Journal

PHO 705 Alternative communities.

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As we start to re emerge into our communities post Covid it seems timely to reflect on how we fit in and use community for for our own self preservation as well as the greater good.

There is no doubt in general the human species as evolved to live and interact within groups,be it family or groups of families,as a rule without too much outside influence we all rub along quite well.It would take pages of writing to discuss those outside influences that disrupt the ideal utopian society such as greed,religion,class and caste systems so I’m best leaving that for another day.

During this period we’ve mostly all had to adapt to new ways of living and working within our communities and re asserting our sense of Belonging.For some that has been easy and others not so but one thing is for sure we nearly all rely on some sort of community to survive and live a fulfilling life. It will be interesting to see how we all react and adapt. Will it quickly become the same as before or will we take them less for granted and become more active and involved.Has the way we interact changed forever.

Communities come in all sorts of shapes and sizes,as I said maybe your community comprises of only your close family but what about those communities outside the norm.

For a start without doubt this past year was made easier by the use of digital technology,imagine how only 10 or 20 years ago the lack of zoom meetings or social media would have affected the way we have all coped and created new communities online . Of course we all would have survived but that technology is the basis for a new kind of community. Since before the Covid crisis our communities have expanded almost world wide.Where once for instance buying a rare record or piece of information was a long period of researching,of seeking out physical groups of people who may have the same interest,often way more localised we now can join online communities,discuss topics with like minded people thousands of miles away,make new friends that we may or may not ever meet in person but none the less build relationships with. Last year I rebuilt a non working jukebox purely via the help and discussion of the people I met online,I even was able to locate hard to get parts from far flung places to get it up and running.These types of alternative communities are growing and for the younger generation completely the norm.

Does this mean the end of real life communities, I doubt it personally,it’s just another way.Of course the down side is the magnification of the aforementioned plus more bad side that upsets the ideal.For some reason the proliferation of bullying,cyber attacks,racism etc is an issue that whilst reflects the wider community is unchecked less online. Maybe when both types of communities become more of the norm that will be self policed and not tolerated much as it is offline.

Alternative communities of course are nothing new.People have been living outside of the norm for millennia but usually alone or in very small groups often outcast involuntarily.

What about those that choose a life style “off grid”. Nomadic tribes of the Middle East,Romany or Irish Gypsies have been doing it for Centuries but perhaps more in the last half of the 20th century we saw a rise in dissatisfation of living within a community based on wealth and status.We saw the rise in the UK of travelling communities,off grid living communities formed around like minded families and people who choose to live an alternative lifestyle les reliant on those ideals and perhaps more simpler.

A community where happiness is the most important thing and can only be sought without the constraints and stress of modern lifestyles.Often vilified and seen as odd I wonder how many people will seek out an easier existence as time goes on.

In the US already there is a growing Nomadic community being formed,highlighted recently in the brilliant Oscar winning film Nomadland by Chloe Zhao.As probably the country most built on the ideas around wealth equalling status within community ( I realise race and many other factors also apply but even they are linked to wealth) as the economics fail the American Dream does not compensate or allow for those falling by the wayside.With little choice left those finding themselves in this situation are forced initially to form their own communities,for some the realisation they actually prefer to live this way means wider,stronger more permanent new types of communities are being formed,an alternative.

I once went to the Burning Man festival on assignment,whilst a fabulous idea of self sufficiency, a town in the desert where no money is exchanged for goods and services it relies on outside forces. Perhaps if it was not only a week long experiment and the needs of the residents were based more on the everyday,if there was a sustainable bartering system formed similar to those in the film Nomadland maybe it could form the basis of a good lifestyle.As it stands when the goods you bring form the outside run out the fun is over. Great for a weeks fun but not sustainable.

Lastly I couldn’t leave this post without talking a little about sub cultures.Again they have been around for centuries,gangs formed in Victorian times,Mafia groups even religions,think of Jesus and his disciples surely one of the most vilified at the time out there group of people of all time. Hated so much by those in charge worried about the upset of their own self perpetuating status quo they tried to put a stop to it by killing the leader !

I’d like to though talk more about those sub cultures formed mostly in the latter half of the 20th century.Up until this point most young people became very much a clone of their parents but with the rise of the teenager ( a phrase coined by the advertising industry) and more disposable wealth amongst this group post war sub culture’s were being formed amongst the working class.

