A Spotlight On... Socially Engaged Photography Network

A Spotlight On...

Socially Engaged Photography Network 1

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A Spotlight On...

Contents

Page

When to look means to listen by Liz Wewiora

6-9

Leticia Valverdes in conversation with Joanie Magill

10-15

Daniel Regan in conversation with Liz Wewiora

16-19

Sam Batley in conversation with Lauren Stephens

20-23

D Wiafe in conversation with Casey Logue

24-29

Claire Walmsley Griffiths in conversation with Kenn Taylor

30-35

Ocean Farini in conversation with Sara Sarf

36-39

Georgia Bond in conversation with Kelly Bryan

40-45

Bella Okuya in conversation with Liz Wewiora

46-48

More Than One Side of a Story by Anthony Luvera

50-51

Bios

52-55

Cover Image: Tatiana by Leticia Valverdes 3

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A Spotlight On...

Welcome to the first annual Socially Engaged Photography Network publication, ‘A Spotlight On’. This collection of conversations explore the landscape of social practice in photography.

The publication shares eight interviews and two critical essays from some of the UK’s leading and emerging socially engaged practitioners.

The conversations cover a range of topics including (but not limited to), the multiple roles of practitioners and their different collaborative approaches, how practitioners’ own lived experience directs and affects how they work with others, the question of who is the work for and how does this affect process vs product.

We hope you find the conversations an intriguing spotlight on socially engaged practice and the many different approaches to this work.

More information about the Socially Engaged Photography Network: Working with organisations, photographers, community groups, academics and curators from across the country, we are building a new network to discuss and accelerate the practice of socially engaged photography. In the spirit of social practice, the network is shaped collaboratively by its users. We have over 380 members and 20 organisational partners supporting the development of the network to date. Thanks go to SEPN partners Heart of Glass for the co-commissioning of some of the interviews included in this publication.

When referring to the term socially engaged photography, we mean activities or projects where photographers and communities/ individuals come together to co-author or co-produce visual representations of the world around us.

The process behind the work produced is often as important as the final photographic work, and projects are often reliant on collaboration and discussion. The work often reflects multiple voices about a particular social, political, economical or environmental issue, rather than that of a single artistic voice.

Image - FRONT DOOR by Ocean Farini

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When to look means to listen

By Liz Wewiora Photographer Jo Spence once stated that ‘unless photography is reciprocal then there will always be an imbalance of power’ ¹ (Spence, 1987). Photography’s history has always sat precariously between a medium which exposes the real world vs a medium of exploitation and voyeurism.

The conversations in this publication explore this tension, but try to shine a light on photography as an inherently ‘social’ practice. Each article delves deeper into this conversation, focusing on a number of recurring themes including: • • • • • •

Multiple roles of practitioners Collaborative approaches The importance of community and lived experience Visible and Invisible boundaries The increasing role of socially engaged photography (SEP) within health / wellbeing Who is the work for and how does this affect process vs product

This list above is by no means exhaustive but starts to highlight the complexity and richness of this type of practice. This is thanks to the careful consideration of the interviewers’ questions in each Q&A, as well as the responses each practitioner offers.

Whilst some take different standpoints, all ultimately share the same view; that taking socially engaged approaches to photography can strive to rebalance this issue of ‘power’ Spence references. They seek to do this through ‘listening and then listening some more’ (Valverdes 2020) with those they engage with.

This essay only offers snippets of how different practitioners approach the practice

so I welcome you to spend time on each interview, finding your own reflections on the challenges and value associated with this type of work.

A number of the photographers discuss the multiple roles socially engaged practitioners often find themselves undertaking, from artist and facilitator to producer or educator. Whilst some may feel this is juggling too many plates, these multiple roles often highlight and build up the skill sets practitioners have to offer when working in SEP. Photographer Georgia Bond reflects upon her roles as both an artist and a respite coordinator for young carers and how, through a shared approach of participatory-led activity, her roles have become ‘entwined in a sense’. Her creative thinking and making experience as an artist weaves into programme planning and workshop delivery, whilst her insights gained from working with health and care professionals ensures she uses appropriate and accessible routes to working with these young people.

So what does it mean to juggle these various roles? D Wiafe summarises how ‘your work sits in an interesting middle ground – being afforded a unique opportunity to develop new methods in engaging, and understanding of new camera technologies’. SEP, therefore, seems to offer you a number of opportunities as to where and how you might use photography across sectors. This seems even more pertinent now whilst practitioners are reconsidering their roles in a pandemic/ post-pandemic world.

The multiple roles discussed also pay reference to the various approaches practitioners undertake and a word which is

¹ Spence, J. ‘Questioning Documentary Practice? The Sign as a Site of Struggle’, keynote paper given at the first National Conference of Photography, organized by the Arts Council of Great Britain in Salford on 3rd April, 1987, Printed in Jo Spence. Beyond the Perfect Image: Photography, Subjectivity, Antagonism, ex. cat. (Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona: Barcelona, 2005) pp. 276-382 6

used time and time again is collaboration. It is clear from these discussions however, that taking a collaborative approach can mean something different to those involved. In projects such as Letitica Valderdes ‘Brazilian Street Girls’, collaboration means an active exchange, in her case an exchange where they photographed her and she photographed them. This decision was just as much about her ethical approach as it was the practical, but for Valderdes photography acts as the perfect way to ‘invite collaboration, an invitation to play and to become aware of where you are as a human’.

The idea of collaboration is echoed in the interview with Claire Walmsley Griffiths when she discusses her work ‘Retired Performers’ as does this idea of play inherent in the medium. In this project, Griffiths still remains the sole photographer, which some might argue sits as an approach more akin to social documentary. By opening up conversations with performers and using the old venue spaces as the locations for these discussions to unfold, however, Griffiths reflects she was able to work collaboratively with the performers so as to ‘co-create an experience’.

Griffiths’ interview also focuses on ideas of community and lived experience and in particular photography’s role in documenting working class communities. She discusses the issue of ‘othering’; work produced from outsiders to her home town of Blackpool, either through the media or external practitioners. “There are big questions around relevance and authenticity in arts practice which seeks to represent a community when the artist is not from that community themselves.” Griffiths understands that being the photographer brings with it a lot of power, and with a ‘camera, where you point it needs careful consideration’ but in her context, she is part of that community, she is part of that lived experience so is she better placed to point the camera?

Bella Okuya takes a similar view with Red Roll and Seen Collective formed from an interest in ‘challenging the traditional power dynamics of photojournalism’. She found she could identify much more in photography when documenting her own community and so

works with the collective to document their south east London setting. For artist Ocean Farini, whilst she may work with communities or groups that are not local to her, she finds value in working with subject matter ‘which comes from first hand experience, as you’re the expert in your own life’. So when Farini took up an artist residency in a northern neighbourhood, Fleetwood, she explored topics that meant something to both herself and her participants such as class, family and identity.

This is a welcome reminder that even those of us who share a similar lived experience to others, need to give participants the space to reflect upon the process individually, as we each have unique perspectives to offer.

Sam Batley offers a fresh perspective on the idea of lived experience in his project ‘One day at a time, boys’ where he works alongside fellow residents from an addiction recovery home. Whilst Batley is going through the same process as the other men, he points out that exploring this experience through photography is ‘a process of selfdiscovery’. Batley sets up the opportunity for the men to take part, through, for example, fundraising for cameras, but he wouldn’t ‘tell them how they should do it’ and doesn’t want his ‘ideas to influence their work’. This is a welcome reminder that even those of us who share a similar lived experience to others, need to give participants the space to reflect upon the process individually, as we each have unique perspectives to offer.

Whether a practitioner comes from a local context or not, a driving force for many of those interviewed for taking socially engaged approaches, is in the still prevalent issue of boundaries which act as barriers to people 7

accessing the arts. Some boundaries are visible but some are not. This is illustrated in Valverdes’ project with Brazilian street girls, where she discovered how the girls didn’t feel welcome or that they belonged in certain areas of the city, despite being public spaces.

Through working with photography as a tool for expression and exploration, the girls were able to find a new confidence and reclaim these public spaces for themselves. Whilst photography in this instance has helped breakdown perceptions of access, there are still barriers to the practice to consider.

Notably how relevant and inclusive is our own sector?

in this context, the camera is used as a cathartic process; an alternative way to discuss difficult aspects of life. For Batley photography became a safe way for, ‘digging in dirt, for that journey to create photos that have feeling attached to them’.

Wiafe pays reference to the current pandemic, where people are needing to use online tools to connect right now and how for the young people he is working with, ‘online engagement has created a more democratic offer to the arts’. With certain community groups, however, our current context has only highlighted a digital divide of who can or can’t access cultural offer.

Both Batley and Regan discuss how the process of working with photography is the tool that allows them to process difficult subject matter, but what role does the actual work made as a result play? Regan discusses whilst working within the current pandemic, when physical and mental health has been pushed to new limits, his groups made the active decision to work less on outputs and focus more on low pressure activities, ‘to help frame our own well being and how we are all coping as a society right now’. This raises a wider discourse around ‘process vs product’, which exists more broadly in socially engaged arts practice.

Valderves discusses the tensions that can exist as a photographer wanting to produce strong visual outputs from SEP projects.

She ‘would not sacrifice her interactions (with participants) just to have “perfect” photographs even though she is interested in great results and outputs’. “Perhaps what this question of process vs product raises, is well, who is the work actually for?”

For Griffiths and Batley, barriers come down to a concern that where you are from might mean you feel your creative voice is less valued. Griffiths is interested in how people have ‘come to believe limitations and our place in the world’ despite the fact that ‘everyone has the right to be creative’. If we want people to break through these barriers then ‘they have to feel part of something’.

One such approach of making people feel part of something, is through creating an initially safe and welcoming space, whether this is physical or online, for people to come together. This is particularly relevant when we consider socially engaged projects often develop through a need to discuss important but sometimes difficult subject matter.

One such topic is that of health and wellbeing. In Daniel Regan’s interview, the practitioner speaks honestly about his journey into the arts and health sector. ‘As a person who had difficulties when he was growing up to create a sense of narrative through different events, photographs became the thing that enabled him to solidify the things that have happened in his life.’

Similar to Batley’s reflections on photography 8

Perhaps what this question of process vs product raises, is well, who is the work actually for?

There are some projects where the photographic work may never be shared in the public domain, perhaps due to safeguarding, or the personal wishes of the participants. On the other hand, some projects are very much focused on the visual outputs produced. This is usually when a shared aim exists for both participants and practitioners to produce work which raises awareness about particular issues in their community. In Okuya’s project with London Southwark Pensioners’ Centre (SPC) sight loss group (Eye to Eye), the project

aims to work closely with the group to use photography to challenge perceptions of how people living with visual impairment can engage with the world around them.

Okuya discusses how her own presumptions about this were challenged and how it was a huge process of learning for her. The work produced now exists as a publication for sale with funds going back into the project and there are future plans for a public display of portraits with captions from the participants’ experience of lockdown. The outputs here are hugely important. They are used to support the continuation of the group and ‘gather qualitative research creatively, which will help the charity find ways to ease transitions back into services for their members’. In this instance sharing the work acts as a useful learning tool for the charity they are partnering with.

interest for this type of practice, and it is clear that socially engaged photography has developed its own well needed discourse.

Each interview offers a considered process of listening and reflection between the interviewer and interviewee. This echoes the listening and exchange between photography and community evident in each project, and as Griffiths suggests, ‘there is nothing to lose as long as we all keep listening’.

Writer and curator Pablo Helguera argues that for a project to be socially engaged, there must be an ‘in-depth, long-term exchange of ideas, experiences and collaborations’ ². This suggests for photography to be used in a socially engaged way, there is a much longer process which needs to take place beyond the act of making images together. There needs to be a sharing of ideas around imagery, critiquing existing images in the public domain, considering the editing, sequencing and selection of images produced and where captioning, text and other mediums may weave into the project.

