photography

Stalybridge #6

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I was planning to return to Stalybridge today but I’ve realised I don’t need do.  After sitting down to think about the exhibition I realised I already have too many portraits to squash into the space and would have to cut a few out. It’s a shame because of the interview texts but some of the images are not as strong as I’d like anyway. So of 20 I have selected 16. I can only visualise things at this point by making mock ups, which is what I’ve done here. It may not be a final decision but this is roughly what I’m thinking. Anything interview-wise which doesn’t make the show will be shared on my blog and on social media.

Stalybridge #5

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I went back to Stalybridge for the fifth day of photographing yesterday. I had two appointments set up – with dance teacher Sarah England (above) and at the Music Academy, where owner Chris wasn’t expecting me (the message hadn’t been passed on) but was thankfully very accommodating and up for a chat. I also dropped into Stalybridge institution The Tripe Shop and persuaded staff member Tina to let me photograph her – she is the only person who works there who actually likes tripe, as it turns out, which made me laugh.

I now have 20 portraits, each with a captions of up to 250 words. It’s not a bad haul but certainly not in any way representative of the diversity of the town. I would very much like to secure a few more interviews if I can – I’ve put a few messages out so it’s possible it will work out.

The Local/Lokal exhibition is at Astley Cheetham Gallery in Stalybridge from 24 Sep – 21 Dec.

 

Stalybridge #4

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I’ve been back to Stalybridge on two more occasions since my last post and have met quite a few people and had lots of conversations about the town.

Last Thursday I cycled back along the Ashton canal (well, I did once my husband had kindly fixed a last minute puncture for me) and kicked off my day meeting Charlie, a recently appointed curate at Holy Trinity Church in the town centre.

This is clearly a super active church community which does loads of good work trying to combat isolation, poverty and lots of other issues.

From there I tried my luck at one of the local allotments. I struck lucky – it was a busy morning and people were very willing to chat. I then went on to Bridge Beers, a bar and bottle shop which someone at WeAreLocal (project commissioners) had mentioned to me. David, the owner, was up for taking part.

The following day unfolded in much the same way. I had one appointment set up in advance and other than that walked around trying my luck with people I chanced upon.

I have a mental checklist while running these projects – I want to be as representative as possible in terms of age, gender, ethnicity etc. I don’t want to be prescriptive but it’s something I am conscious of.

I walked around and around the town, trying to spot people who could be worth trying. I have found people extremely friendly on the whole in Stalybridge and most have been very receptive to my questions.

The lady in the portrait above, Seraphine, is someone I got talking to on the street on Friday afternoon. She was incredibly friendly and receptive when I tentatively suggested going home with her (she had things to do there).

I had first been attracted by the fact she seemed so sweet and was carrying her baby on her back in the African style and envisaged photographing her like that but I love the intimacy of having made the image in her lounge. That portrait is by far my favourite of the series so far.

I have lots of transcribing to do now – since I always use people’s own words with my images – and will be returning to Stalybridge this Friday and again early next week. I have a few appointments lined up already and have sent several messages  today to positively address the gaps within the work, but there’s only so much that is possible within the time constraints for the project. At least I’m trying though.

The exhibition opens on 24 September at the Astley Cheetham Gallery in Stalybridge.

Stalybridge #3

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I returned to Stalybridge for the second time on Friday – this time I cycled along the canal, which took me a little more than an hour but made me so happy. I felt like I was seeing a totally different side of the city and was so envious of people whose gardens lead directly onto the canal. I only had a few hours in the town because I had to be back by 3pm to collect my sons from holiday club, so I was only there from 11am to 1.30pm. Still though I managed to get two chats in, one prearranged and one serendipitous.

First I called in to Paul’s Tools, a shop opposite the train station which had caught my eye the previous day, because it has some unusual mannequins outside the shop (one is a teenage ninja turtle – either Raphael or Michaelangelo… it’s hard to tell!) I hadn’t intended to go and speak to the people inside but got chatting to the aforementioned Paul, who has lived in Stalybridge all his life. He pointed me down the street where the pub with the shortest name in the UK (Q) is a few doors down from the pub with the longest name in the world (The Old Thirteenth Cheshire Astley Volunteer Rifleman Corps Inn). He also told me Stalybridge is a key place in trade union history. I’m not happy with my portrait of Paul though so am going to have to pop back.

