Restricted Views – Creative Outlooks is a programme of work reflecting long term photographic collaborations between artists Simon Bray, Hafsah Naib and learners from HMP Thorn Cross and HMP Risley. The project is a co-commission by Open Eye Gallery and NOVUS.
Combining the skills of socially engaged photographers with the life experiences of both learners within prison settings and their families, the programme explored how photography and creativity can be used as a tool for self-expression, to enhance family relationships, as well as learning new skills to aid rehabilitation.
The work exhibited here in gallery 2 shares both the journeys and processes explored as well as the final visual outputs produced by both sets of learners.
Simon Bray and learners from HMP Thorn Cross
Simon Bray began working with learners from HMP Thorn Cross to explore what role photographers and photography plays in society today, and what visual stories they as individuals might want to tell.
The learners played with ideas of photo-elicitation and visual metaphors photographing objects and spaces around them and engaging with personal family images. They also tried out studio based and portraiture work as part of a gallery visit to Open Eye Gallery. Each learner went on to curate their own selection of final images to be shared within the exhibition. Collectively the images produced show a journey for each learner, not only in the development of their technical photographic skills, but also in their ability to find and shape meaning in imagery to tell poetic stories. Their work reflects issues of the past with aspirations of the future.
Simon Bray is a Manchester based artist and creative producer, utilising photography, text and audio to explore notions of loss, place and intimacy. Through project collaborations with artists and participants, he looks to encourage the exploration of our connection with each other, the world around us and how we perceive those things through memory, time, shared experience and emotional response.
Hafsah Naib and learners from HMP Risley
This collaboration with learners at HMP Risley actually began back in spring 2020, with a pilot project set to work around the additional limitation of the Covid19 pandemic. The project was adapted to offer learners the opportunity to engage through individual postal pack resources and activities, all of which needed to work just within the prison cell setting.
Hafsah designed individually tailored and created resources which enabled the men to explore cameraless photographic techniques including collage and cyanotype processes as well as drawing and writing.
The works produced not only showcases the creativity and adaptability of both the artist and men involved, but highlights how a slower pace of engagement – through postal and later socially distanced cell door discussion, could actually open up new ways for individual narratives to flourish. An accompanying screenplay script sits alongside the photographic artworks in gallery 2, exploring conversations shared and relationships forged.
Hafsah Naib comes from a biomedical science and fine art background and is a visual artist and filmmaker based in Manchester. Her work with ‘others’ is conventionally understood as socially engaged and she continues to develop immersive and embodied approaches to making work through experimental, collaborative and alternative ways.
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