We’d of course had the Bright young things,the flappers etc before but they were small groups and wealthy with time and money to hand.

The sub cultures post war were more than that. The young had seen what two wars had done to their parents,governments post war were rebuilding with haste,the recognition of unions,the forming of the welfare state all contributed to this new outlook on life,one that was not the same as before,small groups of like minded young people rebelled against their parents ideals,spent money on frivolous things like clothes,fashion for the masses was becoming a thing,not just something to wear for sunday best,new technology such as record players and records allowed easier access to the music they heard on the radio,television started to spread the word. It was exciting and certainly not the dreary world of their parents.They had a voice of their own.

These sub cultures not only became a means to rebel,they became and still are alternative communities,in some cases acting as surrogate families or even alternative families with life long bonds formed over similar ideas and ideals.

Maybe its as simple as a similar taste in music or an idealism or political stance. From Teddy Boys,Mods,Punk Rockers ,New Romantics,Goths,Emos or even religious based cultures such as Rastafarianism they all offer an alternative often discovered in youth that matches an ethos or way of life that inform many life choices into adulthood and as such the communities around us at large.

Many of the people involved in these sub cultures go on to hold positions of influence and power in the world at large,it’s interesting to see how those ideas create change within the world of media,music,the arts and even politics.All things that make our communities tick along.

A little about the process.

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A quick post about the process of making the Exhibition in a box.

I toyed with lots of ideas from bespoke fancy boxes with velvet linings,special one off portfolios etc.All lovely and in keeping with making the subject regal and presented with pride but not very egalitarian and certainly not very practical.

I worked with an old friend and designer Wayne Ford and after much discussion we decided on something ,reasonably easy to replicate and produce at a decent cost whilst also fitting with the DIY,self motivation ethos of the subject.Something that could be distributed easily and whilst not cheap inexpensive enough to not be too precious.Something that can neb adapted to suit the space available and most of easy to display.

I looked at off the shelf boxes and labels but decided to get them made by an artisan box maker near the Thames, one of only a few family run companies that still make boxes this way and have been in the area of Woolwich for 150 years , I was treated to a tour,some of the machinery is close to 100 years old ! The staff are still paid weekly in cash !

I designed an instruction sheet to go with the label design and branding collaborated on with Wayne. We had a wonderful 20 page newspaper made and in keeping with the Working Mens club “theme” I printed a series of beermats to be included and presented in the final box.

I tried to outsource the beer mat printing but costs were high and unlike the other component parts was something I could do as well on a smaller scale.

It took a bit of working out but buy making templates of the various stages in Indesign I was able to make a physical template with which they worked.Very Heath Robinson but it works perfectly.

PHO705 Class and community in the UK

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Are we in the UK still obsessed with the archaic notion of class.Well yes and in the execution of this project I realise I probably have a more unhealthy obsession with it than I should but there is no getting away with it class or at least some sort of heirachy exsists and communities are often built around them.Quite often these communities are more polarised than they once were although I’m not suggesting by any means it wasn’t ever that way before.I would say however that there have been times when communities built around class were less polarised if only briefly.

For instance after WW2 in the UK with the setting up of the welfare state people from many backgrounds and in particular poorer,working class people were finally getting some of the things promised to them after the sacrifices and slaughter of WW1 which were only partially delivered. Apart from the NHS,better working conditions and support if they were out of work,due partly to the destruction of many houses a building boom assured for the first time for many a move to decent clean hygenic accomaodation,by the 1950s many of the houses unfit for purpose were replaced in the slum clearances by vast social or as they were called then council estates.There was many who did not want to go but the vast majority of people were over the moon with the running water and inside toilets,large swathes of people moved from places like the East End of London to huge new estates in Dagenham and the such like.These communities to begin with were designed by town planners with a worthy utopian dream in mind and to a large extent until the early 80s when they were sold off and left in disrepair to become a dystopian nightmare did just that. They were designed not to house problem families or the desperate,in fact there were very strict rules to make sure the houses were kept in good condition and nuisance neighbours were not tolorated.They were in demand.