From there I went to meet Steven Barton, who runs a local food pantry from a shipping container outside the town’s Labour Club. He and his group support struggling households in the town with food parcels and other essentials and he says the need is growing massively as people’s bills rocket.

 

I had hoped to also fit in some street portraits and interviews but as usual I overestimated what I would be able to manage and had to leave it for the day. I had planned to return on Saturday with my kids and visit the Astley Cheetham Gallery, where this work will be shown but the rail strikes put paid to that.

I can only come to this work as an outside looking in, which is limiting at any point but especially so when time is short. I am not seeking to represent Stalybridge or to give an opinion on the place – that would neither be fair nor possible. I’m hoping to just gather a selection of different experience and present it for what it is, without making any big claims of how representative it is. I’m not really happy with anything I’ve shot so far – it all feels a bit rushed and I’m not yet sure of my angle – but I’m hearing interesting stories and views.

Over the coming fortnight my hope is to meet some people who run businesses or cultural enterprises in the area, as well as some more lifelong residents and a few new arrivals. I’m contacting some possible participants in advance but will also set aside some time to simply walk around the area and see who I meet. My next short visit to Stalybridge will be Wednesday but on Thursday and Friday I should manage a bit more time.

 

Stalybridge #2

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The Stalybridge Local/Lokal project is now underway. Today I met two lifelong local residents – Lillian, 86, and Suzanne, 59. I talked to them both about their relationship with their town (yet to be transcribed) and persuaded both to have their portrait taken. Both were extremely reluctant though so the photos were done super quickly and are not as strong as I would like. They also made some suggestions about some other people/organisations in the town so I’ve spent my evening researching and writing lists about possible avenues of enquiry and have something lined up for tomorrow morning. Today I drove to Stalybridge but tomorrow I’m going to cycle – which will take about an hour each way. I have to be back to collect the kids from holiday club just after 3pm, which is a bit limiting, but cycling feels less of a gamble than catching the train at the moment. There is a quick train from Piccadilly to Stalybridge which is 15 mins but that is only one an hour – if that gets cancelled the journey becomes very slow. So tomorrow I will take my chances on the bike.

Stalybridge #1

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I’m in a slight state of nervous anxiety about the project I’m about to start in Stalybridge, which will ask questions about place and belonging. It’s partly the feeling of not having very much lined up but having to deliver something – this is familiar to me from my newspaper days (it was a daily occurrence then). This time it’s compounded by other factors though – particularly the fact that it’s school holidays and my childcare is pretty limited. And I’ve just realised the submission date for this work is earlier than I anticipated (within the first few days of school returning, in fact). It will be fine, I just need to crack on and make it work. It’s just added an extra layer of stress on top of the usual project anxiety.

The best remedy is action. Tomorrow I’m going to Stalybridge to start making connections. My initial thought with this project was that I’d like to make portraits of people in one location – perhaps of shopkeepers on one street – and ask them questions about their relationship with the place. I then remembered I know someone who grew up in Stalybridge and asked her advice and something unexpected happened – we ended up arranging for me to meet her mum and nan tomorrow, and apparently they have old photos. So this is a project which could go in various directions. It could start with them and maybe they will introduce me to other people, and them onto other people and so on. I quite like that idea actually. Or, I could them move on to a more street based project after tomorrow, where I try to do portraits of people as I meet them walking around the town. We shall see. I’ve put some visits in my diary over the next few weeks and I’ll see what themes or images emerge. My plan is to ask everyone I photograph the same few questions. I’d just feel much cooler about the whole thing if I didn’t have the extra factor of summer holidays… the juggle is real.

