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A new photography exhibition opening in Liverpool will, for the first time, explore the issue of firesetting in a gallery setting.
Firehawks, by photographer Stephen King, runs at Open Eye Gallery from 26 September to 16 November 2025. The exhibition examines why some children and young people engage in deliberate fire-setting and the work of those who support them.
Firesetting behaviour is a term rarely used outside specialist services, but official statistics show tens of thousands of deliberate fires are recorded annually in England, many of them started by children. While often regarded simply as arson or vandalism, research indicates that firesetting can be a response to trauma or difficult environments.
The exhibition presents 20 photographs structured around three themes: destruction, communication and renewal. The images, which draw on both lived experiences and service interventions, include metaphorical and symbolic depictions of fire as language and survival.
Stephen King, who has personal experience of firesetting as a child, developed the project over several years, working with London Fire Brigade’s Firesetting Intervention Scheme, Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service, and Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service. The exhibition builds on his collaboration with people who have set fires and the practitioners who work to understand and address the behaviour.
The initiative began in 2021 as an Arts Council-funded research project, produced with Angharad Williams and supported by Open Eye Gallery’s social practice team. Specialist input has been provided by Joanna Foster, author of Children and Teenagers Who Set Fires: Why They Do It and How to Help.
“Such relational and attachment trauma can lead to complex survival responses and 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, author.
The exhibition does not aim to diagnose but instead presents firesetting through a visual and metaphorical lens. The images, which include a black dog walking through scorched trees, dolls burning on a mattress floating in water, and a fire service training dummy supporting a boy, are intended to invite audiences to consider the issue in a different way.
Elizabeth Wewiora, head of social practice at Open Eye Gallery, said the gallery has been developing the project with King for more than five years.
“Firehawks is a particular story that needs to be explored with care and sensitivity. Stephen’s approach considers anonymity while opening a visual conversation about why people can be drawn to fire during traumatic experiences, and how wider society and frontline services respond.”
The title of the exhibition references the Firehawk, an Australian bird observed spreading bushfires by carrying burning sticks to flush out prey. The phenomenon is used as a metaphor for the instinctive and survival-based dimensions of firesetting explored in the work.
Firehawks will be on display at Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool, from 26 September to 16 November 2025.
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