All of this is to be considered in dialogue with those you are working with, and in some cases will further include this discussion of whether work should be shared publicly or not. As Valverdes succinctly reflects, this approach to practice is a welcome reminder that ‘the work is not just mine’.

External factors such as funding, personal contexts and routes to engagement continue to exist as barriers in our sector, and this is something that those of us who work within the field have an ongoing responsibility to consider. Despite these factors, however, what this collection of interviews celebrates is a genuine desire from all involved to want to support positive ways of bringing photography and people together. They also act as a testament to the increased ² Helguera, P Education for Socially Engaged Art, (New York: Jorge Pinto Books, 2011) p. 15

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A Spotlight On...

Leticia Valverdes

in conversation with Joanie Magill Brazil born, U.K. based photographer, Leticia Valverdes has been making socially engaged photography for over two decades. Valverdes initiated her first project whilst a student of fine art and photography in London, working with girls living on the streets of Brazil’s major cities. Leticia talked to Joanie Magill about her first project, reflecting on how socially engaged photography has changed since then and who ultimately owns the work produced out of a socially engaged project.

How did you come to photography and socially engaged photography in particular?

I grew up in a country of huge contrasts; an issue which has increased more than ever now. I was a very sensitive child. My mum always said that while my siblings were in the back, just doing whatever, I looked outside the window of the car. I always asked mum, ‘why is this child on the street, why is this person on the street?’ I always had this extreme awareness of ‘the other’ even within my family.

I came to London to be an au pair at nineteen and to study English. I then realised that I wanted to study a BA in art. I had done a lot of performance and theatre in Brazil in my teenage years. I always admired the work of Augusto Boal, a Brazilian theatre practitioner and activist which founded the Theatre for the Oppressed movement, an interactive and cathartic type of theatre. It invites people to actively take part, not just be mere spectators.

At art university, one of the modules was photography. I loved it - all in the time of analogue photography and film. When I look back now I realise the last two years of University were very much spent inside the darkroom. But I didn’t yet have a camera. Mick Williamson, my teacher at university lent me a Pentax K1000, a basic camera. With that I 10

went back to Brazil. I had always felt uneasy with the inequalities and injustices so present in my country of birth and wanted to somehow represent that.

I simply started to hang around the most immediate homeless people I knew, not far from my mum and dad’s home. I soon realised I was uncomfortable photographing street people using a more traditional approach. I ended up hanging out with the girls who had to dress down to protect themselves from unwanted attention. They would dress down with caps, big t-shirts and hand me downs, they would go inside a public toilet, because if you live under a viaduct you rely on those.

When they stood infront of a toilet mirror, they would take the cap off and tighten their t-shirts a bit more on their bodies, play with their hair and make faces. I realised that they were not able to explore femininity in a way that a teenager might be free to do if she is safe at home. It inspired me to bring this dress up box that I still had in my house.

I literally brought a big bag of clothes and everything started organically. I went to other areas of the city and later to other cities, always with the same clothes. We had dressing up sessions under viaducts, in shelters, on the beach and in parks. It was clear they did not want to be seen in a

Tatiana and mother by Leticia Valverdes

degrading or ugly way or place. I remember a girl called Tatiana saying ‘I don’t want to be under this viaduct, it’s too ugly, can we go somewhere beautiful?’ We transferred ourselves to a beautiful garden. I became really aware of the invisible boundaries of a city. If you are poor, you don’t feel entitled to cross certain limits or even go to a beautiful garden.

The project grew very instinctively. It was never about a “before and after session” or about me “styling” them. I wanted to photograph them myself, after all I was a photography student but it was natural to give them a little film camera which allowed them to photograph themselves and me. In retrospect, I think I was unaware that this one day would be called socially engaged photography.

In hindsight it felt ethically appropriate to have an exchange where they also photographed me and each other. Nowadays there seems to be a lot of documentation of how socially engaged a project is, but I was not documenting any of this because it was

just organically happening. I was not aware then of the importance of documenting this process and even keeping the photos they had done of each other. They were so keen to have images of themselves looking great I gave most of it back to them and copies of my images of them.They felt invisible and unvalued. Unfortunately I don’t have so much documentation of those moments, the “making of” the work, but I know that those interactions paved the way for everything else that I’ve done since.

“In a way it really is about listening and about having profound empathy for the human condition. I don’t think this work can be done if you don’t have that to start with.”

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How did you build the trust with the girls?

What was the nature of the collaboration and over what kind of timescale?

Building trust requires time, empathy and real presence. In this first project it was unplanned and instinctive. I was going back, bringing prints, chatting, listening and listening some more. I was discovering with them the beauty that was hidden underneath their hardened skin. Twenty years on I would say I have well tested methods and I know so much more about safeguarding, consent and agency. However I still like to keep room for the unexpected as that, in my opinion, is what makes collaborations real and meaningful. Sometimes I work in partnership with organisations that have their own guidance to safeguarding, approaches and briefs. I love those partnerships and I have been, for many years, an associate artist with All Change Arts who have been bringing artists and communities together for the past 30 years. I still bring a lot of instinct and a lot of passion for other humans into everything I do, even if there are stricter parameters. In a way it really is about listening and about having profound empathy for the human condition. I don’t think this work can be done if you don’t have that to start with. From there you listen and give agency beyond your own artistic ambitions. That’s not to say I am not ambitious in relation to outputs and often talk to collaborators about it. We go to galleries, we see art exhibitions. I aim for us to create engaging work together. I hope those interactions result in “meaningful” works of art. Of course looking for the ideal aesthetic quality does not come before the wellbeing of participants and the actual nurturing that the interactions bring. I am not going to sacrifice our interactions just to have “perfect” photographs, even though I am interested in great results and outputs...

In terms of time scale, I had time, you know, I was quite young myself. I was in my early twenties and I had time to listen. There was a lot of explaining of why I was there, there was consent and approval. A lot of the time (they said), ‘I don’t want to be seen under this viaduct looking really dirty’ and they should have the agency to choose to be shown in the way that they wanted.

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Nowadays a lot of the collaboative work I do is done over many sessions, like workshops. This is specially the case with work done with AC Arts, when some of the projects are developed with the same group over more than one year.

Photography is only one element of those inter actions and we often work in partnership with another artist, for example a poet.

Street Girls from Brazil - Tatiana by Leticia Valverdes

Before you started this project with the girls, what was their understanding of photography?

Did they have any expectations?

It was such a different time. I wouldn’t say people on the streets in Brazil nowadays necessarily would have a phone but there is more awareness of imagery. Saying that, Brazil is a country that has always had very strong influence from the TV medium and its soaps. People might have nothing (and live) in a shanty town and they will have a TV and a satellite dish. The project with the Brazilian girls was done before the selfies era and the girls didn’t have access to images of themselves. They still, however, knew exactly how a girl on a bill board or a middle class Brazilian walking on the street or inside a car at a traffic light, looked like. They had

clear ideas of how they wanted to look like in the photos we were taking, the characters they wanted to play on our cathartic role playing games, like weddings for example, as I was carrying my mother’s wedding dress with me. There was one girl who I will never forget, Elizabeth, in Rio. She was in a difficult state and found it hard to smile. She had lost a tooth, she must have been thirteen or fourteen, and I remember giving a photo back to her. She couldn’t believe that this was her.

I remember she walked around the streets.

She literally stopped at the traffic lights to show people the photos, ‘look it’s me, it’s me’.

It made me realise how few of them had any proof of identity. They didn’t have parents who would have photos of themselves when they were young. They were orphans, they would have no photos or documents even.

They were indigent, they didn’t have Brazilian identity cards. It felt like, for a brief moment, my empathic gaze meant they existed in a different way.

Your socially engaged projects are quite often personal projects, although you also work with charities as well, it sounds like they happen very organically. How do you find or create opportunities for socially engaged work?

When I look back at some of my past projects I realise how meaningful they have been on a personal level. They seem to be an invitation for participation and reflection of phases of participants’ and my own life. Not that I was ever a street child or a refugee myself in the UK but I did end up finding ways of feeling deeply what it must feel like being in those situations. For example with the girls, I was dressing up myself because I had a quite strict dad who came from poverty. When he saw me looking in the mirror when I was a young girl, like I see my daughter do now, he would say stop looking in the mirror and study. I became a bit of a tomboy. I remember really feeling that me and the girls were exploring femininity together. With the postcards project (Real Postcards 2006), in London, I was never a refugee in the UK, but I was an outsider and didn’t have a visa for a time because I was a Brazilian. I knew how it felt not to have money and the language. Even though asylum seekers need primarily documents, support,

food and shelter, they also crave for a sense of normality.We all share simple universal dreams. Through a series of workshops, I invited various groups to choose somewhere in London that they didn’t feel entitled to see and we created postcards of them in those chosen places. Places where they are not usually seen. Going on an outing somewhere nice and forgetting, for a few hours, of their status. Crossing the invisible boundaries of a big city that I had felt the homeless girls on the streets of Brazil also had not felt entitled to cross. When motherhood came, I felt I needed to look at motherhood, but I thought I needed to do it in collaboration with mothers, involving mothers as collaborators to explore the marks brought to us by maternity (Birth Marks).

So I feel photography is a way of inviting collaboration, an invitation to play, to become aware of where you are as a human but also for me, through a project, to make meaning of my own life phases and existential questions.

Do you think socially engaged photography has noticeably changed since you started your practice?

I do, because of course, there are now universities exploring the subject and all these people coming out of their courses with the parameters of what socially engaged photography is, an evolved discourse and the desire to work in this way, which I welcome. It’s amazing because from whatever side it comes, we are questioning the fact that we cannot just go out into the world photographing other people without a second thought. We really need to think and feel things through. I am myself learning to better articulate about it.

There is the slight risk of everything looking the same and a lot of the work becoming just the documenting of the project. This is okay of course, but I am really interested in creating outcomes with participants that would sit beautifully out of its niche, in a conventional gallery or as a performance or a book, occupying spaces that it might not in the past.

What makes a good photo? Who is the work for? Are there multiple audiences?

A good photo for me is one that makes me feel and not only think. It provokes an emotional reaction and makes me want to know more. I 13

call socially engaged photography my practice as an artist but I am very aware the resulting work is not always for public consumption.

For example I recently worked with a group of vulnerable women in partnership with two charities. Through various sessions participants, myself and a poet, did work that we were really proud of and I would love to show on my website or portfolio, but it was decided that, for safeguarding reasons, we couldn’t show the results in a more public way.

has a different outcome and we have to respect where it goes organically because it’s all based on consent, which can be withdrawn at any stage by anyone involved. I’m always re-learning that. It’s humbling and a reminder that the work is just not “mine”.

We had done photo sessions in a studio, there was make up and dressing up involved, and the women created poetry about each of the fictional characters they had created. They came up with alter egos to process their issues in cathartic ways because their reality is so hard. (Very much going back to Augusto Boal).

The fact that I could not show the resulting work on my own website at first made me sad because it feels that this is my practice and the women themselves were so proud of the photos which they shared on their own Instagram and Facebook. But it turned out that there was good learning there for me.

“I’m always re-learning that. It’s humbling and a reminder that the work is just not “mine”.”

Who is the work for?

The work on this occasion was for us only, and while it happened, it was incredible and impactful. They were very empowered by showing the work in a private pop up exhibition while performing their poems. It reminded me that, in socially engaged arts, you are a facilitator and enabler for wonderful things to happen. And that presenting work to the world does not always take the same format.

Sometimes it is just about the process of creating the work. So each body of work ends up where it has to end up, in the sense that it has its function and its role as it’s meant to.

Sometimes it’s not for public consumption and that is ok. When this is part of an artist’s practice it can be hard but ultimately it comes back to consulting and consent. Each project 14

Image - Joseph - Winner Portrait of Britain and Going Places in partnership with All Change Arts by Leticia Valverdes

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A Spotlight On...

