This profile is part of our Culture Shifters series, which highlights people who are changing the way we think about the world around us. Read about film archivist Maya Cade , internet stars Keyon Elkins and Drew Afualo , rapper Latash , music historian Katelina Eccleston , filmmaker Alika Tengan , and actors Rhoyle Ivy King and Nicco Annan .

Its around 8 p.m. in London, though you couldnt tell its that late on a February evening by looking at artist Kay Rufai. He pops onto our Zoom call with such a wave of positive energy sporting a lime green shirt with a matching hat, a gold chain necklace and a megawatt smile that you might assume its more like high noon where he is.

Its been a good day, he said, settling into a self-made soundproof booth in his home. Its been a busy day, but a good day.

An indication of how Rufai, 38, spends his stuffed weekdays is perched right behind him in the cubicle: a row of images of Black and brown boys grinning from ear to ear. Theyre ever-present, he said pleasantly. He is referring to his groundbreaking S.M.I.L.E-ING Boys Project , a photographic well-being initiative specifically designed for Black and brown boys in the Swinging City who are often reduced to dehumanizing stereotypes with no concern for their mental health. Rufais ongoing research-led project helps boys access their joy and other aspects of their interior selves around which they often put up boundaries.

Their guardedness is typically a defense mechanism against a city that, even amid todays cultural reckoning, largely skirts around issues of race, particularly when it comes to the police.

For example, situations around violence, especially youth violence, is very racialized in the way its reported, Rufai said. But when theres anything thats speaking on the experiences of Black people, or people of minoritized or global majority groups, people get very uncomfortable.

Some of the words used to refer to Black and brown boys in the media, he says, are so nondescript. That language bunches kids together with no care for who they are as individuals. It particularly dismays Rufai because he grew up in some of the same neighborhoods where these boys live, in the same circumstances as many of them. He has also worked with young people who have been in and out of prison or in gangs.

I knew that these are not deterrents, he said. We know what the recidivism rates are. I wanted to create a project that was rooted in centering the mental health disproportionalities, since no doubt violence is a manifestation of that.

It becomes clear that this is a cause close to Rufais heart. Aggressive behavior, or all these other things that are perceived as aggressive behavior or dangerous behavior, he said. All these other things were manifestations of lack of mental health provisions for this demographic.

The S.M.I.L.E-ING Boys Project the acronym stands for Send Me Inspiring Loving Energy creates a safe space for boys to be their full selves, opening up dialogues around topics like aesthetics, money, health and masculinity. Ultimately, the idea is to empower the boys to walk confidently in their truths each day.

Rufai captures that sense of freedom by the end of this eight-week process, when the boys smiling faces practically beam out of his photographs. But first, he has to meet them where they are psychologically and emotionally typically in a school setting and establish a mutual trust.