The estates were designed to create a space where people from many backgrounds,proffesions and class lived and worked together. It was not unusual for a teacher of the local school or doctor of the GP practice to live on the same estate as the local shop owner, the milkman or policeman,it was a brief period from the mid 1960s through to the late 1970s.It did not last long but whilst it did it proved that communities do not have to be quite so disparate or consist of one demographic as a whole.

Belonging to a community or class can be a fabulous thing,throughout history it has shown to be vital in creating sustainable ways of living and social mobility.Groups of people working towards the same goals collectively can most often achieve thoese aims more succesfully than the individual,we as a species are a social beast,we rely on that to survive and thrive.We rely on it for our well being.

The problem with that is that it creates a hierachy,again this can when used correctly be a benifit,it is when that power is used not for the benefit of the whole group that problems occour,is ther emuch we can do about that,probably not but the extent of the issues it causes maybe can be addressed.

In the UK as with many other countries,the heirarchy is based upon power and the perpetuation and retaining of that power often built upon centuries of tradition and indoctrination,it becomes the norm.This is no different in smaller community groups where we accept these norms.

Rarely before have we seen the blurring of those lines around class and caste and although social mobility is on the wain class,accent and even to some extent race has allowed this to happen.Or has it really.

In the UK the most MPS are privately educated and middle -upper class,the present cabinet is the most elite in years.Most heads of big business,its the same even in what most might think of as the liberal arts such as the music industry,acting,media,tv even photography,these areas are disprortionatly represented by peopel from middle,upper and elite classes.

So what you may say,the politics of envy maybe.Well maybe but these are the people who shape the way we think and if the work being produced only reflects their life view how will the people they inform know what it is really like to not have those advantages,it’s dangerous for all society.

It perpetuates that myth that being poor is somehow “their” fault and not that of societies as a whole.It perpetuates the myth that all working class are lazy and stupid,of no use ,it creates an alienation that affects all society,a polarisation that is unhealthy and unsustainable.

It has not always been that way. In fact it was not that long ago that it may well have been celebrated.

I found this article from Vice magazine insightful and relatable. Also quite worryingly still a relevant topic of discussion.

I Never Worried About Being Working Class Until I Went to Art School

Growing up in Telford, social class was never a big deal. That all changed when I moved away for university.

BETH ASHLEY: “AT 18, I WASN’T CONSCIOUS OF MY SOCIAL CLASS.” 

“How are you getting eight grand a year while I’m getting nothing?” a flatmate asked me as our student loans rolled in, a day I’d impatiently anticipated while assigning which emergency can of soup I was going to crack open on which days. 

I asked him why he didn’t get anything, wondering if he’d done his application wrong.

He said “for whatever reason” students with rich parents didn’t get maintenance loans. This made him, in his words, “fucked”.  

“Yeah, you seem really fucked with your brand new car and weekly Ocado deliveries pre-ordered by your mum,” I thought.  Politics

I Watched the Neighbourhood I Grew Up in Get Gentrified

MALAKAÏ SARGEANT12.7.19

Until then, at 18, I wasn’t conscious of my social class. This may sound ridiculous, especially as my single, teenage mother – who juggled college with two minimum wage jobs – shared a single bed with me in my nan’s house until she could afford to rent a council flat. 

I grew up in Telford, a mining town just west of the Black Country and bordering Wales. It’s diverse but sadly not integrated – one of those towns that’s bewilderingly Tory blue, where the poor have been gaslit into voting for parties that oppose their interests.

Most men work locally, while women marry young, have children and work part-time happily too. My life was mirrored by my friends and classmates. Our parents worked in shops and factories, and until my mum eventually graduated from university and became a support worker, I knew of few other occupations. I was aware of them, but they were the jobs you daydreamed about – not the jobs you actually applied for to pay the bills and keep your family afloat. 

Still, I dreamt big. I’ve wanted to be a writer since I discovered Roald Dahl and started folding stolen printer paper into “books” to document my “novels” in barely-legible crayon. I even forced my mum and my primary school teachers to write endorsements on the back: “You could write that it’s tea-spittingly funny,” I’d direct, copying a Stephen Fry quote from the local WH Smiths shopfront. Though my community upheld the unbreakable school-work-house-marriage-children formula, my family were encouraging – but I needed a “real job” to sustain my “hobby”, so I applied for a combined creative writing and journalism degree. 