Daniel Regan

in conversation with Liz Wewiora Artist and facilitator, Daniel Regan shares with Liz Wewiora, Open Eye Gallery’s Head of Social Practice, about the interconnections between arts, health and socially engaged practice. The pair also discuss notions of wellbeing during a time when our physical engagement is restricted, and the challenges but also potential of creating digital social spaces.

Michael by Daniel Regan

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Thanks for agreeing to chat to me for the socially engaged photography network Daniel.

I wondered if you could start by telling me a little bit more about your practice, or as I see it the various strands of work that make up your creative practice?

Within my own practice, the reason why I got into socially engaged projects is probably because of my own lived experience of mental health difficulties. And so I wanted to try and connect and support people to try and understand how they can use photography to look at their own personal wellbeing, as a tool for empowerment and a sense of agency.

I started by facilitating general workshops around photography as a way of doing this, and over the years they have become a lot more focused on specific projects.

For example I’ve just finished a project with Historic Royal Palaces, which was facilitating a project for men with lived experience of mental health difficulty in relation to the exhibition which is now well, in the current situation not open to the public, at Kew Palace which focuses on King George III, who was known as the ‘mad king’. That was a project working with men with photography and creative writing, and using my own experience to inform the discussions and the content that came out of this. The group contributions in fact then formed part of the Kew Palace exhibition, so alongside the curatorial labels of the objects (some of them are paintings, some of them are musical instruments that George used), are the contemporary voices of men with lived experience around mental health.

A lot of my work, really, is about empowering people to be heard when in other situations their voices aren’t seen as important or valid, or perhaps they simply don’t have the confidence to express them.

So does this approach to working then also reflect in your practice as a commissioner?

In terms of commissioning work, particularly within a healthcare environment we look at different ways of commissioning all different types of work including photography as ways to explore people’s health and wellbeing, and in varying degrees as well. It might be that it’s

a lighter way of exploring a particular theme that might not be so dense emotionally.

Sometimes it might be that we commission an artist to run a photography course that is tied in to a therapeutic element in partnership with an art therapist of psychotherapist, where those involved identify a particular health difficulty. These projects aim to equip those involved with the skills to carry out certain photographic techniques, but it’s really more about the process of the work that is made and the conversations that come out of the making, rather than the final results of what is made. That for me is what is really important about socially engaged projects, that focus on the value of process, particularly if you are working with people who don’t have the skill set or haven’t trained in a particular way of working.

The third strand of my practice is running the Arts and Health Hub network. It’s really about creating a space where other artists can feel supported, particularly within the arts and health sector. I am someone who is very much a non-competitive artist, well I am not a non-competitive person in general, and for me it is about creating a place where people feel open and free to ask questions to other artists, discuss best practice through peer-to-peer support. There are lots of artists in that group that are also using their lived experience or who want to use their lived experience to facilitate ideas and connect with particular communities. So we as a network support each other to learn about ways to work with people, and also consider the ethics and morals of working with particular communities.

You talk about, how through your own work, well actually through all strands of your practice, about the interconnection between arts and health but specifically in this socially engaged approach to bring out these conversations in arts and wellbeing in your projects. Socially engaged practice is a loaded and sometimes quite messy and hugely diverse term. What does the term ‘socially engaged’ practice mean personally to you?

Well if we come back to the first one, ‘social’ then for me it is fundamentally about engaging 17

with people. My socially engaged practice is very much about people and stories as opposed to an artist who might make work about place. My work isn’t really rooted in place, it is really rooted in this very ephemeral space, that people’s minds inhabit. It’s our identity, our values, our past, our present and our future. It’s really getting people to understand who they are, and I think it comes back to my own use of photography.

Photography for me enables this sense of narrative in my life story. As a person who had difficulties when I was growing up to create a sense of narrative through different events, photographs became the thing that enabled me to solidify the things that have happened in my life.

So in my socially engaged work I want people to use photography as a way to process either things that have happened or are currently happening to them. Sometimes that is in a heavily therapeutic way, working through a particular issue. There can be difficulties in clinical support in helping people understand what is happening to them, particularly around triggers and safeguarding so photography can be an alternative way to explore this. Other times it is about using photography and arts as a daily practice as a way to simply unpick your thoughts, to process things and create a sense of narrative and storytelling.

It is very much about connecting people and opening up this skill that is in fact already innate in people to explore their own narrative, but perhaps they haven’t been able to look at it before from this perspective.

“For me as an individual one of the reasons I started photographing was because I really struggled to find the words that represented what I was feeling or going through”

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So you mention photography as this positive tool for translating our own narrative or reflecting upon our own journey and identity.

Do you see photography then as a particularly strong medium to work through these ideas, perhaps over other mediums? What is it about photography that works so well with socially engaged arts practice?

I mean there is the simplicity of photography being quite an accessible form now, which can definitely offer perks over other mediums, but also for me as an individual one of the reasons I started photographing was because I really struggled to find the words that represented what I was feeling or going through. There’s an element of less vulnerability or less risk in using images to represent feelings. Creating images, particularly within a narrative and sharing them enables people to feel less vulnerable to expose difficult experiences that they are having. Using an image is a really good stimulus, a good starting point because you can start to look at the visual cues that represent certain emotions that culturally we all relate to – the aesthetics we all relate to such as nostalgia or colours that relate to certain feelings.

Also in terms of other mediums, such as painting, they are a lot more loaded in terms of skills, people might be quite afraid to pick up a paint brush where as we are less scared to pick up a camera or smartphone, as photography is so engrained in our everyday culture now.

I know you mentioned the recent project with Historical Royal Palaces which sounded like a really rich opportunity to engage with a group of individuals on an in-depth collaboration, but I was wondering what other projects you might be currently working on, particularly in this current climate where practitioners, as well as society at large are really having to challenge their understanding of social engagement as we are asked to physically distance ourselves from one another. I know it’s something I have been considering with the group I have a long-term collaboration with, but also with all of the current socially engaged residencies we deliver with artists and community groups at Open Eye Gallery.

I have been talking to people about this since the lockdown, particularly with a few different clients. Looking at creating resources for people in this time where it’s difficult to have a socially engaged practice. Whether that’s developing resource packs for online creative activities for young people to explore how they’re feeling, or online versions workshops that were going to happen but have now been suspended due to coronavirus.

We are also looking at ways that we can use digital resources, or communication via post even for certain groups might not engage with online and the digital in the same way, such as activity packs / resources we can use to keep people feeling heard and creatively active. It is also really important that we also pool together & partner on existing resources, acting as a place for sign-posting rather than reinventing the wheel. At the same time we are wary of a (particularly digital) content overload for people and not rushing to send things out for the sake of it. How do you feel about this?

I have been working with the Barbican to develop broad photography briefs to send out to their existing community groups, older and younger groups.

We were discussing setting quite simple briefs exploring the everyday, so what does the everyday look like now, trying to re-frame what that looks like as the ‘new normal’. Their daily life may have looked like hanging out in the park but now exploring things that would of often been unnoticed. What are the things, that if you become hyper aware, you realise are quite beautiful at home? What do they mean to you? So I definitely think there are meaningful ways of creating socially engaged projects in this time of isolation, we just need to be wary of not creating too many things for people to absorb.

In terms of peer-peer support normally I’d be running monthly physical sessions with artists and I’d been hesitant to run them with the same structure and framework online (via Zoom). They have been much more unstructured and are more like general checkins now, discussing how people are generally getting on, and any challenges they have been facing. This has actually proven really fruitful and one of our members has been discussing a new ‘lockdown residency’ programme, which is dedicated very much to the idea of the process of making during this time. We need to not be focusing on outputs right now, but exploring very low-pressure activities, which can help us frame our own wellbeing and how we are all coping as a society right now.

Well exactly, and this was the conversation I was having yesterday, it all sounds very well and good to do these resources but is it just another thing that is being re-invented? It’s about looking at what is already out there, so like you say, where is there scope for partnership and collaboration on this?

This isn’t to say online engagement can’t have impact but perhaps the in-depth of engagement of physical group discussions and that building of relationships needs to be reconsidered for online. For one of my projects

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A Spotlight On...

Sam Batley in conversation with Lauren Stephens Sam Batley’s socially engaged photography with Damien John Kelley House, ‘One Day at a Time Boys’, focuses on creativity and connection for active, open-minded recovery. Described as ‘socially engaged art with a twist’, Batley lives with the participants in his art practice in an abstinence-based recovery home in Wavertree, Liverpool. Armed with 35mm cameras, Batley and the Boys’ creative practice provides valuable expressive self-discovery for the residents, aiding their recovery and providing a unique outlet for creative expression.

How did you begin this practice? Is this your first delve into photography or had you done it in the past?

It’s not the first time I had done photography.

I’d taken photos for about eighteen months before I came to Liverpool from Yorkshire in September 2019. I started volunteering at Open Eye Gallery and heard about socially engaged practice there. In general, Open Eye Gallery did a lot for me and my confidence in being able to understand what it is that I do or why I do it.

What specifically did Open Eye Gallery offer for you and this socially engaged practice?

I always felt like, since I’ve not been to art school, I didn’t really know what it was to be a photographer or what it was to be an artist.

What Open Eye Gallery has done, really, has given me belief in myself and I’ve been able to speak and have faith in my voice rather than my own internal dialogue squashing it, that my voice isn’t valid, like ‘What do I know? Who do I think I am?’ This has all come out in this ‘One Day At A Time Boys’ project.

Tell me about Damien John Kelley House and your project with it, ‘One Day at a Time Boys’.

Damien John Kelly House has been massive in this journey. It’s the place where the journey 20

has happened. It’s a recovery living centre for men who are in recovery from drugs and alcohol. We base our recovery in sport, art and culture. When I came to the house, I was messed up mentally, physically: gone. So when I talk about photography and how it helps in this reflective journey or self-discovery, for me, the self-discovery has come through recovery and what you learn about yourself.

What does recovery mean to you?

Life. Recovery is life. Recovery is the opposite to addiction. Addiction is death. Addiction isn’t life, because you exist in a very small world, a small chasm of what life could be. Recovery is the opposite of that. I can talk to you, now, I can go out and volunteer at a gallery, I can do all the things I’ve ever wanted to. I can be involved in life. I’m not in a mess, I’m not paranoid, I’m not depressed, I’ve slept.

How do you think recovery has changed the images you’ve taken? If you compared photographs you took pre-recovery and photographs you’ve taken now, in recovery.

Massively. It’s like a different person. I’m not in a position to take the photos I used to take, because that’s not my world anymore. The photos that I was taking then, maybe there’s a similarity for why I’m taking them, but it’s a different person behind the lens. The photos

Wayne and son golfing by Ian

I’ve taken now, there’s much more thought, much more feeling. I feel like creativity and photography have become much more of a constant in my life where I can put time into it, I have the confidence in myself to be able to do projects like what I’ve been doing with the lads in the house, that could never have happened before.

So let’s talk about the selected photographs from the ‘One Day at A Time Boys’ project.

The first photo is by Ian, a dynamic shot of a Facetime call between father and son.

Ian was one of the first to join the photography group when we started it during lockdown.

He came from a military background and photography wasn’t something that had come into his life. Once he had a go at photography he really got into it, and became really inquisitive, like asking questions all the time about depth of field. When he started, he was into taking photos of runners / people running.

Through that he got onto motion and this photo is him keeping up with experimenting and trying mad stuff: he just had an open mind with it from the get-go. It’s quite a mad angle that he’s taken in this photo, it’s a mad place to think to take a photo. That’s the beauty of

it. No one has ever told us, “This is how you take a photo, you should take it like this, from this place, at this exposure, at this f stop,”.

None of this matters. If you were saying to somebody, “You’ve got an interesting story to tell, this will help you tell it, this is how you use it,” that’s how you get mad photos like this.

It’s someone facetiming and playing golf, and Ian’s out laying on the floor.

What do you think this photo says about Ian and his own path to recovery?

Eagerness and control. Being able to control the space by being able to show a space that might not be orthodox. I don’t want to answer for him, but it is something that gives pride for us. When I started taking photos, I sort of had an interest. And it grows from there.

