FIREHAWKS
Photography setting fire to childhood trauma –
Open Eye Gallery to host first photography exhibition about firesetting
Firehawks
Open Eye Gallery – Liverpool
Exhibition: 26 Sep 2025 – 16 Nov 2025
Media Preview: 25 September, between 12:30 – 4pm
The Photojournalism Hub is proud to feature ‘Firehawks’, an important forthcoming exhibition at Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool. For the first time, the subject of firesetting is to be explored in a gallery space, as part of an exhibition by photographer Stephen King.
Opening in Liverpool on 26 September until 16 November 2025, the ‘Firehawks’ exhibition at Open Eye Gallery, one of the UK’s leading photography galleries, follows a long-term project led by Stephen King to uncover real-life experiences of children involved in firesetting behaviour.
Rarely spoken about, the term ‘firesetting behaviour’ is not widely known or understood. In
England, tens of thousands of deliberate fires are recorded each year. Often regarded as arson
or acts of vandalism, many are started by children.
‘Firehawks’ seeks to raise awareness of fire setting through a visual demonstration of why
individuals are drawn to this element as a silent language of survival, often due to a traumatic
experience or environment that is challenging to speak about.
It will also shine a light on the people and services who help to understand and overcome
the complexities that can be indicated by firesetting behaviour.
Featuring 20 images, displayed in a narrative of three phases; destruction, communication and
renewal; ‘Firehawks’ is the culmination of years of work for Stephen, who himself has lived
experience of firesetting as a child. After collaborating with London Fire Brigade Firesetting
Intervention Scheme, Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service and Merseyside Fire and Rescue
Service as well as numerous conversations and workshops with individuals with lived experience,
he has developed an exhibition of work borne out of his innate ability to listen and respond to
people’s experiences and sensitively transpose their accounts into visual, metaphorical
depictions.
“This exhibition is the result of several years of work, but ultimately a lifetime of
trying to understand and heal from my own experiences of firesetting as a young person. I’ve
worked with so many people associated with firesetting – young people who have set fires, adults
who used to and those who work to understand, intervene and care for them. Their ability to talk,
share and allow me to portray their experiences through my photography, has been very
humbling. The visual language of photography can break barriers and destigmatise what is an
incredibly sensitive subject, and the culmination of this project will hopefully bring a positive
platform to those who are working through their trauma, who have overcome it, and show
audiences that the work of frontline services is much more beyond ‘putting out fires’.” – Stephen King
Beginning as an Arts Council-funded research project in 2021, Stephen and the exhibition’s
producer Angharad Williams, have worked closely with Open Eye Gallery’s social practice team
and leading specialist in the field of child firesetting behaviour, Joanna Foster, to develop a larger
scale project, looking at firesetting, its triggers, impacts and personal stories.
Joanna, who is author of the book ‘Children and Teenagers Who Set Fires: Why they do it and
how to help’ said:
“The significant maltreatment in the formative years of many children and
teenagers who set fires is well evidenced. Such relational and attachment trauma can lead to
complex survival responses and often crippling coping mechanisms, which can include acting out
in the form of setting fires. These fires can help regulate intense and overwhelming emotions,
draw attention to an otherwise invisible child, or give voice to words and feelings that are too
difficult to speak.” – Joanna Foster
The photographic series shown in the exhibition does not seek to diagnose or define. Instead, it
invites the viewer to sit within the tension of the fire, connecting with the issue of firesetting
through images of anonymised people and situations, portrayed with a filmic and dreamlike
quality. A black dog walks among scorched trees, carrying stories in its teeth; dolls burn on a
mattress floating on reflective water; a fire service training dummy supports a young boy on the
edge of a precipice; new life starts to grow in a community orchard – a site which holds firesetting
memories for the photographer himself. Stephen continues:
“The images don’t depict fairy tales, though they borrow their familiar shapes.
I wanted to be sure that fire was ever present in the exhibition, encapsulating the flickering, crackle, and smoulder of the element at the core of the stories. In circumstances of firesetting, flames become a language, a companion, a compulsion, a release. The work gathers fragments; stories from children, adults talking of their younger selves, voices from those who work in fire and rescue services, memories that smoulder long after the event. It is not a study, but a visual reckoning — born from experience, shaped by dialogue, held in a shared, collective space. I hope it makes those who have been through trauma feel less alone and less stigmatised.”
