Young people voice their feelings for their community in pictures
Photographs by local young people inspired by the landscapes and heritage of the North Pennines will appear in a two-week exhibition at Alston Town Hall from Tuesday February 9.
Pupils from Samuel King's School in Alston have been working with community artists to create the Photovoices exhibition, supported with funding from the North Pennines AONB Partnership's Living North Pennines project. The project was overseen by The Forge, the Stanley-based arts and education organisation with a national reputation for developing participatory arts work with children and young people.
Living North Pennines is now into the third year of a £2million programme funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to increase the enjoyment and understanding of the AONB by the local community and visitors alike.
Influence
As part of their GCSE Art course, a group of seven 15-year-old pupils took part in a series of workshops led by community artist Holly Watson in which they considered the idea of what makes a community, the issues their community faces, and – perhaps most importantly - how they can actually have a voice and influence change.
They then went out with digital cameras to take pictures of the buildings, objects and landscapes in ways they felt reflected their responses to their community.
North Pennines AONB Partnership Community Interpretation Officer Abi Wylde said: "With Photovoices we provided cameras not to professionals but to young people who perhaps don't have access to those who make decisions affecting their lives. It enables them to act as recorders and potential catalysts for change in their community. It also enables other people seeing the pictures to perceive the world from a young person's viewpoint."
Samuel Kings pupil Lauren said: "I really enjoyed the Photovoices project. It has helped me to learn many new skills and I am keen to learn more to enable me to have a career as a photographer."
Youngsters from Cotherstone Primary School in Teesdale, County Durham and Shotley Bridge Junior School in Northumberland had similar Photovoices workshops and exhibited their work.
Exhibition dates and times
The Photovoices exhibition runs from Tuesday February 9 until Friday February 19 at Alston Town Hall, and the Town Hall's opening hours are Monday and Friday: 10am - 5pm, Tuesday, Wednesday. Thursday and Saturday: 10am - 3pm and closed Sundays.
Photovoices is just one of a number of Sense of Place projects that have recently taken place in Alston. The exhibition will also celebrate the It's my place film project where children from Alston and Nenthead Primary Schools and Samuel King's school worked with Newcastle company Engage Media to make a film about how they feel about Alston Moor. A "Make a film in a day" workshop was also run to give people the skills to make their own films. All three films together with three others submitted by local film makers will be on show throughout the exhibition. This project received much support from Alston Moor Film, which screens local shorts and feature films, whilst supporting local film making.