So this creative process helps with recovery.

Massively, 100%. For you to come into recovery to begin with, stuff has got to be messed up in your life. Stuff has got to be really, really bad. It’s a complete crisis of reality or your existence, because you have to admit, whatever I’m doing is wrong. I cannot carry on living like I am living. And that way 21

Wayne’s crucifix by Wayne

that you have been living, you don’t believe that there’s anything outside of that. It brings about a profound reflection. Creativity, I believe, can help with that. Some of the lads might not have had the belief that you can be creative, but willingness comes with recovery.

Creativity through recovery helps you to try something you would have never ever tried before. You think about things differently. I feel like we all have the ability to be creative, from a young age, snapping sticks, drawing on walls, digging in dirt. We’ve all done that.

That’s all photography is: digging in dirt. For that journey to take place, the photos have that feeling attached to it.

“I feel like we all have the ability to be creative, from a young age, snapping sticks, drawing on walls, digging in dirt. We’ve all done that. That’s all photography is: digging in dirt. For that journey to take place, the photos have that feeling attached to it.”

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I think this photo in particular shows a kind of closeness. There is a degree of brotherhood to be able to be in that space together, with a man talking to his son. That’s why it feels so intimate, because it is intimate. That space has to be safe for that to come out.

Now let’s move on to the second photograph, my personal favourite. This photo, of a crucifix, is by Wayne. Can you discuss this image further?

I’ve known Wayne since my first day at Damien John Kelly House. He’s the longest member of the family that I’ve known and he’s been a massive part of my recovery. I’ve got a really close bond with Wayne, and he’s always up for trying new stuff. That’s the big positive about recovery, once you’ve got this feeling that stuff can be different, you say let’s have a go, let’s try this, let’s try that. So Wayne had already started doing some creative stuff before the photography project. Maybe not as fanatical as Ian, but the photos that Wayne has taken are taken when they need to be taken. It’s not that he’s gone out and decided to take a bunch of photos, but when that feeling must have arisen, that’s when he’s taken them. Like this photo we’re discussing now.

Wayne, by his own admission, has had his battles with his mental health, in and outside of recovery, and he’s quite a religious man.

So that photo, he was in a particularly dark spot. The photos he’s taken before were more photos of where he’s from, so he was revisiting his past. Obviously his mental health and depression is a part of that. So when he’s taken that photo of the crucifix, he didn’t even tell me he’d taken it. When Ian takes photos, he’s telling me all about them, but Wayne not necessarily. Once we had developed it and we did a group about the photos, Wayne said “That’s what my depression sees”. With your mental health, you have to make that distinction between that depression in you, the part of you that wants to bring you down and tell you lies. For him to say that, “That’s what my depression sees,” I found that dead powerful. And he’s taken it when he’s lay in bed, the focus is perfect. It’s very personal, very intimate.

That’s the first thing he sees when he wakes up. I think Wayne is a very honest person.

I think that’s what comes across in his recovery and that’s what comes across in his work. When he showed up with his photo and said “This is what my depression sees,” he didn’t have to say anything else and I got it, in my gut, I got it.

Now let’s discuss the last photo, your portrait of Wayne. Why did you take this picture?

To be honest, it was a joke. He was shaving his beard off and left his moustache, so I was just taking a picture of his moustache. There was nothing serious to it. However, there’s strength in it, there’s no dressing up, it’s a bloke in a kitchen with his top off, just the everyday. I think it’s his eyes, he’s just looking straight down the lens at me, he’s unmoved by his current situation. I like how the photo turned out, there is a softness to the light.

What does this picture say about your path to recovery?

Meaningful connection. Again, recovery is the opposite of addiction, and in addiction it’s very hard to find meaningful connection.

I was too twisted to trust or get close to somebody and recovery is the opposite of that, when you can trust, you can get close

Portrait of Wayne by Sam Batley

to somebody. So knowing Wayne since I came to Liverpool, he’s been there on my whole journey.

I trust him wholeheartedly. So I think it reflects that. These guys that I live with now, I would have never interacted with. I think, for me to be in that space with him, there are not very many places that would allow that connection to take place.

We’ve all got tales to tell, they just need telling.

Tell me about the future for this project and the ‘One Day at a Time Boys’.

I just received a grant with the Dream Fund to carry on with this project, so I bought eight cameras for the House and we’re going to go on a photo walk soon with them. With these cameras, now everyone in the house can have a voice. If I could just provide this for them, I’ll provide them the tool but I won’t tell them how they should do it. I don’t want to put any of my influence on their works. For Ian, and for Wayne and their photos, that’s not me, that’s them. That’s their voice. Some of the lads might take to it, some might not, but that’s not for me to decide.

It’s just creating space where that can happen.

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A Spotlight On...

D Wiafe in conversation with Casey Logue Curious about the public perception of inner-city youth, Wiafe’s work has found him immersed in various communities, working alongside teens to present an unseen portrait of the adolescent experience. In June 2020, Wiafe talked to Casey Logue about his work collaborating with young people to explore British youth culture today.

How did you get into photography? Why photography?

I actually wasn’t always interested in Photography. When I was a teen, I was drawn to hip hop culture. I spent hours after school in record stores listening to the pen of emcees like Common, Talib Kweli, Royce da 5’9. In my spare time, I’d escape the chore of having to write essays on Chaucer by thumbing through the reflections of Nelson George, studying the metaphors of Canibus, and even Kevin Powell’s prison interviews with Tupac Shakur.

Reading and listening to these more nuanced pictures of urban living inspired me to try my hand at becoming a hip-hop journalist. To a somewhat shy, baggy pant wearing kid from a south London estate, it didn’t seem like a bad way to make a living.

It wasn’t that I wanted to live out my years writing album reviews or artist interviews, it was more that I wanted to be part of a world where it appeared acceptable to write honestly about your personal experience. And to do so to an audience who shared an interest in reading without a sense of judgement. This idea of telling stories that could reshape how new audiences looked at the portraits of young black men made an impression on me; especially given the stereotyping I had come to just accept as a just normal part of life. The problem for me was that my grammar sucked and what I know to be bad habits of not proof 24

reading and making typos was hindering me.

Still, the ideas I would jot down on paper at least were strong enough to keep me going.

And that’s what I did. I enrolled in university to learn more about media communication and journalism.

It wasn’t until the third year of a Communication and Media BA at Coventry University, that I chanced upon a photography module and discovered 35mm film, the darkroom, and video production. I saw how Image and Text shared a transformative power. Making images was immediately more interesting.

After graduating and returning back to an estate that had seen local heroes the So Solid Crew go from being iconic stars to almost near demonic representations of themselves made me realise that there were changes needed in representation. I turned to my camera and thought about using it as a way to create tableaux styled images in collaboration with emcees. The idea was to create images together that were interpretations of song titles from their mixtapes. This work was called Borough Kids: this was the beginning of my venture into collaboration in photography.

How does the act or the process of photography differ from other art forms? Is there a particular aspect of photography that is particularly appealing to young people, in your experience/opinion?

I’d be lying if I said it was appealing to all. I’ve certainly had projects where if having to do a photography project becomes a schedule clash with match of the day, or classroom banter, you can expect to lose the battle for attention every time. That said, because we have this growing generation of young people who are aware of their own strengths as presenters and are incredibly savvy with the use of social media, smartphones, apps, I find there is an immediate attraction to the way photographic images can challenge and reform narratives. These might be narratives about themselves, their peers, families, or the world around them. Importantly though, they are narratives which many feel that they have a fresh perspective on and can use photography as a way of sharing those views with others.

this is evident in all from police stop and searches, to discriminatory housing policies, school reading lists, trolling and the flood of openly abusive taunts in social media comment sections. It can look like a store clerk asking a young girl if she has the money to pay for a perfume she is testing, nightclub security telling a group of young black men “we don’t play R&B here lads”, a group of kids playing after school being identified as a mob, a child with a heavy Caribbean dialect being deemed as unintelligent, the list goes on and on. It’s casual, overlooked, and permeates everything from public opinion to legislation.

Experiencing and hearing these stories is of course concerning but it’s even more worrying when those who are victims begin to accept this behaviour as their reality and form their self-worth around it.

“I find stigmas are everywhere. In some ways they are a little unavoidable because discrimination is reliant on of lack of knowledge or lived experience.”

To undo some of this, one antidote is to find ways to prompt all to interrogate and question the images they are presented with about Others, especially if Others have been excluded from the process of making or deciding how those final images are narrated.

I’ve read that you are particularly interested in representation of young people and the stigmatisation of specific communities and groups. Where are stigmas generated now?

Online, on social media, in the mainstream media? In what ways have you found that the representations of young people affect the way they see themselves?

I find stigmas are everywhere. In some ways they are a little unavoidable because discrimination is reliant on of lack of knowledge or lived experience. This is common for anyone who has little interaction with others outside of their immediate social circle. It leaves them vulnerable to basing their cultural knowledge on misleading and secondhand media reporting. The problem is that these things are pathways to misinformation, which in the worst cases, ensure that young people are more likely to be those susceptible to acting upon it. For those that I work with,

I think that’s why I started my project work, by asking participants to question the images that have been said to represent their experience. We then contrast this with texts and images created by artists whose works revolves around more nuanced pictures of life for those from so-called minority backgrounds.

So, for example, in looking at work/texts from Yinka Shonibare, Debbie Tucker Green, or Faisal Abdu’allah, they can see that using slang in their work doesn’t mean they will be seen as uneducated. By watching the likes of Akala or Lowkey, they can be exposed to individuals who dress and talk like them but can confidently present in-depth discussions on television and in lecture theatres. The same can be said of young image makers, from Cian Oba Smith to Abdou Cisse, to John Edmonds, whose imagery can open doors to thinking about the ways in which young black men do not have to be reduced to stereotypes of thuggery and criminality.

This was how I began the work for 4PM In The Endz. I asked the participants who finally became my collaborators, “Young Pollards”, to write on post-it notes what they imagine 25

people thought about their estate, Pollards Hill. After some discussion, they raised the issue that some of the opinions about had been based on that fact that one of the first results that would appear when Pollards Hill is searched for on YouTube is “MNS Gang”.

I then showed them the Charles Stone III directed music video for The Root’s “What They Do”. The idea was to get them to use the same kind of satire the video did to poke fun at the illusions in 90’s bling rap culture, and use that as a method to deconstruct the videos made by their own local rappers “Cash Cartel” and ‘MNS’. They relished in this, employing the same meaningful jest to ask questions like “why are they wearing sunglasses in the winter” and “you have a song called, When We Ride. How many of you have a driver’s license?”.

As a twist of fate, it just so happened that of the local rappers, Fainta, was walking by the community centre we were in as we did the exercise. At the group’s suggestion I ran out to chase him and invited him to become part of the project. As expected, he wanted to support this community-orientated project and found it amusing to be interviewed by the group as they asked him the same questions they had written down in the deconstruction exercise.

This opened up chance for more interviews to take place. It was this dialogue between Young Pollards and the emcees that became the strength of the project, as it unpicked the gap that existed between the rapper’s stigmatised public image and the reality of their stories.

Your work has focussed on community and collaboration; it seems to be that young people are portrayed in the media as spending lots more time in online communities than most other age groups.

Do you think there is a correlation between negative statistics on young people’s mental health and their time spent in these online communities? If so, why?

For some young people, social media can be a powerful tool in building platforms, forming social ties and connecting with a world beyond the one you are born into. Within that space, they can freely explore identities, express opinions, creativity, as well as grow their digital talents and audience. Combined, all of these new ways of engaging and even 26

marketing their ideas, allow young people to find opportunities they may not have necessarily encountered outside of social media. This is the seduction of that space.

On the downside, there are the dangers of engaging in such space where there is little to no accountability for those who misinform, falsely accuse, or troll. Coupled with a lack of monitoring, adult supervision or at the very least, the right powers to dissuade those who seek to misuse it, means that young people become vulnerable to a whole new world of harmful interactions.

