When the Localities Project met the BBC...

So excited to share with you something that occurred last week. It's so surreal I still can't really believe it happened! Better tell you the story from the beginning. 

You obviously know about the current photography project I've been doing for the last few months (and if you don't, you must be new to my blog - hello!) to do with the community of Grangetown, in Cardiff. We were very lucky to have a lot of local coverage, with our images being posted on the Grangetown Community website, as well as in the Echo (Cardiff's local newspaper). 

As you all know, our launch night was last week, and as sad as I was to see this project come to an end, I was looking forward to working on something new, and enjoying my much needed week off. So, you can imagine my surprise when I received a lovely email from Gemma at BBC Wales, saying how much she admired our project, and, I kid you not, would we mind if she put some of the images on the BBC Wales News website! 

Of course I said we didn't mind. 

Below is the result!

Top picture - Us as the top story on the Cardiff homepage!

Bottom picture - Us on the Wales News homepage 

My portrait of Zahra on the BBC (and looking beautiful too)

Isn't that the craziest thing? See the whole gallery here.

Now, as long as no more surprises happen, I do think that is all for the Localities project. I cannot express how thankful I am for all the support, publicity and general encouragement we've received during this time. It has been so appreciated by all of my group, as well as myself. 

As they say, out with the old and in with the new... This morning we received our new brief, and it looks like it's going to be a good'un. Watch this space!

Localities Publication Launch!

So it's been a couple of days since the launch of our publication, so about time I wrote a review for you all whilst avoiding the freak snowstorm happening outside my window right now! Welsh weather is never predictable. I can safely say it started as one of the most stressful days of the whole 4 months of the project for me (due to major, last minute printing problems - cue many embarrassing breakdowns and a lot of chocolate), but it was all worth it when the night was over.

All the pictures below courtesy of my lovely friend Olivia Whittaker, who's work, 'The Collective', was also part of the Localities project (and very good, if I do say so myself!)!

Our launch was held in the upstairs room of a local club in Grangetown, called the Lyndon Social Club, which held a lot of character, having been a meeting place for residents for nearly 100 years! We decided to exhibit some of our final images, to give the visitors a sneak peek of what was in our publications. 

A little look into Olivia's 'The Collective' - it was so good to see the people who were in the image's reactions to the final product! Olivia was getting a lot of attention, and may have even sold a couple of photographs...

This was Hollie's 'See No, Hear No, Speak No' project, where she got involved with some of the youth in the area, and gave them a platform to speak about what they like/dislike about Grangetown. Resulted in some very graphic, interesting and beautiful work.

To the left of this image you can see some of Michael's 'Unfamiliar' pictures - very mysterious in style, and very popular!

'Universal Studios' portraits by Laura Book, taken in the same very room where we held the launch!

My own section of the room, previewing my 'Union' photographs. I was so touched to have so many members of FAN come and see my work. I felt honoured to have worked with them, and to see them enjoy themselves, whilst mingling with other people there, was such a joy to watch.

Jamie and Tuomas having a drink. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any pictures of their project, 'South District View', displayed, but everyone I spoke too only had positive things to say about it.

By the end of the night, we were exhausted, but fired up. The turn out was so much more than we expected (absolutely packed at points, and we almost completely sold out of publications!), and it was so good to see so many of the community come along to see our work, which was the aim all along. The highlight for me was definitely when some of the local police turned up right at the end, after their local PACT meeting, to see the picture of them Olivia had taken, in full uniform too!

Thank you everyone who came, we hope you had as good a time as we did. Without you, our project would've gone nowhere, and for your support, we are especially grateful.

Ceri

TODAY IS THE DAY.

After this post, you'll have seen half of my project, and if you're not lucky enough to be able to come to the launch tonight, do not fear! I will carry on posting my images until you have seen them all!

Ceri moved to Cardiff from a small welsh village when he was 19, and now lives in a squat. He first came to FAN to get letters to help his friend Stephen's visa application. They both still attend. He is a vegan and very interested in social justice and equal rights.

"It's a brilliant example of how people should behave to each other naturally all the time."


Right, gotta dash, so much to do, so little time!

Simon

Here is another preview from my project Union, one of the 6 publications launching TOMORROW NIGHT. There is still so much to do, but I am so excited! 

Simon is a trustee for the FAN Charity, and has a great interest in history, having previously studied at Cambridge University. He grew up in the house he occupies now, and has hardly changed it since his parents lived there. 

"There's always something different, different people and different experiences."

His love and passion for FAN is clear from the way he speaks of the charity, and his house is so interesting, filled with history.

Zahra

This is a sneak peek into some of my work from my new project, Union, going into the Localities Publication about Grangetown (launching in... 3 days?!? Oh blimey). See the post about that here.

This is Zahra, she is originally from Tehran, Iran, but has been living in Cardiff for 9 years. She originally started attending FAN meetings to learn English and to find out about the culture she’d moved into. But, she has also found a safe environment to just be herself in, to share stories and is proud she has friends she can rely on. 

“It’s not about religion, it’s not about their culture, it’s not about where you come from. It’s about friendship.”

