Welcome to my blog…

And it gets colder…

The last time it really snowed this much down south, it was probably the winter of 1982 – the second winter that the women of the Peace Camps found themselves living without water or electricity.  It is hard to imagine how they coped as we slip, slide our way to and from our centrally-heated homes to the supermarket and back and again.  I guess that when you really believe in something, you can put up with almost anything.

Path

Snow on silos

Cold War Thaw is still chilly

So, here we are at the beginning of 2010.  I have a feeling that this year is going to be interesting, for all sorts of reasons.

Here are more sketches of the Greenham work.  I still haven’t found a strategy for shooting that I like – the largest problem is that I do not have a natural affinity with landscapes (as is evident, sadly!)  But – with a couple of weeks to go, hopefully there is still time to crack it…

Road I

...

Mound I

Road II

Road III

Silo Fence

Cold War Thaw

The situation is now pretty serious…  It is almost Christmas and I don’t have one viable project, never mind two…

So, today I went for a walk on Greenham Common…  I wanted to see what nature had done to the former American Airbase and nuclear missile base since it was given back to the people in 1999 – ten years ago.  Surprisingly, there is a link with Wales… the first of the Women Peace Campaigners marched to Greenham from Cardiff way back in 1981.  The protest started by their group lasted for 19 years!

It is hard to imagine that such a long campaign would be undertaken by anyone nowadays and I am thinking of making pictures around the common and matching them up with comments by and about the women peace campaigners and about the common’s former Cold War life.

I am also thinking about making portraits of women who use the common today… but that might be mixing strategies…

But, does the project have legs?

I didn't know what a Cruise Missile was, but it did get under my skin that Americans were putting their weapons in my country.

Each shelter was designed to withstand a thermonuclear airburst explosion above Greenham Common and Newbury or a direct hit from a 500lb conventional bomb.

As one woman cut through the wire fence to protest on the missile silos, she had a vision of Jesus emerging from the tomb.

For many of the Greenham Common Peace Camp women, nuclear missiles were a form of male oppression.

The Embrace the Base protest, which brought an estimated thirty-fivethousand women together to link arms and surround the base, had supporters from every continent.

'I experienced acts of kindness from unexpected sources.'

The complex held 96 launch-ready missiles.

A second visit – just before the snow set in – produced the following.  The light was terrible… Sketches of a project:

ii

iii

iv

v

vi

vii

viii

Work in Progress

My project is all about the Girls’ Brigade and the sort of young women who choose to join such a youth organisation.  We live in a society where such choices are often mocked.  The idea of a ‘brigade’ suggests a cohesive group, matching uniforms, discipline and drilling.  It perhaps suggests leaving aside one’s individuality and embracing ‘the group’, being part of a unit.  The fact that the Girls’ Brigade is Church based – a Christian organisation – adds yet another level of potential division to the mix.  Does choosing to be a member of the Girls’ Brigade mean that you are set apart from the rest of teenage society?

I have chosen to work digitally and to involved the girls in the making of the images.  A camera is tethered to a laptop so that we can see each shot as it is made.  I am in control of when to fire the shutter some of the time; some of the images are the result of a teenage finger on the button.

Originally, I wanted to present pairs of images – one being a formal portrait shot by yours truly, and the second one being made by one of their peers.  It was suggested that this wasn’t a good nor an interesting strategy, so I am now having to rethink.  The girls will be going home with disposable cameras next week and making pictures which say something about their lives and who they are.  Yes, this is not a new idea but it adds another dimension to the project for the girls.  Whether or not these more ‘personal’ images will make it into my final submission remains to be seen!

This is very much the beginning of the portraiture project.  It has taken A LONG TIME to get access and I hope that eventually my patience will bear fruit.

 

 

A few images from Malta…

As some of you are aware, Malika and I recently spent two weeks in Malta researching and attempting to document the experiences of asylum seekers and refugees who find themselves on the small island.  I am certain it will not be our last visit.  I shall definitely return.

Each year, hundreds and into the thousands of individuals make a perilous journey across the Sahara, through Libya and onto the Mediterranean Sea in search of safety in the European Union.  They pack themselves into trucks and then boats run by criminals who profit from their suffering; many do not survive the journey, dying of heat exhaustion in the desert or drowning during the crossing.  Boats are not always seaworthy and there is no room on the boat for supplies of food and water.  If the engines fail, or the winds are against them, a two day journey can extend into six…

The boats are not officially heading for Malta.  Many of those on board envisage a welcome in Italy and through Italy the opportunity to make it across the land into other EU countries.  However, if the boat and its illegal cargo gets into trouble in Maltese waters, it is the small, ill-equipped country’s responsibility to come to their aid.

‘Aid’ in this context is a loaded, emotive term.  The first part of the process takes place in a detention centre.  Malika and I did not get access to witness these places first hand, but many people told us of their experiences.  Men spoke of being being held in over-crowded dorm rooms, poor sanitation and food and most horrifically, only getting outside for fresh air, sunlight and exercise for one hour per week.  Legally, individuals can be held in detention for one year.  If an individual can prove that they require humanitarian assistance – say they are fleeing the war in Somalia for instance – they can be released into an ‘Open Centre’ in a matter of days or weeks (depending on how quickly they can be processed and whether or not they have the correct documentation with them proving their identity.)  If it looks like the individual is an Economic Migrant they will often stay in detention for the maximum term.