New project in Stalybridge

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Over the coming month I’m going to be working on a short project thinking about place and identity, in a Greater Manchester town I have never visited – Stalybridge. It’s going to have to happen in quite an organic and journalistic way – one step leading to the next – because I don’t have time to develop links with any groups in the way I’ve worked elsewhere lately. There is still three weeks of summer holidays – ergo childcare issues – which makes it even more complicated and challenging but it should be good. More info to follow…. This is a group project involving seven photographers – three here and four in Sweden. To kick things off we were asked to respond to some prompts about the issues we are addressing with the work. Here are my thoughts:

 

– VIEWPOINTS: What does it mean to be local/lokal?

IN looking IN

– How do our places make us feel?

My personal experience of place/locality has been mixed. I was born and raised in a town (Wrexham) – my family moved there shortly before I was born. Neither of my parents grew up in the UK so we’re a bit rootless. Wrexham is a border town but has quite a strong Welsh identity, and in the 80s/90s it felt very white/monocultural and quite stifling to me. I couldn’t wait to escape. In 1999 I moved to Manchester, were I’ve largely remained. I’ve lived in the same neighbourhood since 2004 and I feel like I belong here. People talk sometimes about ‘chosen family’ and that’s how this area feels to me. It’s diverse and creative and warm and friendly in a way that my hometown never felt growing up – although that could be changing now… or maybe it’s a matter of perspective. I remember being fascinated when I was about 18 and working in my local pub in Wrexham by the people who felt so connected with their place that they never moved away/never yearned for change. I am still very curious about people like that and understand it more now because I’ve found somewhere where I feel I fit.

– What heritage defines your place eg. for Greater Manchester it is perhaps textile, heritage, canals and trade routes.

Greater Manchester has a strong industrial tradition – it’s the birthplace of the industrial revolution. The social history aspect of this interests me – the migration it led to, from Ireland and Italy, then from the Indian subcontinent and broader British Empire. This has enriched the region enormously, and more recent waves of migration continue to do this.

– Contemporary culture – what do people like to experience in their locality?

My area is rapidly gentrifying – which has its pros (finally a few nice cafes and bars) but many, many cons as well (lots of people I know being priced out of the rental market or choosing to move away). One of the drivers of this locally is a weekly market, which was set up by community members seven years ago and is a social enterprise which aims to put money back into the local area. It’s a really lovely place to go eat and you always bump people you know there but it’s a space which doesn’t serve the whole community as it is unaffordable to many people. For me this side of local contemporary culture is jarring – I fear that places are increasingly being segregated by class. Recently I was part of an artist residency at the market – we got Platinum Jubilee funding to run a community portrait project there. We tried hard to pull in a broad range of participants. It was a joyful project to be involved in – people have a lot of love for this area. I am lucky to be part of a burgeoning creative community in the locality – there is a lot going on and artists are developing links with one another.

– What are our shared concerns, issues and aspirations and how do we feel about where we live and work?

I am passionate about where I live and have seen a lot of changes there over recent years. In 2016 I was commissioned to do some research for the local market into what factors were holding back our high street, because there were so many empty shops and it felt like a failing district centre. The place has changed enormously since then. But I worry about gentrification and who spaces serve/does not serve and how sustainable these changes are. This year I’ve been working in Wigan on a town centre project and some similar questions have been coming up for me. Who owns space? Who has a right to be in particular spaces and what kinds of uses are acceptable? How do we make sure access to our town centres and high streets is equitable?

 

OUT looking IN

– What is more important, external perception of a place, or our internal perception?

For me, places are for the people who live and work in them before anyone else. They matter much more to me than external image. If I make work I want it to have integrity and truth from that point of view. Passion shines through though – where I live for example, that pride for Leveshulme that local people have is what outsiders probably take from some of my recent work (the market project contains written reflections by local people. See our zine here)

– What stops people from seeing your place the way you’d like them to?

My neighbourhood is dirty. Litter and fly tipping are a huge problem. If I travel one mile into Stockport this problem doesn’t exist to the same extent (it is a wealthier area, which is also a factor).