BETH ASHLEY: “UNAWARE OF HOW OTHER PEOPLE LIVED, I NEVER FELT LIKE I MISSED OUT ON ANYTHING.”

I was quintessentially working class, but naivety had granted me blissful oblivion. Unaware of how other people lived, I never felt like I missed out on anything.

Going to art school in Surrey was the first place I mixed with people from other class backgrounds. That conversation with my flatmate wasn’t the only one causing division. Throughout freshers week, as we crawled pubs and played Never Have I Ever – the only ice breaker anyone actually likes – nonchalant comments about money, skiing trips, and even a family butler, left me feeling isolated. 

I’m not alone in this feeling. Ben Rogaly, a professor of human geography at the Sussex Centre for Migration Research, notes that spending time in typically middle-class spaces can be traumatic for some working-class people. “Teaching in a university, I sometimes see working-class students enter this middle-class environment and feel alienated, even experiencing mental health problems. They can accumulate a sense of exclusion, of otherness.”  

Though my flatmates were all genuine friends of mine, anger deriving from distinct class division became a theme of my student life. The rich had a very different transition into the art world to the few working-class students. Their families never questioned their career plan, and they arrived without the budget tracking sheets and tinned food our mums had tearily pressed into our arms. Some had never worried about money, and probably never would, which I found irritating and at times unbearable. Life

How Losing Your Regional Accent Affects Your Identity

GINA TONIC

The isolation was only exacerbated in my first media job. I found it through a diversity programme but was still surrounded by upper-middle-class people. Soon, co-workers started unrelatable conversations about their electric cars, holiday homes and nepotism-fueled career trajectories.

Colleagues found anecdotes about my life funny when they weren’t meant to be, savouring the dramatic elements like it was a soap opera. Eventually, I started dressing like them, diluted my accentto flow with theirs, and avoided discussing anything that was a class signifier – like my family home, my mum’s relative youth and the schools I attended. I was performing upper-class at work as a protective shield, then switching back to default at home, which was a £250pcm bedroom with someone else’s vomit on the walls.

Rogaly observes in his book that many people have mixed emotions about their identities. “The same person could feel pride and shame at their class background in one conversation, yet identify with it in another.” 

It’s hard to pinpoint when I stopped acting like my colleagues and actually became one of them. After a few years of hard work and promotions, I found myself living in one of the most affluent areas of Hampshire with a salary I never imagined I’d have. I only noticed the transition when a friend pointed out I was earning more than most of my family members – a realisation that brought a confusing mix of relief, guilt, and fear that I was a “class traitor”. 

For a long time I lived in a constant state of imposter syndrome. My colleagues never really bonded with me. But back home, the way I was seen, talked to (or about) had shifted. My family don’t always understand my career but they’re proud. Friends who remained in our hometown think I’ve abandoned our roots. 

Flippant jokes from friends about me having a New Yorker subscription and spending all my time in pretentious coffee shops (to be fair, I deserve this) had me wondering if I had abandoned my class, but I didn’t feel like I had. 

I’ve whined to my mum – who studied class mobility while trying to achieve it – about this confusion. She’s adamant a person can’t change their class once they’ve reached adulthood, because our identities, values and behaviours have already formed. “Even if you won the lottery, you’d still be a poor kid at heart.” I’m not sure if I agree, but at least she doesn’t think I’ve abandoned her. Money

We Need to Stop Assuming All Millennials Are Middle Class

HANNAH EWENS

There’s limited research on whether someone can entirely move from one class to another. I know because I’ve looked, extensively and nervously, as I frequently feel obliged to pick a side. It seems classist to dismiss my obtained wealth, but equally so to disregard my upbringing. Though I don’t have the insulation my new peers have long-held, I’m unsure of my place now that I’m financially comfortable and living in a middle-class bubble. There is one Oxford University study that defines social mobility as “someone landing an occupation of higher status than their father.” I never had the latter, so to quote Kanye: I guess we’ll never know.