What does the future look like for you and for photography? Will social distancing measures allow for the same kinds of collaboration in socially engaged photography?

At least in the short term, I think it’s going to be important for practitioners to adjust and think beyond conventional methods of making and of course collaboration. New questions have and will continue to present themselves about the mental health implications of being confined to potentially harmful spaces, the safety of collaborating with communities via video conferencing, or the funding needed to make the process of making more democratic if your participants don’t own any tools for, say, connecting online or shooting images.

I’ve found that in the projects I have been running as the Community Engagement Manager at Photofusion, digital technologies have allowed our team to have far more interactions with the young people we work with, because the idea of fixed timetables was disrupted by the lockdown. Even as social distancing measures ease, this way of working will be taken forward as those interactions have become more meaningful, beneficial for them in times of emergency, but also, for opportunity, as they share conversation with the wider team and become even more a part of the fabric of the decision-making that happens at the organisation.

Will your photography practice continue alongside your university teaching?

Very early on, I wasn’t sure how I was going to balance my teaching commitments with my practice. It of course meant time away from making work and more time learning,

27 Ben by D. Wiafe

administrating, networking, and so on. There aren’t always the glamorous skills for artists. In one week in February this year, I was working on two youth-led shows that had to open in the same week – Common Ground at Autograph ABP, which was this year’s incarnation of UAL Insights Album project, and SIXTEEN x S2AU at Photofusion.

After the fatigue of that week, I had one of those moments I know many artists who juggle their practice with other work have, where you wonder what is going to become of your practice. The thing I started to realise was that what I had been doing wasn’t really simply teaching. It wasn’t artist work either. It sat in an interesting middle ground. I was being afforded a unique opportunity to develop new methods in engaging, advancing my understanding of new camera technologies.

My technical teaching in the media photography department at the London College of Communication meant that in a short space of time, I was quickly adjusting to digital learning platforms and working with a team dedicated to finding solutions to all the imaginable problems that come with lensbased media production. Working too with students at Hertfordshire University provided a glimpse into concerns of young people outside of London. It was hard to see at the time, but this was all valuable in making me a more well-rounded and adaptable practitioner. It also gave me time away from making work to build the hunger to go all in with my next project.

So, just before the lockdown, I started to plant the seeds for a new project which after years of working across different areas in London, will bring my work to the place that inspired my work at first, Winstanley Estate. In these early stages, before the area undergoes redevelopment, I’m most interested in the documenting and working with young residents and others who grew up there during the 90s to think about the lasting traces that have been left behind by their presence.

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Image - Karim and J by D. Wiafe

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A Spotlight On...

Claire Walmsley Griffiths

In conversation with Kenn Taylor Claire Walmsley Griffiths is a photographer from Blackpool, Lancashire who explores the possibilities of human connection through photography. She uses a camera as a tool for conversation, engaging with the psychology of people, place, identity, what community is, was and what it might become.

Claire talked to Kenn Taylor about her work, her experiences as an artist and the cultures that she wants to explore and platform.

How did you become a photographer?

I went to study fine art in Northampton in 1998. I started to photograph things to draw or paint from. Then I found people like Sophie Calle and Nan Goldin. What photography did for me, I just found it very accessible and much more of an accessible language in general for the audience. I became interested in how audiences could become involved in artwork or become part of that experience. And I think I’m still really interested in that.

It is easy to feel that jolt when the media reflects images back at Blackpool, to say ‘this is your life’. Images that might suggest lack of hope or no alternative. As someone who lives here, it can be very difficult and there is a feeling of, where is the bigger picture?

It felt very different being at university in the south to what it was like in the north. A lot of pretence. I remember on one occasion one of my peers at art school calling me a ‘pleb’.

It felt really obvious that I was from the north even though I’d never really considered it before. But also feeling very protective to the north and to Blackpool. I’m an overlyprotective person of the place I live, but it has so many qualities that do not get celebrated.

It’s what we have been fed in Blackpool over a long period of time. I don’t think it’s helpful. Not that I’m like everything should be brilliant or Disney. But I think you have a lot of power with a camera and where you point it and that needs careful consideration.

It’s really tempting for people to photograph the dark side of Blackpool. It’s too easy.

Street photography has changed a lot in recent times. I think it was Susan Sontag who referred to taking a picture as an ‘aggressive act’. Perhaps social media has allowed people to question it more and also be more mindful of the camera’s power. But the stories that often get told of Blackpool are often not by the people of Blackpool. I think you have a right to document or photograph your own story.

Blackpool is often used as the poster child for ‘broken Brexit Britain’ by journalists and photographers. What do you feel about that, photographers coming in looking for a particular narrative they’ve decided on even before they arrive?

Do you feel Blackpool gets ‘used’ or ‘othered’ by the media? This happened a lot to Merseyside in the 1980s and 90s when I was growing up there. Do you think the media commissioning more locally-based artists would create more balance?

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I am interested in the psychology of a place, how residents, creatives and local artists feel in response to this consistent narrative.

Othering is an easy route I guess especially using a medium such as photography because how much of creating a photograph can be non-reciprocal for the subject, it’s dangerous ground. I think there is a different narrative though in places like Blackpool that often does not get explored, through social and community approaches. Everyone has a right to be creative, it’s part of the human condition.

People need to feel part of something, in a conversation or their voice valued.

What did it feel like capturing those Covid lockdown images that became part of the #WorkTownGhostTown project [commissioned

by The Grundy, Blackpool]?

Initially I did really enjoy the sense of peace, and there was a feeling of it being very ethereal. You could really see the buildings of Blackpool, when you look above and see the old architecture. I’d never really been able to do that as much previously I think because of vehicles going past. But then I really began to think about the performance industry and the music industry in Blackpool and the buildings that they take place in.

Thinking about being younger and not being able to go and have that experience of meeting friends or drinking in pubs, or being able to dance and have a shared experience.

I just really began to feel for those people and I started to speak to some of them and photograph them.

I went out again on the last day before the second lockdown, and I went on to Central Pier.

It was completely quiet and I started to talk to the man who had the darts stand. If you’re someone who has grown up in Blackpool you probably will have done a job like that. He let me take his portrait and I wanted to make sure he was happy with it. He was just someone who worked for the stall owner, but he really seemed to love it. And that’s a really interesting aspect of taking photographs of people, just having time to listen to their story if they’ll share it with you.

The space of the Pier without people felt very unique, but it is really important that we

do have people coming through Blackpool and spending money to support these small businesses, these music venues, grassroots venues that attract unique acts.

You did a series on Seasonal Workers, is it important for you to show the story behind the seaside artifice?

I do think it’s really important. The seasonal workers stuff is ongoing. I photographed some horse and carriage owners having their, sort of, MOT last year. Their stories seem so important for Blackpool, the seasonal jobs make up part of Blackpool’s heritage. The horse owners I’ve met, they absolutely love their horses and seem to do it more through a connection to their animals than for the job. The generations of people who own the horses and donkeys, they go back for years and years. I think the carriage owners have had a very hard time with their season cut short.

“I think I’m just more and more interested in the shared experience and how people can connect and photography feels really accessible for that.”

Is it important to you to tell these stories, I’m also thinking of your ‘Retired Performers’ series?

I think I’m just more and more interested in the shared experience and how people can connect and photography feels really accessible for that. The reason ‘Retired Performers’ came about is I was photographing a circus festival. I met this lady and there was a photograph of her as a young person and she said ‘I used to be a foot juggler’, I said ‘what’s a foot juggler?!’ And she said ‘I used to spin people on a plank on my legs.’ Then she said ‘oh yes my husband performed for Hitler.’

Only in Blackpool! So she was the person who sparked the idea.

It was completely different to what I anticipated the project to be. I learned a lot through doing it. I wanted thirty people who 31

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33 4th November 2020, Central Pier Dart Stall, 30 DAYS OF LOCKDOWN by Claire Griffiths

Stage Manager at North Pier Theatre, Blackpool, 2018 by Claire Griffiths

had worked professionally in Blackpool.

It’s like an underground scene really, all the retired performers know each other or have connections with each other, so they were introducing one another to me. They loved the experience of being able to talk about what they’d done. I wanted it to be a collaboration.

I wanted them to feel happy with their photographs and that they were aware of what was happening with the work as much as possible. I wanted to create or encourage an exchange between sitter and audience.

An invitation to be part of that backstage life, what goes on behind the curtain of and how we can feel part of that. The series of images allowed me to invite performers back into spaces such as The Tower Ballroom or Winter Gardens theatres where we kind of co-created an experience.

Is that one of the things you enjoy about social practice, connecting with people?

Within photography, I do like social documentary. I’m interested in that. But people like Mary Ellen Mark who was photographing her own life and stuff going on around her, just feels more genuine. I think it takes years and months to build those relationships. That, 34

or it’s already going on around you or it has a strong connection to you. I am interested in people, I guess this is all about having that collaboration and finding a way to build relationships. That level of trust, that you’re already part of that community or have a connection to it. I think that’s really important.

What do you think of socially engaged practice as a term?

It’s a tricky term. I prefer socially based to socially engaged in some ways. I feel like it’s an inherent thing in people to want to be involved in the community. I think it’s within care workers, nursing professions, teachers. Socially engaged practice is something I came across by chance really. I guess it has been discussed as community art in the past. But the idea that you might be able to collaborate with a group of people to make work or give people a camera to tell their own story is really powerful.

Do you separate your socially engaged work from your other photography?

I don’t think I separate it from stuff I do generally. If I was photographing for tourism, if they let me arrive early and talk to people,

that’s really helpful. If I’m photographing some civic event or street performance it feels uncomfortable if I haven’t said hello to people or found out a little bit about them. And the photograph seems better if I’ve had that experience already or if they know who I am.

Do you feel you were doing ‘socially engaged practice’ before you knew of it as a term?

I definitely do feel that. It’s because I’m in that community and I am that person from a one parent family, who’s had someone close to me with addiction, who’s had a friend that was homeless at a young age. I am that person and so are they, but we are also people with a bigger story. I keep thinking about how it is easy to demonise people who are living through difficult circumstances. That those voices do not have a chance to be heard and the stories that get communicated through other mediums are often regurgitated in the same old ways. I am interested in projects where the voice is a collaboration or the story or image highlights hope and space for exchange.

Tell me about your ‘Retired Ravers’ project?

‘Retired Ravers’ is in process currently. I’ve been documenting an ex-cinema space that was later a nightclub and that has now been taken over by a theatre, come art space currently being regenerated by that very community. So it’s an amazing space, the perfect space to invite in people who were in that scene.

I’ve been thinking about that loss of community and shared experience and how coming together isn’t happening at the moment. But I have spoken to someone who had been there in the late 80s rave scene in Lancashire and they were quite keen on the darker drug taking aspects being addressed, leading onto darker times for some people, so I’m just considering that at the moment. I see a lot of demonisation of addiction which is really damaging for people in recovery. Perhaps it’s a class problem, you have to pay for good recovery programmes.

It just opened a new layer to what I had been thinking about photographing that counter culture.

I’ve also come across quite a few women who were involved in the scene who would want to remain anonymous if they were to become

involved in the project. I’ve done some test shots where I’ve photographed people anonymously, so just a soft light silhouette around people. Again I’m thinking of it as a collaboration with the sitter and the idea you could take a journey with people being involved in the project. One of the questions I want to ask those people is, was it a very accepting scene, but things feel very polarised now. Did they feel that youth culture would stay with people forever? The idea of freedom and liberty within that scene that perhaps some people felt. At its best that’s what it promoted. It feels like the places folks congregate or have a shared experience creates a kind of tangible energy.

Through your work in Blackpool as a photographer, what do you think you have discovered about community, and its future?

I am interested in how we come to believe limitations and our place in the world. That as human beings we look to identify with groups, that is my take on community - how we feel when sharing a story or relate to one another is powerful. It feels like people need to feel like they are part of something and how do we find that?

