Open Eye Gallery is delighted to present a celebration of a few collaborative projects we have produced over the past 8 years. 

These striking series of photostories bring individual voices, communities and cross-sector partners together to explore key topics within our society today. 

We have co-commissioned artists-in residence with partners across the health, cultural, environmental, charity, youth and social justice sectors, to name but a few. We believe working in partnership with other sectors brings strength in building knowledge and understanding. 

The works on display on our exterior wall gallery highlight the power of representation which can develop when the expertise of photographers comes together with the expertise of people and their lived experiences.

Life Beyond Diagnosis. A collaboration between Tadhg Devlin and the SURF Dementia group with Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust

The SURF Demena group has a strong track record as ambassadors for those living with early onset dementia. Between 2016 and 2021, a number of the group have worked closely with Liverpool-based photographer Tadhg Devlin to create a series of photo stories, films and publications which break the stigma associated with dementia, and reflect their lives as individuals, not as a condition. 

The images produced from their first collaborative project, Life Beyond Diagnosis, represent an honest and personal perspective of how each SURF member discovered they had the condition.

The Life Rooms

The Life Rooms is a Mersey Care NHS Trust initiative, set up in 2016, to provide a wide range of free, short courses aimed to enable people to become more active in their own health and support wellbeing. They focus on prevention and enabling the whole community – service users, carers, their families, and local communities – to bring about change. 

Their model is non-clinical and places great importance on forging and developing a variety of partnerships to enrich the connectivity and wellbeing of our communities. 

As part of their collaborative approach, Open Eye Gallery works in partnership with the Life Rooms to deliver a series of photography courses across all three of their sites in Walton (North Liverpool), Bootle and Southport (Sefton). 

Home Grown Knowledge / Grow to Eat. A collaboration with the Royal Horticultural Society 

Throughout 2023, Open Eye Gallery worked with The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) and cultural partners Street Level Photoworks to encourage and upskill gardening communities in creative storytelling. 

Photographer Gwen Riley Jones worked with three community gardening groups, Q Gardens, Strand Community Hub and Petrus Incredible Edibles Rochdale (PIER) in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, to co-create a series of photographs which told their gardening and growing story.

Meanwhile, in Glasgow, Scotland, photographers Saskia Coulson and Colin Tennant collaborated on a photography project with the Cranhill Community Development Trust, to document the story of the gardening and cooking initiatives on their site.

Positive Changes. Sefton Youth Voice, New Beginnings group and Colin McPherson 

Positive Changes was a project which took place between 2016 – 2018 and brought young people from across the Sefton borough together with photographer Colin McPherson, to create photo stories reflecting on their identity, interests and lives.

Colin worked with two groups. Sefton Youth Voice is a group of young people who come together to discuss and challenge the vital issues facing younger generations today. New Beginnings is a support network for young people who identify as LGBTQ+, providing a safe space for people to explore who they are.

Transformative Moments. Stephanie Wynne and Women from Wirral Change 

Between 2018 and 2019, photographer Stephanie Wynne worked with women from Wirral Change, an outreach centre for disadvantaged Black, Asian, European and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities in Wirral. They came together to mark and celebrate the critical point in history when some British women achieved the vote. 

From a year of research and discussion with the group, Stephanie interpreted through photographs the critical personal moments of change in each of the women’s lives; to mirror that pivotal national moment on 21st November 1918.

Open Eye Hub (Wigan and Leigh)

Open Eye Hub Wigan & Leigh has been working across this regional borough for the last 12 months, delivering a range of projects with socially engaged practice at their heart. The Hub is a partnership between Open Eye Gallery & Wigan Council, aiming to build connections which support local creativity and increase community participation through photography.

Image: Moses, Cranhill Community Garden, Glasgow, 2023, by Coulson & Tennant , part of commission with RHS, Open Eye Gallery & Street Level Photoworks