I May Destroy You struck a chord with millions. Its honest portrayal of sexual assault and consent, sparked discussion and an outpouring of personal stories. BBC Creative wanted to help capture and continue these conversations.

We created an immersive online exhibition, displaying footage from the show, and created letters written as creative interpretations of real stories, shared. This acted as a legacy of the show’s impact on our audience, as well as translating the personal into the shared voice of the collective experience of consent.

We also partnered with The Face and Gal-Dem, creating a digital zine featuring authentic articles discussing consent and its importance in a wide range of topics, e.g. gender, polyamory and kink.

Both the gallery and the zine created a space for continued honest, powerful and nuanced conversation about consent, ensuring that I May Destroy You’s power and resonance would live beyond the series itself.

We created spaces where we could continue and capture these conversations about consent, each space carefully considered to cater to the audience and idea.

To continue these conversations, we had to find spaces where we could go deeper, allowing audiences the time to consider consent in all its complexity. In a media first partnership between The Face and Gal-dem, we created a digital zine on consent and how it intersects with important topics. The zine housed several articles from different perspectives and authentic voices, not usually found in traditional media or on BBC platforms, the choice of partnership and featured writers were essential for success.

In capturing the discussion of consent and personal reaction to the show, we created written letters addressed to agressors from the collective voice. We wanted to exhibit this powerful collective voice for maximum impact. I May Destroy You arrived in lockdown and so we innovated. We built a digital 3D concrete gallery, designed for quietness, impact and ease of movement. It allowed visitors to individually wonder and take their time reading the letters. The letters were painted directly on to the concrete, snaking around floors and corners, across ceilings and around pillars. The gallery project are a permanent reminder of the issues of consent. It was a space designed for everyone to heal, discuss and learn.

The gallery was linked on The Face and Gal-dem websites for maximum access and engagement and in the zine as a resource. The zine was cross posted on social.

This project gave a platform to voices that go unheard. We wanted to share the collective experience about sexual consent to change behaviour and for people not to feel alone. It is clear these stories still need to be told, the work may never be done, but we must continue.