IN looking OUT

– How does our locality influence how we think about the world?

Growing up in Wrexham, a monocultural place at the time, I didn’t connect with it because my family were outsiders (‘blow ins’, as my Irish mum would say).  I think I needed to be in a place which was more culturally mixed for things like this to cease to matter and there was a lot more space to be alternative, like different music, be arty etc. I was desperate to leave and had a yearning to travel the world. It took travelling and living abroad for me to realise that the UK is not as awful as I had previously thought and that the grass is not always greener. If you put love into where you live and try to make strong connections, hopefully you will get it back.

– What makes our places similar and what makes them unique?

I feel like the UK has quite a complex web of regional and national identities and local idiosyncrasies – maybe all countries do. I’m interested to learn about the context in Sweden.

– How can crossing borders and partnering with neighbours enhance our local experience?

Travel and learning about other countries has helped me see more clearly the good things which do exist in the UK and what could be done differently. It’s good to hear different perspectives and learn about alternative ways of doing things.

– How does your work challenge these questions?

I think my work often shows the pride people have in where they live but not in a blind way – I want my work always to show nuance and to ask challenging questions. I don’t know what this will look like in Stalybridge but it will include personal narratives of local people and their connection to place, I would expect.

A Portrait of Levenshulme show – at LOL

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We had the best time at Levenshulme Old Library on Saturday, for the first day of our A Portrait of Levenshulme exhibition. Over recent months, Laura Deane and I (plus local artist helpers Jess Wood and Local Hotel Parking) have worked with hundreds of residents of all ages to create work celebrating our neighbourhood. We’ve helped 170 groups/individuals to make self portraits using a shutter release cable, and helped people make drawings, collages and written reflections on what makes a strong community. This is our contribution to the Platinum Jubilee celebrations – it might seem tenuous but we think community is the most important thing there is and wanted to celebrate that. We were fortunate to receive Arts Council funding via Forever Manchester to make our idea a reality and partnered with Levenshulme Market to be their first artists in residence (hopefully there will be more in the future). So many lovely participants came along to see their work in the show. I loved every minute. We are now going to be pulling everything together into a zine. Watch this space….

Levenshulme Market Jubilee residency – session 3

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Today we had our final (3rd) creative session at Levenshulme Market, as part of an artist residency we’ve been running over the past month, tied in with the Jubilee celebrations.
Laura Deane and I have been running portraiture sessions – where people can make photographic self portraits in our pop up studio and/or draw or collage or otherwise contribute something for inclusion in our community exhibition, due to take place at Levenshulme Old Library next Saturday, 4 June.
We are being funded to do this fun project by money from Arts Council England, distributed to us by Forever Manchester. We made the case that we wanted to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee by paying tribute to the wealth of cultures and characters who live in our local neighbourhood of Levenshulme.
Over the three sessions, around 170 people have made photographic self portraits using our studio and a shutter release cable, getting a print to take away with them. We now need to pull together the exhibition in a matter of days….
Today we were graced by celebrity in the form of BBC TV weatherman Owain Wyn Evans and our local MP Afzal Khan. Thanks to everyone who has taken part so far – it’s had such a positive reception and we feel very lucky to have had the opportunity to work on something so fun.

A portrait of Levenshulme – market residency

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Today was good fun – I ran a pop up photo studio at Levenshulme Market as part of a funded Jubilee project – and shot 39 portraits of local people.

Together with my friend and fellow photographer Laura Deane, I’m an artist in residence at the market over the coming weeks. We’ve successfully sought funding from Arts Council England towards our Portrait of Levenshulme project, which will culminate with an exhibition over the Jubilee weekend in early June.

Today and for two more Saturdays in May, we are supporting people to take photographic self portraits and to use drawing and collage to explore portraiture and to share their thoughts with what makes our neighbourhood special.

Today we were even interviewed on BBC Radio Manchester about the project. It was extremely windy today and there were moments when I thought my light stand might blow away but it was good fun.

If you’re in the area on May 7 or 28 please come along, and join us for our community exhibition on the 4th.