I still feel like I’m in turmoil, but I’ve found comfort in that. As Rogaly says, discomfort can help “to challenge class inequality and speak about class in terms of the social relationships entailed – rather than trying to define what it means to be in a particular class”. It’s a privilege to have acquired my dream job and a comfortable home, but be grounded by the working-class values I was raised on. I didn’t believe I belonged because I hadn’t seen anyone else like me in the spaces I wanted to occupy, but I know now that the imposter syndrome I felt had little to do with me – it was a reverberation of deep-seated inequality.

PHO705 Belong

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I have decided the title of my project is Belong,possibly with a subtitle of a study of community through Working mens clubs

At some point most of us will seek a sense of belonging.Some more than others .Some like myself have never felt that strong urge or at least that is what I thought. maybe I just took it for granted that I already did and this is what it feels like. For many the feeling of belonging is essential the familiar ties of family probably being the strongest.Maybe its something else, a sense of comfort or camaraderie in following a football team with thousands of others,a certain band or organisation whatever it is as humans we thrive in social groups where there is a sense of collective togetherness maybe its a primeval instinct of survival, a pack mentality maybe its just nicer than being alone ! What happens when individuals cross over groups does that sense of belonging follow.

As part of this project I explore this through personal experience and the relationships I have formed,left behind,neglected,regret and love.I know I am not alone and it is a familiar tale,in fact very common amongst my age group.It has always been the case that many young people shun or reject the past,not always of course but often.Some in search of their own path with a strong urge others to escape what they see as a boring or perhaps lifestyle they do not approve of by following in their parents footsteps,some have it thrust upon them,maybe by being sent off to war or some family disaster or maybe as mentioned in previous posts it was a necessity bore out of lack of local work whatever the case may be when it happens we find ourselves in unfamiliar territory often often forming new lives outside of what is familiar to those of of our past.

Whilst this is not the actual day or time precisely things changes for me I have chosen within the context of my project to use an event to mark the time this changed for me.

My dad and I have had a fractius relationship over the years but it wasnt always that way and isnt now. I realise with age that I have to share some of the blame keen as I was to plough my own furrough.He didn’t have it easy as a child or young man and did a great job with the limited hand he was dealt I also believe he too had to navigate a different world he was destined for if the death of his mother had not happened at such an early age.His background was a lower middle class one,his mother was ambitious for him,he was an a only child,went to grammer school.When she died a set of circumstances and decisons found him loose much of that standing and as such was firmly back in the working class where his father had come from.

For many years we had a very close but emotionally distance relationship which is the way of both my parents. He was the one who took us kids on days out,I have no recollection but they happened. I worked closley with him from a young age helping on his milkround before school and weekends,we didnt talk much but thats ok. We both love music and clothes,he loved The Everly Brothers,I loved punk rock,of course there was conflict,I was teen! He wasnt that much older himself he was married at 17 he had no teenage years.He had a family and a wife stricken by acute mental health issues all her life.I did not see this,we fought and argued,I had to get out as soon as I could.I did felt like I did not belonged .With age those feelings have of course changed,I realise that it was not true,it was just normal teenage behaviour to want to do your own thing.However many times in later life the question has arisen,where do I belong ?.It’s can no longer be in my past and sometimes it’s not the present.Interestingly this is not a question I believe my children will have to answer.They live in the world they were brought up in unlike my father and myself,maybe the circle has broken,is this a good thing.Change can be good.

Apparently social mobility has all but stopped, my childrens generation are the first for generations that will be worse off financially than their parents. (ONS)

On my 18th birthday as is tradition when coming of age,its not uncommon in working class families to be given a beer tankard as was the case with me.My dad also got me membership to the working mens club he belonged to. He must have had to put my name down some time before as at the time they were very popular and membership was very sought after membership was limited to a certain number dependent on the size of the club,the waiting lists were long,it was often the case that someone had to resign their membership or die before space was made and even then it was reviewed only once a year.

I rejected the membership out of hand and never once used it or the tankard.

To me they represented everything I wanted to escape,it did not go down well. Whilst my dad has never said so I believe this has always been a disappointment to him. As time went on during this period and until my late twenties we became more and more estranged,this event was a catylyst for change.

PHO 705 Process and Outcome

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After much too ing and fro ing I have decided to create an exhibition in a box.Thoughts have changed and had to be adapted many times during the course of my FMP,in fact during the whole MA. I think this ability to do so is a good and positive thing. With a end goal I like the idea that projects take on an organic form and are not rigid in their formation.