“It is so exciting to see the ‘Firehawks’ project become a reality this year within our galleries, as we’ve been discussing the project with Stephen for more than five years. Like most good,
socially engaged projects, however, this shouldn’t seem a surprise, as working collaboratively with communities to shape and visualise stories which are important to them takes time. ” – Elizabeth Wewiora, head of social practice at Open Eye Gallery said. And ‘Firehawks’ is a very particular story, which needs to be explored with care and sensitivity;
something we hold real value in at Open Eye Gallery.
“Stephen’s approach considers the anonymity of all involved whilst still opening up a visual
conversation for our audiences as it explores why people can be drawn to fire during traumatic
experiences in their lives, and moreover how wider society and our frontline services respond
and deal with this. Stephen’s photographic work leans into the metaphorical and surreal which is
also a welcome alternative approach to socially engaged photographic imagery, which can tend
to sit more within a documentary style. We can’t wait to see the work come together in the gallery
this September.” – Elizabeth Wewiora
The root of the exhibition’s title links to the phenomenon of the Firehawk, an Australian bird which
has been observed creating bushfires by carrying burning sticks to new locations, deliberately
spreading fire to flush prey from the undergrowth. The Firehawk bird has never been digitally
captured, and most accounts are from first nation experts in Australia. This rare act of intentional
ignition by a non-human species gestures toward something deeply instinctive, even ritualistic, as
a form of survival, much like the humans in the exhibition who connect with fire as a copying
mechanism through trauma.
Supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, and
in collaboration with London Fire Brigade Firesetting Intervention Scheme,
Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service and Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Lucy Hodson, PR & Communications
lucy.hodson@outlook.com
07967 551 002
All photos copyright: Stephen King
Notes to Editors:
About the photographer, Stephen King
www.stephenkingphotography.co.uk
Instagram: skingphoto
Stephen King is a socially engaged photographer with over 20 years’ experience of working across cultural,
educational and community sectors. His practice is varied but always involves collaborations with people
and how they navigate society as individuals or part of a community. Moving from documentary and
editorial work in 2008 to more personally instigated & collaborative work, he has since collaborated on
projects with industrial workers, miners, prisoners, LGBTQ communities, veterans, retail workers,
universities, people with dementia, homeless, young people, travellers, sporting clubs, medical institutions,
artists, writers & academics. In 2009 ACE funded Stephen’s project ‘Lewis’s Fifth Floor: A Department
Story’ which was exhibited in National Museums Liverpool (with a publication), Orange Dot Gallery London
& Brighton Photo Fringe Biennial (winning Danny Wilson Memorial Prize). In 2013 he was awarded the
International Development Fund – Artist in Residence at CREATE, Dublin. In 2016 ‘Dry Your Eyes
Princess’, a collaboration with John Moores University, exhibited at National Museums Liverpool
(Homotopia Festival) & Red Barn Gallery, Belfast (Outburst Festival). Key commissioners include Heart of
Glass, Age Concern, Arts Admin, Cork Midsummer Festival, FACT & Arts Council England. His breadth of
experience & diversity of collaborations, echoes a genuine passion to work with others to tell their own
stories through the powerful & accessible medium of photography.
Open Eye Gallery
Open Eye Gallery is an independent, not-for-profit photography gallery based in Liverpool. One of the
UK’s leading photography spaces, it is the only gallery dedicated to photography and related media in the
North West of England. A registered charity, Open Eye Gallery believes photography is for everyone and
can be meaningful, informing our present and inspiring positive futures. Open Eye Gallery works with
people to explore photography’s unique ability to connect, to tell stories, to inquire, to reflect on humanity’s past and present, and to celebrate its diversity and creativity.
Open Eye Gallery is open 10 am – 5 pm,
Tuesday to Sunday, 19 Mann Island L3 1BP.
Facebook / Instagram / X: @OpenEyeGallery