How important is class, and in particular working-class cultures, to you in your work?

I do feel like, what’s wrong with being working class? It used to be a celebrated thing and people shouldn’t be ashamed of it. I would like to see more celebration of all those workingclass codes, the Working Men’s Clubs, bingo, Rose Queens, everything. At uni in the south, especially studying fine art, the last thing my peer group were interested in were working class stories and values, but it still gets fed back to us by media created by some who perhaps have not had that lived experience. I feel like there is opportunity now to see, hear and experience art and photography created by communities and working-class artists who are able to tell their own stories or collaborate in an empowering way. It feels like we are heading into a time where there is nothing to lose as long as we all keep listening, viewing and communicating whilst checking our own routes to what we believe is our destination.

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A Spotlight On...

Ocean Farini

in conversation with Sara Sarf Socially Engaged artist, Ocean Farini talked to Sara Sarf, SEPN’s Writer in Residence about her multimedia work (mix up of collage, photography, clothes and humour) and her exploration of how young people can use both familiar and new materials, methods and platforms to talk about stuff that feels important to them.

How did you get into photography? And how do you use a variety of styles and methods in specific works and projects?

I’ve always been interested in images, as opposed to ‘photography’ and the way that images influence the world; the way they have this ability to box things off like ‘that’s what things look like’. I got really interested in it much more from a collage/dissecting images that already exist way. From that I kind of went onto trying to form an alternative image to the way that say an ordinary family looks or what an ordinary man looks like e.t.c. I started making my own images of people in my life or things that I felt offered a different view of something. That was the way I got into and approached photography.

Because I’m working in a collage-y way, I think that’s what made me look at using so many different materials and methods. I needed lots of different stuff to say what I was trying to say. I ended up having to use lots of bits of existing materials and imagery as well as starting to make my own stuff.

I was always trying to put my work into ‘normal’ contexts, making it feel accessible, so that it felt like it was part of your everyday as opposed to having to seek it out in galleries.

I love that. I feel that it’s way more personal and more interesting than a standard photo if you can make it your own through extra methods and materials.

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“I have this thing about the value of first hand experience, ‘you’re the expert in your own life’, an expert by experience, because you’ve done it, you’ve lived it.”

So, your focus seems to be very much around the idea of disturbing the idea of ‘normal’ and creating alternative perspectives of the everyday.

I know it is what you and we all live with day to day but how and why did you choose to focus on this as a topic for your work?

I guess everything I make is a bit autobiographical so everything sort of comes from something I’ve experienced, or the way I have grown up, or something that’s happened to me that I’ve thought ‘that’s something I need to make work about’. I think my obsession is with the more normal things in life if you like. Especially stuff to do with family and what’s ‘normal’ and young people and the way that they see their world.

I have this thing about the value of first hand experience, ‘you’re the expert in your own life’, an expert by experience, because you’ve done it, you’ve lived it. So, to be able to translate that genuineness into imagery, I’ve ended up focusing on topics like class, family and identity. Things that people often think are really mundane and boring but are actually really important parts of life.

about how we can use things like textiles to discuss big (or small) topics which affect these young peoples lives. It will be really interesting to see the young people’s take on it.

Vivienne Westwood clothes now are so high fashion and expensive, I hope they can see through this surface to explore the way she started by deconstructing the world around her and reconstructing it, to say something with both the process and end product.

In this project, are you working like a socially engaged photographer?

Yeah I think you could say ‘socially engaged artist’ because it’s quite multimedia! The other artist I’m collaborating with, Sally Gilford, is textile and print based, so it’s going to be a really cool combo actually, with my experience of photography and hers in textile and print work.

So, in what way do you see the project being socially engaged?

Does this way of thinking link in with your new project with Open Eye Gallery?

Yeah, for sure. I did a residency in Fleetwood near Blackpoool, for about a year and a half. That was the last major project I was doing and involved living on an estate and making work with the local residents. We ended up making our own streetwear label, loads of photographs, a photobook and had a fashion show on the street. So, this new commission with Open Eye Gallery (Fashion Forms Protest) felt like a really relevant project to get my teeth into, because it was about collaborating with young people and making stuff about identity and with clothes! The Open Eye commission started with young people visiting the Vivienne Westwood exhibition with all of her clothes through the years, at their local gallery and museum, The Atkinson.

The commission is a response to that initial visit, the politics that clothes can carry and the way the young people felt they wanted to respond to her collection. So, the starting point of this project is textile and clothes based, but the process will hopefully explore lots of materials & ideas. The hope for the project is that the young people feel excited to produce a dynamic collection of their own and ‘say something’ through textiles and images. It’s

The commission really focuses on the young people producing it. We’re like the facilitators and their collaborators. We can try and support them to get going, with some initial starting points and ideas but the project will be very much led by them and made by them.

My last question is about COVID and how you kept going, or how this might have affected or transformed this project throughout lockdown?

It’s a funny old thing because the commission was meant to be April and it’s all totally moved. I think it’s been harder than anyone thought for the young people to move to online engagement with the youth service, let alone starting anything new like this project! It’s not the same, the social bit isn’t the same, so it’s meant the approach/start to this has to be different too. It is important that the project starts when it is right for the young people and in the right way. So we are actually starting the project via postal packs, so that adds a whole new dimension. Hopefully this will mean when we can work with the young people as a group in person, they will also have some physical, tangible stuff that they’ve already produced as opposed to feeling like it’s all been massively online, like everything else in the world right now.

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It’s quite difficult for young people sometimes when you talk about protest or what you are angry about and what you are mad about. It often feels really far removed, like something you just see on TV, but actually to bring it down to the everyday through exploring it through textiles and photography might bring up some really interesting ideas. Maybe it is something that seems simple at first but it is not simple – it is a topic or issue, which is really big for you.

There are lots of other ways to protest or call for change. Hopefully, the process of making creative work with these young people will open up these different ways of talking about change/ activism and our role within it.

What are they getting in those packs, is it like textiles, pictures of the show or the clothes?

It’ll be lots of those different things. We’re still at the early stages of working out how to do it, how to start it. Give them a sketchbook, some materials, newspaper headlines and things like that to bounce off. I think initially we’re going to try and do some text work, so working from newspapers or magazines, mixing up and cutting up some texts and making some prints out of them. Even if this is one big word that stands out to them at this stage!

This project will have to be super fluid. I think the last few months have changed a lot. And also, everyone’s experience of lockdown is very different. They are 14-17 years old so it will be interesting to see how it informs the process of making the work because they have had a long time out of ‘normal’ education now.

It will be interesting to see how these different ways of thinking affect ideas for the commission going forwards, especially in terms of ‘what would you like to change about the world now that you’ve had a step back from it’ or maybe during this time, or even before they start they have been thinking, ‘God no one talks about that and it’s actually really great’ or ‘I’d like this to stay the same, and not be destroyed’.

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I feel you’re doing this project at just a pivotal moment, with Black Lives Matter and climate change protests and all that media coverage, it feels like the right time.

Yeah, I think especially with the BLM & XR movements, which have been massive and really important to witness. People haven’t been at work full-time or in education, so they’ve actually had the opportunity to be out doing stuff like researching, protesting and talking about important stuff that impacts them – without the danger of losing already unstable work. I think that the last few months have changed the idea of what a protest is and what it’s for, in the modern world. We are actually living in a revolutionary time; a moment to explore how much having time to step back enables you to revise what you really care about.

All Images from FRONT DOOR by Ocean Farini

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A Spotlight On...

Georgia Bond

in conversation with Kelly Bryan Socially-engaged photographer, Georgia Bond started working with children supported by Cheshire Young Carers in 2019. Here she shares with writer Kelly Bryan about her project, Caring in Confidence, and how it reflects the photographic collaboration between Bond and the young carers, constituted through a series of drop-in photography workshops hosted in respite sessions. The project created a space for experimentation of visual art through sustained collaborative practice and demonstrates that creative opportunities can have positive effects on the mental health of children, specifically young carers.

I understand much of your photography practice has surrounded socially engaged projects, specifically involving children.

What encouraged you to follow this path?

As an artist, I always wanted to use my practice to help people in some way. I didn’t realise the extent of which I could do this using photography until I was midway through my degree. I ran a voluntary photography class for children aged 6-13 in a community centre in Coventry. Fellow artist Tia Bryant and I co-founded the class during our second year of university. Throughout the six months, we taught the class the basics of digital and analogue photography through group work. We each kept a scrapbook where we would record what everyone wanted to do in the classes, things that we enjoyed and anything that we felt inspired by. One time, a 7-year-old wrote that she liked the class because it was safe and fun. It was at this point, I saw the benefit on the young people we taught, I found it really inspiring.

You are currently employed as a Session CoOrdinator at Cheshire Young Carers. Please could you tell us a little more about this role and how it has so far influenced your socially engaged practice?

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My role with Cheshire Young Carers is to provide respite to children aged 6-18 that care for somebody which includes residential trips, workshops and events. I am lucky that within my role, I have a lot of creative freedom; I design content for the charity including reports and also run creative workshops and trips. As well as this, my role has a large focus on the wellbeing of the children. I have designed and run wellbeing sessions with mental health coordinator Daniel Nester. During these sessions the young carers learnt about the importance of physical wellbeing, new skills and selfdevelopment. A key theme within the sessions was recognising the benefits that come from supporting others whilst also recognising the importance of accessing support for yourself.

Through engaging in the creative wellbeing sessions, it helped the young carers see how they can take care of their own mental wellbeing by accessing support, developing coping techniques and identifying steps they can take to make time for self-care. My socially engaged practice and my role at Cheshire Young Carers have intertwined in a sense, I am constantly engaging with the children in a creative manner and with the resources and support that my role gives me, I am able to create socially engaged art with the children I work with over a longer period of time.

Why did you feel this was the right occupation for you?

I knew I wanted to work in a role where I had the opportunity to help people in some way, I was passionate about working with young people and also wanted to be able to work creatively. This job has combined this all for me. I think initially I was worried that my job would have less creative freedom than I imagined, but I have used the skills taught from my degree since starting and been able to build on them in a variety of ways. One of the outcomes from my project with the young carers ‘Caring in Confidence’, was a video piece consisting of images taken by all members of the group, interviews between myself, the young carers and those who helped facilitate the project. Since creating this, I have created and edited many videos for the organisation. My creative skillset has expanded as well as my confidence in the work that I create.

“I believe that as a facilitator the more fun you make the activity, the less pressure they feel to be within that space which in turn makes it more relaxed and enjoyable for them.”

Socially engaged work requires high ethical consideration, particularly when working with children. Could you explain the process required to create a safe space for children during your projects?

The first thing is always consent, with children this has to come from their legal guardian or parent and this includes their right to withdraw.

For me, a safe space comes from how you think the collaboration would benefit your participants. The children should understand that they participate at their leisure and that they mustn’t photograph anyone who doesn’t want to be photographed. I believe that as a facilitator the more fun you make the activity, the less pressure they feel to be within that space which in turn makes it more relaxed and enjoyable for them.

You have worked closely with the participants involved in your socially engaged projects.

Please could you provide an insight into the impacts (whether these are positive or negative) socially engaged practice has?

Over the years I have noticed the positive impacts that socially engaged projects have on participants’ wellbeing. I think providing a space for conversation has the ability to impact people in a variety of ways. You never know what may come up, but by creating a safe, open and creative environment for the conversation allows people to express themselves and share. Socially engaged art can be an outlet for many or even a healthy distraction, it allows people to build relationships and collaborate. This sharing of knowledge and creativity in my experience has brought such positive impacts to the communities of people I have worked with.

Personally, each project is different in the context of how that young person has positively impacted from the engagement. In self-portraiture sessions and conversations around representation, I have seen children’s confidence develop by using photography as a tool of empowerment. Following a recent photography trip, I received feedback that a young carer found the trip really beneficial as it helped contribute to the enhancement of her emotional and mental wellbeing. Both situations provided a positive space for expression but in different ways that also helped my own wellbeing. Alternatively, I do think that a rigid approach to socially engaged art can bring negative impacts. It is essential that participants are able to express themselves freely without pressure for it to be positive.