A real world exhibition was my plan,with a tradional publication such as a book or zine,the space is not a traditional gallery space but one within the club I have been working with mostly,in fact as part of the action I used to engage with the club I have been converting a disused room within to a gallery/workshop space which we hope future artists will use and so that we can become part of the local arts trail event.

Circumstances have forced a new way of thinking which in my mind is actually preferable and more in keeping than the original idea.

I am collaborating with Wayne Ford,who is a creative director,graphic designer and writer on photography.He has kindly agreed to help realise an idea to create an exhibition in a box,first brought to my attention via Photoworks who in similar circumstances created a festival in a box.

Similar to their one I will be producing a branded box with instructions that will be sent to various Working mens clubs including the one I have been working with. Within it will be a newspaper that opens up into prints,a dozen or so more precious/traditional Giclee prints some beer mats that double up as title tags,some pins/string or blu tac.

My intention is to send them out and ask for feed back.I’d like the recipients to show the work any way they like. Either by taking the time to put the work on the walls of the venues in anyway they see fit or to pass the work around,maybe leave it on the bar for everyone to take a look.I’m hoping the beer mats will become suitably stained with beer rings.

I intend to produce enough sets to also send to potential interested parties such as publications,competitions as well as Art buyers and picture editors I know within my commercial practice. In doing so I hope that some will be happy to put the work on the walls of their agencies as is often the case as temporary exhibitions.

PHO705 FMP Brief look at politics and community.

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I touched briefly in an earlier post about community pre Thatcher,you’ll remember her speech interview in Women’s own 1987 she said there was no such thing as society and whilst this single sentence may have been taken out of context over the years the sentiment was that we as individuals should look after ourselves first.A sentiment that I believe was taken more literally than even she thought possible.However in recent years despite subsequent physical and philosophical breakdowns of community through the loss of industry and new ideologies spawned from the Thatcher years community in one form or another survive.Yes there is a more transient workforce,I myself moved from my family,friends and community to chase my career at the time only really available in the big cites.Not because Norman Tebbit told me to “get on my bike and find work” ,mine was conscious choice,not one made out of necessity like many thousands of others. However just like them this mass movement of people was a huge contributary factor in breaking down communities.Many would say on purpose for political gain,for if there is less community spirit or feeling of togetherness there is only division,a divided nation is good for politics,easier to manipulate with less mass opposition to unpopular agenda. I digress…

In recent years and particulary in times of crisis pockets of community often put aside their differences for the greater good. We have seen this in what is probably the most divided period of history in the UK,despite the polarity in rich and poor,right and left during the covid crisis of 2020/21 there has been much cooperation.

We see it with foodbanks and charity fundraisers it gives us a sense of belonging,something that it seems no matter what the polititions say we all need and crave.

Collaboration is something I’ve seen become more important in my chosen industry much the same as I am sure it has in many others,if only to give the impression in some cases.Society does exsist and it seems it sells. Where in the go getting end of the 20th century beginning of the 21st it was fine to be a go getter,at all cost winner,an individual who would let nothing stand in the way of success now it seems perhaps that isn’t such a good way to live after all.For society we do not all benefit from these go getters,trickle down politics/economies are a lie and co-operation,collaboration works well,give a person as say in how their lives are run,give them a slice of the pie,be it monetary or recognition and we work better as a whole.Strangely I write this in the most divisive time in human history where the richest are wealthier than at any time ever and that wealth is in the smallest amount of hands,many countries all over the world are becoming more insular and inward looking yet within them community is on the rise,is this a reaction ? I think it is. Is it a good thing,well maybe but then again maybe not,what if those smaller communities begin to become insular and inward looking. I keep digressing..

PHO705 FMP

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I forgot to mention in my last post about methodology. My plan is still to record the conversations of my sitters as an Oral History.As a back up I have also asked them a few questions to get a little insight into what community and belonging means to them,here are a couple.They will play a part and be included in my final presentation,be it a book/zine or exhibition.

PHO705 Methodology

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Having spent the past few months researching,getting to know the people and places of of my project I finally have some direction and a plan.All be it a fluid one due to restrictions in shooting due to Covid 19.