She is a inspirational women (and an amazing cook, I've tried so many new foods on shoots at her home). I'm very lucky to have been given the opportunity to meet, talk and photograph her. Hope you enjoy these images! More to come...

Exciting News...

I can finally tell you about the work I've been doing! I've wanted to share this with you for so long, but because of small details still having to be finalised, I could not... Until today! 

Also, a quick note to say sorry I've been MIA this week, between organising a last minute exhibition, writing an essay and being very ill, I haven't had time to sit and chat to you. Hope this post makes up for it!

Presenting... (Drum Roll Please!)

LOCALITIES

Grangetown, one of the largest districts in the south of Cardiff, is a diverse area with many different and ever-changing views on its 'community'.
Localities is a project from seven documentary photography students from University of Wales,Newport, who spent three months immersed in different areas of Grangetown to try and find what community means from the people themselves.

Come along to view a variety of work with free publication alongside refreshments!! 

Lyndon Social Club & Institute

109 Clare Road
GrangetownCardiff
South Glamorgan
CF11 6QR

A Sneak Peek at some of our work can be viewed here:

http://grangetown.tumblr.com/ 

Whey! Exciting eh? So have a little look at the website to whet your appetite, and I'll give you a run down of the exhibition next week! We still have a lot of details to sort out (the publication is being printed as I type!) but we are so looking forward to putting our work back out into the community. Over the next few days, I'll put up some images from my contribution to the project, and introduce you to the people in them. 

Enjoy! 

Anthony Luvera

Before I start gushing about Anthony Luvera, let me just quickly say...

Happy New Year!

I spent my night with some new friends, eating good food before drinking good wine and watching the fireworks over Bristol from Clifton Suspension Bridge. It was a wonderful way to see out 2012, and see in the new year! So excited for what might happen this year, so many ideas and plans coming up, which I promise to let you know about in due course! 


Back to business. Do you remember me mentioning a few months ago about a project I'm working on at the moment to do with community? Well, I still can't show any images from it yet (but promise they're coming very soon!), but I have been researching into other photographers for the essay side of this work who have also worked with various communities and people. One of those is Anthony Luvera.

Since 2002, Luvera has built an archive of over 10,000 images consisting of documentary photographs of London and Belfast as well as, more importantly, polaroids and assisted self-portraits of, and in collaboration with, homeless people. I was inspired by Anthony Luvera’s technique of becoming a part of the community in order to gain his subject’s faith.

“I wanted to develop relationships with people, to hear the stories that they told and to make those relationships a central part of my practice.”

Demonstrated in the above images, ‘Assisted Self-Portrait of Joe Murray’, Luvera gives his subjects cameras to document where they live and come from, their view of the world, as well as teaching them how to use the cameras that document them. This then results in a real sense of intimacy in Luvera’s portraits, a personal vulnerability. A mixture of learning and exploring how the subject thinks and feels. It forces the viewer to delve deeper into who the person is and reflect on how they react to the homeless they pass is the street. The gaze of the subject photographed is questioning, searching, and encouraging the audience to give them an answer. To what question remains unknown.

They are beautiful pictures in their simplicity. The normalness of them shines amongst the images we see so often nowadays that are too posed, trying too hard to make the viewer feel something. Luvera is clever in that by just letting the person express themselves, he helps them speak volumes on their own. 

 

Community

“Today, in 2012 Post Industrial Britain, if we believe all that we read in the newspapers, we would be forgiven for thinking the rise in the culture of “Individualism”, the decline in “Family Values” and the dominance of the Internet in all our lives has resulted in the concept of “community” being lost forever. Whilst some of this may be true it is also true to say that the notion of “community”, whilst more diffused now than ever, is still very much part of our daily lives.”

The above quote is taken from the introduction to our current project, written by my lecturers. Since the introduction of my course in 1973, Documentary Photography at UWN has always had a strong connection to the community, and with Britain proclaiming the ‘death of community’ in 2012, it seems appropriate to focus our attention on exploring, not only if this accusation is true, but also why, when and how?

In groups of 6 (or so), we discussed the big question – What is a Community?

The dictionary defines it:

noun, plural com·mu·ni·ties.

1. a social group of any size whose members reside in a specific locality, share government, and often have a common cultural and historical heritage.

2. a locality inhabited by such a group.

3. a social, religious, occupational, or other group sharing common characteristics or interests and perceived or perceiving itself as distinct in some respect from the larger society within which it exists (usually preceded by the ): the business community; the community of scholars.

4. a group of men or women leading a common life according to a rule.

For me, 'Community' holds a more personal meaning. It's a source of support, of love, of friendship. It can branch gaps unseen, and can help a group of people unify with one voice. It is the feeling of belonging, of safety and of home. 

For others, it's family, it's neighbours, it's your social circle or it's simply 'a group of individuals that happen to be in the same place at one time'.

What does “Community” mean to you?

You'll hear more about this project over the next couple of months, it's taking up such a large amount of my time right now, it would be silly not to mention it! Also, whilst researching around this theme, I have discovered a fair few interesting photographers who I will definitely write about. Their work is inspiring, I'm sure you'll love it. In the meantime, here's a sneak peak...

Taken from Wendy Ewald's 'Towards A Promised Land'