School Shirts Art Exhibition Highlights Problem of Knife Crime in Bristol

Knife Crime Awareness Week runs from 19 to 25 May and is an annual campaign by the Ben Kinsella Trust. (University of Bristol)
Knife Crime Awareness Week runs from 19 to 25 May and is an annual campaign by the Ben Kinsella Trust. (University of Bristol)

An art exhibition showcasing school shirts emblazoned with anti-knife crime messages will go on display as part of Knife Crime Awareness Week, a BBC report said on Tuesday.

Created by young people in Bristol, the exhibition will be held at the Lord Mayor's Chapel on College Green, Bristol, from May 19 to 25.

In the “Empty Shirts, Lost Childhoods” project, participants aged 13 to 25 were invited to decorate plain white school shirts with poetry, slogans, artwork, and memorials that reflect their feelings and experiences of knife crime.

The University of Bristol's Dr. Jade Levell, who led the project, said the exhibition “shines an important light” on young people.

Knife Crime Awareness Week, which runs from May 19 to 25, is an annual campaign by the Ben Kinsella Trust that aims to raise awareness of knife crime's devastating effects and promote preventative solutions.

Levell said: “Writing on school shirts is a rite of passage for many young people as they graduate from formal education.”

“Children involved in youth violence often miss out on this milestone, due to being excluded from school, victims of violence, or perpetrators in custody,” she added.

The project represents the culmination of a unique creative project spearheaded by the University of Bristol in collaboration with local schools and youth organizations.

It also invites community members to respond by contributing to a “community manifesto” that will be shared with the Bristol City Council and other partners to inform future youth violence prevention strategies.

Duncan Stanway, assistant director at Barnardo's, said: “It is important that we listen to what young people who are affected by violence say about their lives.”

He added: “We see too many young people who are seriously harmed through exploitation and violence.”

The initiative is part of a broader citywide effort, led by the Bristol City Office, to address serious youth violence through collaboration between community groups, academics, police, and public health bodies.

Avon and Somerset Police and Crime Commissioner Clare Moody praised the initiative, saying: “It powerfully captures the voices and experiences of young people affected by violence.”

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Nearby Sculptor Galaxy Revealed in Ultra-Detailed Galactic Image

This undated handout image released by European Southern Observatory on June 17, 2025 shows a detailed, thousand-color image of the Sculptor Galaxy captured with the MUSE instrument at ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). (Handout / European Southern Observatory / AFP)
This undated handout image released by European Southern Observatory on June 17, 2025 shows a detailed, thousand-color image of the Sculptor Galaxy captured with the MUSE instrument at ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). (Handout / European Southern Observatory / AFP)
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Nearby Sculptor Galaxy Revealed in Ultra-Detailed Galactic Image

This undated handout image released by European Southern Observatory on June 17, 2025 shows a detailed, thousand-color image of the Sculptor Galaxy captured with the MUSE instrument at ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). (Handout / European Southern Observatory / AFP)
This undated handout image released by European Southern Observatory on June 17, 2025 shows a detailed, thousand-color image of the Sculptor Galaxy captured with the MUSE instrument at ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). (Handout / European Southern Observatory / AFP)

The Sculptor galaxy is similar in many respects to our Milky Way. It is about the same size and mass, with a similar spiral structure. But while it is impossible to get a full view of the Milky Way from the vantage point of Earth because we are inside the galaxy, Sculptor is perfectly positioned for a good look.

Astronomers have done just that, releasing an ultra-detailed image of the Sculptor galaxy on Wednesday obtained with 50 hours of observations using one of the world's biggest telescopes, the European Southern Observatory's Chile-based Very Large Telescope.

The image shows Sculptor, also called NGC 253, in around 4,000 different colors, each corresponding to a specific wavelength in the optical spectrum.

Because various galactic components emit light differently across the spectrum, the observations are providing information at unprecedented detail on the inner workings of an entire galaxy, from star formation to the motion of interstellar gas on large scales. Conventional images in astronomy offer only a handful of colors, providing less information.

The researchers used the telescope's Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer, or MUSE, instrument.

"NGC 253 is close enough that we can observe it in remarkable detail with MUSE, yet far enough that we can still see the entire galaxy in a single field of view," said astronomer Enrico Congiu, a fellow at the European Southern Observatory in Santiago, and lead author of research being published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

"In the Milky Way, we can achieve extremely high resolution, but we lack a global view since we're inside it. For more distant galaxies, we can get a global view, but not the fine detail. That's why NGC 253 is such a perfect target: it acts as a bridge between the ultra-detailed studies of the Milky Way and the large-scale studies of more distant galaxies. It gives us a rare opportunity to connect the small-scale physics with the big-picture view," Congiu said.

Sculptor is about 11 million light-years from Earth, making it one of the closest big galaxies to the Milky Way. A light-year is the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km).

Like the Milky Way, it is a barred spiral galaxy, meaning it has an elongated structure extending from its nucleus, with spiral arms extending from the ends of the bar. Its diameter of about 88,000 light-years is similar to the Milky Way's, as is its total mass. One major difference is Sculptor's rate of new star formation, estimated to be two to three times greater than that of the Milky Way.

Nearly 30% of this star formation is happening near the galaxy's nucleus in what is called a starburst region, as revealed in colorful emissions shown in the new image.

The observations have given information on a wide range of properties such as the motion, age and chemical composition of stars and the movement of interstellar gas, an important component of any galaxy.

"Since the light from stars is typically bluer if the stars are young or redder if the stars are old, having thousands of colors lets us learn a lot about what stars and populations of stars exist in the galaxy," said astronomer Kathryn Kreckel of Heidelberg University in Germany, a study co-author.

"Similarly for the gas, it glows in specific bright emission lines at very specific colors, and tells us about the different elements that exist in the gas, and what is causing it to glow," Kreckel said.

The initial research being published from the observations involves planetary nebulae, which are luminous clouds of gas and dust expelled by certain dying stars. Despite their name, they have nothing to do with planets. These nebulae can help astronomers measure the precise distances of faraway galaxies.

The researchers marveled at the scientific and aesthetic value of the new view of Sculptor.

"I personally find these images amazing," Congiu said. "What amazes me the most is that every time I look at them, I notice something new - another nebula, a splash of unexpected color or some subtle structure that hints at the incredible physics behind it all."