Alicia Bruce is an award-winning Working Class Scottish photographer based in Edinburgh. Placement Student Daisy Togonu-Bickersteth interviewed her this month about her previous projects and one of her recent participatory projects SeedScapes which engages young people with creative practices that focus on climate change.

Daisy Togonu-Bickersteth: How did it all begin? What made you start photography?

Alicia Bruce: I took up photography when I was around 19. I had a friend who had a darkroom who taught me how to print and I enjoyed the process and that was my first exposure to photography. I attempted cliché photography band photos. I decided to push photography further and studied Film and Photography at Edinburgh Napier. I am from a working-class background so funded my way through university.  I feel really lucky I can pursue photography as my main job. 

How did you get into participatory photography work?

It comes quite naturally to me. My mum worked for a local playgroup and after school clubs and because my dad worked off-shore we went with her as kids, from an early age I was very involved in prepping activities for the children at my mum’s work and I sometimes helped teach the children different arts activities at the playgroups and clubs.  Whilst studying at uni I wanted to use photography to do something with meaning and substance. I got a job at WEA (Workers Educational Association) as a project co-ordinater for a Heritage Lottery Fund project to celebrate a building ‘Riddles Court’ on the Royal Mile which the charity were having to leave, so it was also social activism.  Through WEA I taught photography and worked on projects with retirees, minority groups and regional projects.  

From then I applied for artist residencies and opportunities which included collaborative participatory work. 

Your project with ‘Seedscapes: Futureproofing Nature’ is really inspiring. What drew you to do this project?

I was an invited artist.  I went to an online symposium hosted by the wonderful  Impressions Gallery about the project and was approached by curator Geraldine Green of ‘The Dick Institute’, a museum in Kilmarnock, soon after as they were hosting the Seedscapes exhibition during COP26.  I had previously worked with them on other participatory photography projects with Kate Davies who now works at The Wellcome Collection.  I was invited to do a participatory project and commission.  I was involved in the fundraising and the evaluation of the project. It was one of those lovely projects I just couldn’t say no to inspite of my already full schedule.

How important is it to you to get young people involved in a project such as ‘Seedscapes’ and talking about climate change?

So important! The young people we worked with were from a very diverse group, including non-attenders of schools. It had a profound effect on some of the young people, with one person ending up joining a youth climate council. The project came about at a poignant time during COP26 (global climate council in Glasgow) which was a catalyst for the dialogue for the young people. We ensured the project to be accessible for neurodivergent participants and it was based mainly outdoors with minimal pre-purchased materials to lower the carbon footprint of the project we also collaborated with the country rangers. We had a covid contingency plan in place.  It took a lot of planning, open to change, nurture, and catered to the young people’s interests as there was a variety of different participants of different ages, including mums of a couple of the children and sometimes my own young daughter making it a multi-generational project!  One of the most important aspects of the project was to give a platform to the opinions and wishes of the young people and involving them the whole way through the process. 

What does socially engaged photography mean to you?

I used to say I was a socially engaged photographer. However, I think the term ‘socially engaged photography’ has become a bit of a misused phrase. Words like socially engaged and community work can sometimes be misappropriated by some to receive project funding. I find that problematic. Socially engaged is about being inclusive as possible. Galleries can be overwhelming to many people. Galleries shouldn’t just have an open door, people need to be represented on the walls, if certain groups of people cannot see themselves represented it comes across that the art isn’t for them. As someone from a working-class background, I find that often we are the subject of photography, not the maker, the agency isn’t always there. I find that problematic. Socially engaged photography can be a tokenistic term if it gets misappropriated. 

You cover a variety of topics in your photography. One that I was particularly drawn to was the ‘Violence Unseen’ Project. Could you tell me more about this and why this topic is important to you?

I applied for the commission for Violence Unseen. It was the 25th Anniversary of Franki Raffles’ original Zero Tolerance campaign, made just two years after Rape in marriage was made illegal in Scotland. I remember seeing the campaign on posters at my school and struck a chord in me.  My daughter was a year old when I applied for the commissions, I want her to grow up in a world where gender-based violence is something you read about in history. The commission had intersectional feminism at its core and I worked collaboratively with some amazing women such as Fatou Baldeh an FGM survivor and campaigner, and Mridul Wadhwa a Trans Indian woman. I wanted the project to be seen widely in public places.  It was on display in bus stations, rural areas, community colleges, and government buildings to amplify the message.

Do you think photographers have a social responsibility to reshape the visual narrative through their practice?

Yes, I think we should. If you can use your position to make the world a better place, then you should. Not everyone does of course. I think that it goes for all people from different walks of life. 

Have you got any upcoming projects?

Yes! At the moment I’m working on a project ‘Menie: Trumped’ which I have been working on for thirteen years. It is about how Trump has impacted a local area. It has impacted the beach I played on as a kid as well as the rural community. It has been ongoing and affected many people’s last years of their lives. I want to make a publication about it as a legacy for them. I am sharing the most recent work at Format Festival and actively looking for supporters to help create a legacy for the people and land there. 

Images: ‘Violence Unseen’ a concise, powerful, harrowing exhibition on display at Mareel, Shetland. Photo: Rape Crisis Shetland 2019. Commissioned by Zero Tolerance 

‘Genetically Different’ Alicia Bruce in collaboration with Young Climate Activists. Kilmarnock, 2021 Commissioned by East Ayrshire Museums