How important do you feel socially engaged photography is to your participants?

I think the act of collaboration and learning something new is important to so many people whether that’s something they’re aware of in that act or it’s a subconscious understanding. I notice the excitement within younger participants a lot, as soon as they join a workshop the first question is when they can use the cameras. I wouldn’t say they recognise this as important, as such, but their participation and enthusiasm that comes 41

Jahmal by Georgia Bond

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from this is important to their development. A teenager that I’ve been working with recently said: “I would definitely say that the act of participation is important to them and the benefits even more so.”

Would you say your projects have formed a sense of community amongst the participants involved and if so, what impact has this had?

The greatest sense of community that derived from a project I did, was during my collaborative body of work ‘Week by Week’ which was made alongside artist Tia Bryant.

The class of children was a group that had never come together before but as the weeks went on, they would be so excited to come into class and see everyone. The children were all from the same community and the class led to friendships being formed outside of the space we had created.

If applicable, did you notice any developments in the children (this could be mentally/ confidence etc.) from starting the project and at the end?

The biggest development that has been continuous in this project is the positive development in confidence within young people. Starting a project, you always have participants who are shy around the camera which is expected but it is always so rewarding when you notice a change in their self-belief. In my most recent project Caring in Confidence, I interviewed the children towards the end and asked them whether they liked being photographed. One young girl told me how she viewed herself had changed throughout the project and she enjoyed having her photograph taken.

I understand socially engaged practice can have an unusual power dynamic between participant and facilitator, particularly if this participant is a child. How do you overcome these concerns?

When you work with children, you need to safeguard them and yourself and be responsible for their safety. With that comes the obvious power dynamic, which may

suggest that because you are their elder and you have responsibility for their safety that you have control over what they do creatively.

I agree that the importance comes with how you navigate this. For me it is all about the respect that you have for your participants as a facilitator. You need to show your participant no matter their age that they create what they would like to and you assist the learning and practice of this. I think tasking participants should act as a prompt rather than a command. I also try to act as a participant to a project by being involved in the same activity as they would instead of instructing them, being there for support when they need it and encouraging freedom within that.

I think we would both agree, it is important to note that socially engaged photographers do not provide their participants with a ‘voice’; instead they create a space in which these individuals can be heard. How do you navigate the control, yourself and the participants have, within your socially engaged projects?

Yes, definitely. It took me a long time to understand the complexity of control within socially-engaged work. You may start a project with an ideal visualisation of how it should end, but this is something you have to avoid.

By being open to the variety of ways a project can develop, you respectfully give control to your participants. Your control should lie with ensuring everyone feels safe and comfortable enough to ask for help. Your participants should have their creative freedom, as long as this is done in a manner which is respectful to their fellow participants, this usually means they have a good amount of control.

What do you feel makes a successful socially engaged project and do you have any tips to achieve this?

I think that a successful socially engaged project is engaging and collaborative with a positive power dynamic which we spoke of earlier. In terms of outcome, as long as participants have equally gained something then to me that is effective as you should want to confidently benefit them in some

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way. Open dialogue and expression comes with sustained engagement, as does an enjoyable community, which is something I find important. My tips are to make sure it’s something you’re passionate about and want to see a positive result from. Allow your participants to contribute what suits them and always communicate your plans. Always involve your participants in a collaborative manner and of course, make sure you enjoy it!

Do you have any future plans for your photographic work?

Right now, I am working in a variety of ways that I think will influence my future work. I am studying for a diploma in child psychology so that I can use creative practice for wellbeing but with a better foundation of knowledge to do so. When we are able to, I have some exciting photography workshops and trips with the young carers to experiment with the camera in a different capacity, night photography at residentials or landscape photography on nature walks. At the moment I am really focused on combining my interest and passion for both art and mental health.

Image - Edie by Georgia Bond

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A Spotlight On...

Bella Okuya

in conversation with Liz Wewiora

A photographer based in South London, Bella Okuya shares her project with Southwark Pensioners Centre, ‘Eye to Eye’ and collective Red Rolled and Seen. Interviewed by Liz Wewiora, Open Eye Gallery’s Head of Social Practice, the pair discuss how Bella first became interested in participatory approaches to photography and the value of working with others. What can you learn from your participants and what as the photographer can you bring to the project?

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Thanks so much for agreeing to chat with me for the SEPN blog. I wanted to firstly ask you how you became interested in participatory approaches to photography? And is this your sole way of working with the medium now, or a strand of your practice?

Thank you for having me Liz. I first became interested in participatory approaches to photography after stumbling across a piece of work by PhotoVoice. The work was about the experiences of a group of young people in an estate in London, told from their own perspective. I was immediately captivated by the concept of challenging the traditional power dynamics of photojournalism, and I was excited to see images created by people that I could identify with. I am a woman of colour, from a disadvantaged working class background, and photography always felt like an unrealistic career trajectory because I felt pressure to have a guaranteed job. I was continually told the odds were stacked against me, but once I found an aspect of photography that I could identify with I knew it was something I wanted to pursue in my life with confidence. I would describe myself as a socially engaged photographer, because my independent work is about the documentation of my community in South East London, using documentary techniques and portraits. The rest of my creative output is in partnership with my documentary collective Red Rolled and Seen and hyper-local organisations that support local marginalised communities, like Southwark Pensioners’ Centre. I also work as a Foundation Manager with a charity called The Photography Foundation, which provides professional photography training and skills to disadvantaged and underrepresented young people in London.

“The biggest learnings I took away from our time together were the benefits of cultivating a balance between being flexible whilst also having a plan for each session, the importance of asking and never presuming.”

It would be great to chat more specifically about the project you developed with individuals from the southwark pensioners’ centre, ‘Eye to Eye’. Often people don’t think of photography and sight loss as something that would go hand in hand but I was really fortunate to work with a Blind Veterans group during a previous role at FACT in Liverpool where I learnt an incredible amount from them in terms of sight loss and working with visual arts. I’d love to hear more about the process of working with the group – the learning, perhaps the challenges but also the highlights you encountered along the way?

Southwark Pensioners’ Centre (SPC) run a sight loss group (Eye to Eye) fortnightly at the centre for people over 50s in the London borough of Southwark. We were lucky to have the chance to essentially take over this fortnightly meeting, with the help of a Mayor of London Culture Seeds grant, and turn that gathering into photography workshops, group discussions, pop-up portrait studio sessions and show and tell informal assisted presentations. We had the support of the staff, our volunteers and the participants themselves during each session. It was really important to me to build trust with the centre staff and learn more about the needs of the participants before any sessions started. I met with a number of the SPC team, some of whom I knew already through my work in community arts with UAL, before spending a few weeks with the participants informally.

These informal cups of tea and biscuits helped us all understand and get comfortable with one another without any pressure to do anything. Taking the time to build relationships with everyone before the project began meant it was so much easier to be honest and open during workshops, which was fundamental to working with a group with a diversity of needs.

I learnt so much from the participants and the staff at SPC over the time we had before Covid paused the project. The biggest learnings I took away from our time together were the benefits of cultivating a balance between being flexible whilst also having a plan for each session, the importance of asking and never presuming, slowing down and just being present goes a long way when working in a participatory and person centred 47

way. I also learnt so much about what’s important in life because as so often all of the participants spoke and photographed the people and places that offered support in their community, with memories of loved ones coming up again and again as being of the utmost importance in life. My preconceptions going into the project was that their lives would be adversely challenged by sight loss, whereas in fact what came out of the project was the opposite! Sight loss was challenging but it gave them a new perspective around what’s really important in life. The activist objective of the project was overshadowed in some ways by a celebration of life and this is something we tried to capture in the zine. There were obviously many challenges but actually the biggest challenges were also the biggest learning opportunities. For example, attendance to the workshops varied significantly, sometimes we had up to twenty people in a small space, all with varying needs and levels of engagement, and sometimes we had less than ten. We would never be able to know who would turn up on a day and how much they wanted or were able to engage with what we had planned, many participants had additional health challenges. We managed this by going with the flow, asking the participants what they wanted to do with what we had planned, rather than telling them, so everyone felt they knew what was going on and could do something, anything, no matter how small.

It was hard work at times but the Red Rolled and Seen volunteers were an incredible part of that, and each of us had responsibility of a small group within the group, which gave us the freedom to constantly communicate with each participant. This was significant when working with participants who can’t see or have impaired vision, verbal communication needed to be twice as effective. We intentionally created a feeling in our sessions that everyone was of value and everyone deserved to feel heard and enjoy the sessions, no matter their level of ability.

The most memorable highlight for me came from one of our participants, Mavis. She is 91 and was so up for everything we did! One of the most motivated people I have ever met.

She came back with her images and we were blown away with how prolific and adventurous 48

she was with photography, documenting her day to day life, what an insight! She got support from her support workers, people at her church, people in her community on the street to help her take photos and the results were amazing! We were stunned. It was a life lesson right there. From now on when I am nervous about a new undertaking I just tell myself, if Mavis can do it so can I! It sounds like a really valuable project for both the collective and the participants involved, learning from each other really. It also reflects what we see in so many socially engaged projects, where expectations and preconceptions are totally challenged or shifted – often for the better. It is also great to see the zine produced as a legacy and also fundraiser initiative towards the project.

Can I ask what else is next for you, either with the project or with your wider collective and socially engaged work? Have you been considering how this sort of work moves forwards too with current limitations on social distancing?

Yes, the zine was an amazing legacy and we would love to do another zine in the future. What’s next?! Great question and in the spirit of the project we are in some ways going with the flow, but to be more specific, we are hoping to continue our work with Southwark Pensioners’ Centre on a portrait photography project. These portraits will be captioned with narratives of the participants’ experiences of lockdown, and the outcomes will be used to gather qualitative research creatively, which will help the charity find ways to ease transitions back into services for their members. It’s a massive extension of the previous project, because it will involve other charity partners, working with a social researcher and many more participants. We intend for the images to form an inhouse rolling digital and print exhibition, creating a greater sense of a belonging upon return for service users. We are waiting to hear about additional funding for this, so if anyone is interested in supporting us do get in touch!!

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More Than One Side of a Story

By Anthony Luvera Conversations about socially engaged photography are growing louder. The number of artists using methods of coproduction, participation, and collaboration with individuals and groups of people in local or community settings around the United Kingdom has expanded. Teaching and learning about participatory practices in further and higher education has strengthened. Galleries, museums and festivals are increasingly commissioning or exhibiting work made by socially engaged photographers. Now, more than ever before, magazines, journals, blogs, and online platforms regularly feature a variety of approaches to using photography as a social practice, and socially engaged practitioners are nominated for prizes and awards alongside artists whose work is more conventionally created and authored. At a time when themes of community, collectivity, and co-creation appear to be given greater weight, to lesser or greater degrees, across the arts and sciences, in public services, and in various forms of popular entertainment, the development of the field of socially engaged practice may be seen as another example of the way the photographic medium both forecasts and reflects shifts occurring in the social and cultural realm.

Socially engaged photography, however, is not new. In many respects it may be seen as a succession of the community photography movement of the 1970s and 1980s, a period of enormous activity by individuals and collectives using photography in and with communities across the UK. Their aim was to amplify the views and experiences of local people by enabling the development of visual literacy skills, and to advocate for the improvement of the living conditions and overall well-being of participants and their communities. While the technologies of photography have been vastly reinvented in the decades since, and the social, cultural, 50

and political contexts socially engaged photographers operate within today have changed, there is a clear correlation in the intentions held by practitioners working then and now. That is, the firmly held view that the recalibration of the power dynamic between a photographer and a subject can accomplish more meaningful impacts than a conventional approach to telling other people’s stories.

At the centre of the developments I have very briefly sketched out here is a practice founded upon an unfolding dialogue between an artist and participant, and the relationship they develop over time. In many respects, this process of engagement is as much the work as any of the artefacts presented to audiences in exhibitions and publications.