I’ve spent a lot of time getting to know the people of two working mens clubs,I’ve shot a fair amount of candid imagery, portraits and details,some of which may make the final edit some of which will remain reference material.My intention is to periodically collate the images and do prelimanary edits but it will not be until I either run out of time ! or preferably decide that I have what I need to tell the story,a story of belonging,community and my relationship with my Dad and working mens clubs.

In my research i’ve looked at the work of many photographers who’s work relates to my subject in some way or is of a similar aesthetic to that which I plan to use for example I’ve looked at the work of Mark Neville,with whom I also was able to have a conversation via email,Chris Coekin,who seems to have taken a similar path in terms of background and where he is now,he also questions his position within both worlds and explores it through his photography,Julien Germain looks at the family unit and that sense of belonging,where as with Rob Hornstra I’m looking at the aesthetics, in particular the series exploring the traditions and community illustrated by the Sochi Singers and of course there has to be Daniel Meadows,an influence on me for many years,In particular in reference to the social inclusion and interaction of his projects such as the Free Omnibus portrait project.

I will talk further about these people and their work outside of the methodology in my next post.

At the start of this project,I thought a more informal approach to the style of photography would suit me and the project best,within my research material you will see some of this.However as the project developed I could see it was not fulfilling my requirements,it did not tell the story.Part of this was due to the restrictive nature of the lockdown measures imposed on pubs and clubs,I was not able to fully engage with my subjects,some people felt uncomfortable with breaking the 2 metre rule and engaging in conversation and part of it was my own preference.I spend a lot of my time shooting environmental portraits,I like the way I can build a story with the surroundings so I decided to use the reference material and conversations I have had and invite sitters to a slightly more formal portrait session. Depending on these two elements I have sketched in my mind and sometimes on paper how and where I would like them to be.They will all be shot within the two clubs and reflect the people in them by using different parts of the clubs that I feel illustrate their personality best and celebrate their community and whilst this is my version,my take I will discuss the idea beforehand to make sure they are happy with my interpretation and comfortable with the idea.Often suggestions have been made that I have taken on board that improve the image,this only adds to the collaborative nature of the project. Whilst this may seem formulaic I have to work within the constraints of what is available to me at the clubs, It’s certainly not as grand a production as Gregory Crewsden may shoot but on a much smaller scale I am working to a narrative.However it is open to unexpected happy accidents much as it in my day to day practice making portraits for magazines,often without the advantage of actually seeing/knowing anything about the location or person. For example Alison and patch had just been for a dog walk and had their lovely dog with them,it obviously is something that bonds the relationship together so I included him in the shot and I think it was one of those happy accidents that made the shot more poignant.

In terms of style I have switched to a larger format camera on tripod,lending itself to a more considered,slower paced shoot. Although each shot will be lit to suit its individual needs I am adopting the traditions of very painterly lighting,with rich deep colours ,much used in the work of the Dutch masters with particular reference to Rembrandt.I want the style of the images to add gravitas to the story,to celebrate the people,to make them look and feel as important as the revered merchants Rembrandt painted,by shooting them this way the tradition with which we view this method,this way of seeing,our visual language here in the West will add to to the outcome I seek which is one of celebration and dignity.

I considered several approaches to the aesthetics,all of which would influence the way we see and interpret the images and the ideas I am trying to portray.I looked at shooting in Black and White,which is actually still an option at least for some of the images,I’m actually a believer in doing what is best for each individual image,which may be it looks and tells the story better in black and white,this of course can lead to problems when creating a set or series of images and will be something to consider at the edit.My reason for dismissing this as a whole is despite being aesthetically pleasing in some cases it can create a feeling of nostalgia.In the modern language of seeing especially with the advent of Instagram it can be used as a tool to reflect on the past,this technique is often used in movies or TV as a mechanism to take us back in time,to tell a story about the past and whilst there is a lot to be said for a beautifully printed black and white image I really want to avoid any idea that I may be looking back with rose tinted glasses, I want it to be a celebration of the now and future.It’s something i’m still very much debating internally.

