A community focused photography project led by the University of Salford in partnership with RHS Garden Bridgewater Salford and Open Eye Gallery Liverpool has been awarded project funding from Arts Council England.
The award will cover the costs for three photographers to work at RHS Bridgewater with local communities to develop creative activity relating to nature, wellbeing and climate change.
Supported by the University of Salford Art Collection team and the project partners they will work alongside internationally renowned photographic artist Yan Wang Preston, who was announced in November as RHS Garden Bridgewater’s first ever artist in residence thanks to a collaboration between the University and the RHS garden.
Two photographers benefiting from the Arts Council England fund are Anoosh Ariamehr, a refugee from Afghanistan who recently received settled status and will use his expertise as a journalist to work with communities in the RHS Bridgewater’s Community Grow Garden, and health specialist Fiona Robinson who completed an MA in socially engaged photography at the University of Salford in 2022 and will focus her time with communities in the Wellbeing Garden. They will both work with a third photographer (yet to be appointed) who will work with young people from the city through Salford Youth Service.
They will complement the work of Yan Preston who is a multi-award-winning visual artist and photographer who is passionate about the natural world and humanity’s position within it. She was the recipient of the Royal Photographic Society’s inaugural Photographer of Environmental Responsibility award in 2023 and has exhibited around the world including in her native China.
Lindsay Taylor, Curator of the University of Salford Art Collection explains: “The news that we were successful applying for Arts Council funding is wonderful; it will enable us to deepen the work that Yan has begun at RHS Garden Bridgewater by employing socially engaged photography to develop ideas with and for our local communities. As a University we are committed to enriching lives and enabling healthier living, and I can’t imagine a better way of putting this into action by welcoming people from Salford and across our region to explore the wonderful gardens at Bridgewater and exploring their activities through photography.”
Dan Atherton at RHS Garden Bridgewater added: “We already have strong community engagement activities at the garden, welcoming groups in to cultivate and grow flowers, fruit and vegetables and we can’t wait to see how Anoosh and Fiona use their skills with community groups to document and explore this activity. It’s great that they will be able to link in with a photographer of Yan’s standing, to share creative ideas and new ways of thinking about how to use photography in our spaces.”
Sarah Fisher from Open Eye said: “1.8 billion photographs are uploaded to social media every day and we now share our lives using photography. But we are often sharing very similar images so we are excited that this collaboration brings the expertise of photographers together with people as part of their gardening experience.”
Ten digital SLR cameras will be purchased as part of the project to use across the community groups to give everyone the chance to co-design and develop their own content.
Work in progress will be displayed at Open Eye Gallery early next year, followed by an outdoor presentation at RHS Garden Bridgewater in summer 2026. The whole programme will be celebrated with an exhibition at Salford Museum and Art Gallery and the University in autumn 2026.
For updates on the work please visit rhs.org.uk.
Image: Josh Kemp Smith, RHS Garden Bridgewater
Yan Wang Preston
Yan is an internationally acclaimed photographer, who won First Prize in the Professional Landscape competition, Sony World Photography Awards in 2019. Her work has been shown in numerous exhibitions, including the Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize at the National Portrait Gallery (2024). Her stunning and ambitious photographic projects highlight the relationship between humans and the natural world. Past works include Mother River which documented the entire 6,211km length of China’s Yangtze River, and With Love. From an Invader, a year-long project in which she photographed a plant on the South Pennine Moors every other day, a round trip of more than two hours. Based in West Yorkshire, Yan Wang Preston lectures in photography at the University of Huddersfield.
Anoosh Ariamehr
Anoosh received settled status in the UK in 2020 having spent time in refugee camps in Europe following his escape from Afghanistan. He began volunteering at Open Eye Gallery Liverpool in February 2023, where his personality and professional experience in Afghanistan as a journalist and editor combined with his passion for photography opened up a new career in photography. He is now studying for his MA in Socially Engaged Photography at the University of Salford, which is delivered in partnership with Open Eye Gallery.
Fiona Robinson
Alongside her photography, Fiona Robinson works in a local authority public health team, drawing on over 25 years’ work with communities to improve our environment and support health and wellbeing. In 2022, Fiona completed an MA in Socially Engaged Photography at the University of Salford and has found that the two roles are mutually supportive. For her MA project, she was photographer in residence at community gardening charity, Let’s Grow in Preston.
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