It is the thing that marks out the ‘socially engaged’ in a socially engaged practice.

Accounts given about the process between an artist and the participants they collaborate with is a key element of the presentation and consideration of any socially engaged work. Whether these accounts take the form of artist statements; testimonies given by participants; reports by individuals and organisations invested in the creation of the work; documentation images or film; sound recordings; blogs and other digital platforms or artefacts; public speaking engagements; or interviews with the artist, it is through such accounts the intentions and roles played by both the artist and participants are able to be gauged by audiences. It is one of the ways insight can be gained into questions that can be asked about ethics, agency, representation, consent, and authorship, and stories can be told about experiences of making the work.

As an artist who has worked in ways described as participatory, collaborative, or socially engaged for almost twenty years, I never grow tired of listening to other people’s conversations about socially

engaged photography. It is reaffirming to me to hear other practitioners, at all stages of their careers, speak about the importance of listening, developing trust, and building relationships before using photography.

To listen to discussions about how socially engaged photography can provide ways for the production of identity to be understood, challenged, projected, or reinvented. To peer in on exchanges about how personal or lived experiences can inform approaches to practice and issues explored with participants. To discover other artists’ views on the potential of the relationship between socially engaged practice and activism. To hear discussions about the importance of self-reflexivity, criticality, and keeping one’s sense of good intentions in check. To reflect on accounts given about the challenges of creating socially engaged work in the context of institutional agendas. To consider the various models of practice, critical thinking, and interdisciplinary approaches that inform another artist’s way of working with participants. And to pay attention to stories about how failure is not always an end point but can be moment of learning on an onward journey.

But, when listening to discussions about socially engaged practice, I can’t help but ask, whose stories are being told?

As a community of practice, it is striking to me just how diverse, inventive, playful, and powerful the field of socially engaged photography is, and how inspiring and wide reaching an assembly of our conversations can be. But, when listening to discussions about socially engaged practice, I can’t help but ask, whose stories are being told? Whose voices are missing from the conversation?

How are other sides of the story included?

And, when many of the organisations involved in commissioning or producing socially engaged photography today once siloed this form of practice in public education and outreach programmes, or ignored it altogether, I want to also ask, how can we address the broader context of the political and economic agendas driving the work?

Much of the expansion of the field of socially engaged photography is precipitated by investment in the arts and culture sector through funding initiatives predicated on ‘enriching people’s lives’, enabling ‘thriving communities’, strengthening ‘social prescribing’ initiatives, and, in this current time of the COVID-19 pandemic, bringing about ‘culture recovery’. All of which is much more complex than the catchphrase crafting used in funding applications. In my view, there is a need for more discussions to be had about the politics of the socio-economics which drive the increased uptake of this kind of practice. To carry on a conversation about how artists, participants, and commissioning organisations can critically engage with the effects of instrumentalization. And, to question how short-term funding of projects and practices, and the relationships they are built upon, can continue in ways which are meaningful to both participants and artists.

At its core, socially engaged photography has the potential to address the problem of speaking for others. It may not solve all of the issues we’re all entangled in when we engage with photographic representation, but it has the capacity to tell more than one side of a story.

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Bios Liz Wewiora Liz Wewiora is an artist, curator-producer and educator. For the past twelve years her practice has focused on supporting and delivering collaborative projects, which promote social change. She has worked in curatorial engagement roles across the UK, is currently the head of social practice at Open Eye Gallery and teaches on the socially engaged photography MA at University of Salford. As an artist she has worked on a number of projects across health, social housing, justice, learning, heritage and environmental settings with organisations including University of Reading, Manchester Histories, Museum of Liverpool, CCA Glasgow, Open Eye Gallery, TATE Exchange Liverpool, University of Chester, Northwards Housing and the NHS. www.elizabeth-wewiora.com Anthony Luvera Anthony Luvera is an Australian artist, writer and educator based in London. His photographic work has been exhibited widely in galleries, public spaces and festivals, including Tate Liverpool, The Gallery at Foyles, the British Museum, London Underground’s Art on the Underground, National Portrait Gallery London, Belfast Exposed Photography, Australian Centre for Photography, PhotoIreland, Malmö Fotobiennal, Goa International Photography Festival, and Les Rencontres D’Arles Photographie. His writing appears regularly in a wide range of publications including Photoworks, Source and Photographies. Anthony is Associate Professor of Photography in the Centre for Arts, Memory and Communities at Coventry University, and editor of Photography For Whom?, a periodical about socially engaged photography. Anthony is Chair of the Education Committee at the Royal Photographic Society. He has designed education and mentorship programmes, facilitated workshops, and given lectures for the public education departments of National Portrait Gallery, Tate, Magnum, Royal Academy of Arts, The Photographers’ Gallery, Photofusion, Barbican Art Gallery, and community photography projects across the UK. www.luvera.com www.photographyforwhom.com Leticia Valverdes Brazil born, U.K. based photographer, Leticia Valverdes has been making socially engaged photography for two decades. She initiated her first project whilst a student of fine art and photography in London, working with girls living on the streets of Brazil’s major cities. It was during that first project that she felt it was ethically appropriate to have an exchange and not photograph in a traditional photojournalistic way. The work with Brazilian Street Girls has been exhibited extensively and published in a book in 2000.

Leticia works in the UK, Europe and Latin America. In the UK she has worked for many years in partnership with London based All Change Arts, a charity that brings artists and communities together. Abroad she tends to work in collaboration with communities as varied as a northern Portuguese Village and Amazonian Tribes. During the Covid lockdowns, as she could not go anywhere, she invited her own three children for a collaboration and intervention on her archive of Amazon pictures. This collaboration resulted in work that will be soon exhibited in Portugal and Brazil where it has been also published as a book: “And Now My Children Know”. She is currently also self-publishing Dear Ana, a book of participatory work that explores memory, European migration, loss, ancestrality and the story of her Portuguese grandmother who never came back to her motherland.

Her collaborations with various groups have been exhibited and published in books and magazines in the UK and abroad. The work has been awarded various prizes and residencies like Portrait of Britain, Via Art Prize, Emergentes at Encontro da Imagem in Braga, The Ian Parry award, Arts Council Grants among others.

Joanie Magill Joanie is an Irish writer based in Liverpool who writes about emerging artists.

Daniel Regan Daniel Regan is a a photographic artist and non-profit Director in the arts & health sector. His photographic works specialise in exploring complex and difficult emotional experiences, focusing on the transformational impact of arts on mental health, building on his own lived experience. Daniel is also the Executive Director of the Arts & Health Hub, a not-for-profit organisation that supports artists that work in the arts and health sector. www.danielregan.com 52

Sam Batley Sam Batley is a self taught artist drawing on inspiration from the world around him. Exploring it through a mixture of mediums. His work is characterised by self inquisition and honesty. ‘One Day at a Time Boys’ is an extension of this, building on the belief that given the chance we all have the ability to express ourself. Working within the recovery community of which he is a part of. Embracing recovery values within a creative setting.

Lauren Stephens Lauren Stephens is an arts writer and PhD student at University of Liverpool researching philosophy of art.

D. Wiafe D.Wiafe (b.1980) is an artist and photography lecturer at the London College Of Communication (UAL). Curious about the public perception of inner-city youth, his work has found him immersed in various communities, working alongside teens to present an unseen portrait of the adolescent experience. This has taken him from creating staged tableaux with grime’s early pioneers, to acting as lead photographic mentor on the awardwinning youth platform ‘The Cut’. Working across installation, video and publication, he has produced Arts Council funded projects in partnership with Autograph, UAL, Photofusion and the Southbank Centre. He was one of Photofusion’s artists in residence 2016-18, creating the noted “4PM in the Endz”, a multi-media exploration of the stigma of gang affiliation in Pollards Hill, South London.

His pioneering youth led projects have allowed young people to collaborate on commissions with Nike, Adidas. and to exhibit with The Royal Photographic Society, Sixteen and The Southbank Centre.

His projects have been exhibited at Photofusion, Streetlevel Photoworks, Peckham 24 and featured on the BBC News, BBC Radio London, The Guardian, BJP Online and Photomoniter.

Casey Logue Casey (she/her) is an English and Philosophy graduate and teacher from the smallest county in England. Her research has been predominantly in gender, sexuality, and objectification. She is the editor of a small feministcentred magazine called Peach Street which publishes the work of young people on topics such as sex, inequality, and postmodernism. She now lives in Cheshire where she teaches English, sometimes writes, often reads, and likes taking pictures.

Claire Walmsley Griffiths Based in Blackpool Lancashire, exploring the possibilities of human connection through photography. Using a camera as a tool for conversation. Exploring the psychology of people, place, identity, what community is, was, and what it might become.

She is interested in photographic installation/audio and exchange stemming from biographical ideas involving notions of audiences as participants, exploration of social labels, shared experience, human connection, and how we measure self-worth. Historically and more recently photographing using darkroom techniques, analogue film, and moving images. Interested in collaboration, connection, and alternative ways of the photograph.

Kenn Taylor Kenn Taylor is a writer and creative producer with a particular interest in culture, community, class and place.

He has worked on arts and heritage programmes with a community and socially-engaged focus for over 10 years. This informs his writing which has appeared in outlets including The Guardian, Engage Journal, Social Art Journal, Liverpool University Press and the Museums Association. He’s also delivered lectures, talks and workshops for organisations including Liverpool John Moores University, the University of Leeds, the CoCreating Change Network and the Arts Council of Wales. www.kenn-taylor.com @kenn_taylor Ocean Farini Ocean’s practice works in and around themes of class, value, home and humour.

Through a mash-up of photography, clothes & collage, she seeks to question mainstream representations of what ‘normal’ is; exploring ground-up ideas of identity, love, success, growing up and happiness.

Often working slowly, collaboratively and with ‘cheap’ accessible materials, Ocean’s work hopes to question who is making images, why are they making them and actively confront and offer an alternative to the usual spaces we expect to see photographs.

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Sara Sarf Sara Sarf is an emerging museum professional. She studied Anthropology and History at the University of Aberdeen, then an MA Museum Studies at the University of Leicester. Her dissertation focused on the relationship between street art, museum and digital practices. Sara completed her MA placement with the Open Eye Gallery, during which she competed various tasks ranging from social media engagement, responsive programme planning and interviewing with socially engaged artists. Throughout her masters she became passionate about learning and education, games and playing and inclusive practice in museums.

Georgia Bond Socially engaged practitioner Georgia Bond primarily creates projects encompassing collaboration, exploring how photography can be used as a tool to represent and create a platform to be heard. The methodology that Bond employs exists in a community setting, whereby the process embodies the work. She uses a conceptual framework to showcase the community she facilitates and participates in, whereby all those involved have input. The underlying motives addressed through the social engagement allow Bond to establish a link between the positive impacts of art and communities, specifically of young people. Through different forms of community engagement, Georgia Bond aims to influence, inform and change.

Kelly Bryan Kelly Bryan is a writer and visual artist based in the UK. She uses the physicality of photography to poetically explore intangible narratives. She often peers through a phenomenological lens to question themes including belonging, domestic structures and relationships.

Alongside fine-art and documentary photography, Bryan is an avid writer with a broad range of professionalism in commercial, art-based and journalistic writing.

Bella Okuya Bella Okuya is a London born photographer and educator, with a socially engaged documentary approach and a curious portraiture practice. Currently based in New York.

Bella is the founder of, South London based collective, Red Rolled and Seen, and is currently working on a long-term photography project, Negative Space: Underrepresented women of colour & non-binary people in photography, which will be produced as a photo-book later in the year.

Bella is a current 2021 Fulbright scholarship recipient , studying an MFA in Photography at Parsons, New School, New York.

A Spotlight On... is a regular feature of the Socially Engaged Photography Network. If you enjoyed reading the articles you can find more here https://openeye.org.uk/blog-category/socially-engaged-photography/ 54

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