The other main contender in terms of look was colour with a very stark almost on camera flash feel as adopted by many fashion photographers and colour documentorists such as Martin Parr and to a certain extent the afore mentioned Rob Hornstra. Whilst I think it has its place again I can’t help associating it with a certain agenda.This style as entered the lexicon of seeing as being brash,harsh,perhaps critical and mocking which is very much not the message I want to convey so once again despite a look I like I’m keen to dismiss any chance of misinterpretation.Instead by adopting the avenue I intend for the portraits it will reinforce the message give the project a central structure from which I intend to adopt a less rigid regime of complimentary styles for a series of interiors,details and exteriors using the influences of works by Alex Soth,Paul Graham in his A1 and Beyond Caring projects,Mark Neville’s Port Glasgow series,Chris Coekin,Bernd and Hiller Becher,Fergus Heron and of course the new topographic photographers,especially Stephen Shore.

Images shot by me during my research as reference,a small selection amongst many that may or may not make the final edit but definitely have helped the journey to where I am now.

Various influences including imagery by me,Rembrandt,Mark Neville,Chris Coekin,Julien Germain and Rob Hornstra.

The beginnings of the Work in Progress . Dean Belcher 2020/2021

FMP PHO705 Belonging and my relationship with it.

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Just a short post on the subject of belonging. Some people are “team players” some not but I think it’s fair to say most humans crave a sense of belonging no matter how slight.

Margaret Thatcher famously said there is no such thing as society, divide and rule politics at its worst and the start of the biggest demise of community, since the industrial revolution of the 18th/19th century. Tebbit told us to all get on our bike and find work which led to the tradition of staying close to ones family and support through friends and community to dissipate.

After close to 40 years it seems community is making a comeback and in a lot of ways its the new and improved version,with added choice and less hard labour (thats a whole different subject/discussion). For better or worse we are a social species and interaction is essential to our well being and growth both personally and as a whole.

I live in London and probably more than any city in the UK it has the most transient population,it’s more usual to speak to someone who was not born in this city than was,be it from another town or country,it’s one of the things that makes it so unique and special and in the past a magnet for like minded people seeking out oppourtunities only available here.Native Londoners have always welcomed outsiders,it’s what the city was built on.With that in mind it seems it is changing as technology allows the cost of living here and that craving for a simpler,community based,sense of belonging lifestyle beckons. Some people are moving back to where they came from either forced via the new Brexit rules or simply because they feel less at home here now.UK born people included.It’s hard to get a sense of belonging in London,you have to work at it and that is where the rise in such places as clubs and groups come in,a grass roots collectivism not seen since the 1970s.

I was born here but lived outside of London for many years when my parents shipped us all out in th 1970s with the promise of cleaner air and better prospects. There was quite a mass exodus at the time and Londons population fell dramatically by 2 million in the 70s and 80s only to rise again in the 1990s which is when I came back to seek my fortune in the world of editorial photography. Unlike now it was almost impossible to do this from outside one of the big cities,you had to be in the thick of it,mobiles were still quite a rarity and expensive,no internet to speak ….you had to be there,present ,in person.So off I went. I knew a few people,had relatives up here so was lucky but I knew no one in the industry. I had left behind my community and friends,ties that have never really been mended I had to make a new community and find a new place to belong.It was a lonely long process and one on reflection I was very ill equipped to embark on,in many respects i’ve lived a life before photography and quite a different one since with an ever increasing sense of not belonging to one or the other.In conclusion social mobility can be and in most respects is a good thing but in my experience more conversation on the effects on the individual could be an interesting topic of discussion,isolation and a sense of belonging to neither would do well to be addressed.

PHO705 FMP A sense of Belonging ( a study of community around Working Mens clubs)

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It’s coming together,I feel like a shape to the project is emerging and a sense of direction has arrived.

Centred around set up portraits I want to celebrate the stereotypes and the people who make up this microcosm of the wider locality. I hope it will represent the area well and the viewer will get a sense of diversity the changing face and the feeling of belonging. The audience being both from inside and out of the clubs involved I hope they see themselves and recognise that sense of belonging we mostly all crave.

I’m writing this as we potentially crash out of the EU as a nation,something that for better or worse we have been part of for many years. For me personally I feel a serious sense of loss and fear for future as we become collectively more insular and inward looking,it does not feel like progress at all.That sense of belonging to a wider more internationalist society as been with me most of my life,the thought of no longer belonging in the eyes of many fills me with great sadness.