Those deemed vulnerable are released more quickly – so, unaccompanied children (yes, minors do actually make the journey on their own!) pregnant women, family groups, and those with disabilities are moved from detention into ‘Open Centres’.

With the exception of unaccompanied children, who stay in special accommodation, those in the Open Centres can live there officially for one year.  During this time they are given a per diem allowance of 4.33 Euros a day for each adult.  Those who are not granted refugee status or humanitarian protection are given less.  To receive the payment, individuals must sign on three times a week.  If they fail to sign on, money is docked or stopped (dependent on circumstances.)

An Open Centre is one where the residents are free to come and go.  They vary in size and the type of accommodation on offer.

The photographs here are some of those taken in the Open Centres.  They are not my final edit and in fact are not necessarily ones that will be included at all (it will take me much longer to sort them out!)  My intention was to post some here to give you a sense of what life is like in the centres and how individuals cope. 

What is very clear to me is that Malta needs help from the rest of the world.  The NGOs who run the centres are trying their best, but do not have the resources to provide every person with the sort of accommodation and support that is needed to ensure they can live with dignity.  Many of them have suffered in their home countries, have suffered on the journey to Europe and are still suffering now.  

It is definitely time that the UK for one offered some form of assistance…

Hal Far Reception Centre for Women

One of the many reasons to seek asylum

A room for the most vulnerable will have four beds; most dorms sleep 6 or 7; one sleeps 14

Cooking facilities are basic. 14 gas rings serve 117 residents. The kitchen has no work surfaces on which to prepare meals.

According to information she gave to the Maltese authorities, this girl is 19. She told us she was 15. She travelled to Europe on her own.

Chores are shared amongst the residents. If you don't keep to the rota, you are fined.

The accommodation was built as a detention centre. Barred doors and windows are still in evidence. It feels like a prison.

 Family Centres

As Malika was focusing on documenting in the Women’s Centre, it was going to be my remit to look at how the families cope with living through the asylum/refugee/immigration process.  Initially, I should have been based at the Hal Far Families’ Centre, but problems with a Maltese resident and a very stressed-out co-ordinator made this impossible.  I did spend a couple of hours there before having to leave and was horrified by the poor standard of accommodation in the only block I was allowed to see…  The second centre was in B’Kara and was very different.  The former convent can accommodate up to 16 families or family units (including single mothers or fathers and accompanying children.)  ’The Rainbow’ is used to house the most vulnerable families and is a very secure place: no visitors are allowed on the premises.

Hal Far Families' Centre

How many staff does it take to change a lightbulb? Well, arrange a room swap...

Communal stairwell

The houses are former WWII barracks, in need of some repair

Communal kitchen. The cooker is not standard issue: it was left behind by a former resident

The bed-sitting room 'O' shares with his pregnant wife. Two sets of bunkbeds and one single ensure a family of 5 could live here.

Mary in the courtyard. The majority of The Rainbow's residents are Muslim.

The kitchen is the heart of the house.

Some of the residents are tiny. Often their mothers have made the journey from Africa heavily pregnant.

Logs are kept of the residents' movements.

Visitors gossip on the front door step.

English lessons are provided by volunteers for those who are willing to learn.

Fahtoun escaped from Somalia. She has been in Malta 10 days and is happy both she and her daughter are now safe.

One year old twins and their mother live in a room with no natural daylight and no source of fresh air.

Frustration between residents can result in violence. Security staff are on duty each night to protect staff and residents.

Marsa Open Centre

The Marsa Open Centre is for men only.  I only spent a couple of hours there on an ‘official tour’.  This meant that I was shown the ground floor communal facilities and not the mens’ private living accommodation.  What was evident from the visit is that the management at Marsa encourage and facilitate enterprise – the centre includes ‘restaurants’, two barber shops, small stores and stalls.  For a nominal rent, if space is available, a man can begin a small business.  European money has been spent on providing educational facilities (a well equipped classroom) and a new restaurant (closed due to Ramadan.)

 

Marsa

Behind the door, 30 men sleep in bunk-beds.

Chelsea fans are everywhere, even in a Marsa Open Centre 'restaurant'.

The General Store.

If only all of the facilities could be like this. 75% funded by the EU.

Hal Far Tent Village

On my final day in Malta, I was lucky enough to get into the Tent Village.  On concrete platforms stand 43 military style tents, each one ‘home’ to approximately 12 men (although they could accommodate 20.)  Four new mobile homes are currently being installed on site – these will house the most vulnerable residents; on the day I visited they became home to two pregnant ladies and their husbands as there was no room for them in any of the other centres.

Each tent is connected to the electricity supply, although residents know to avoid all cooking at once…  Toilet facilities, showers and basins are found in a purpose built block.  On arrival, residents are given a pillow and a sleeping bag and are allocated a specific bed in a specific tent.  Individuals and groups have invested in televisions, satellite dishes, second hand fridges and an interesting array of broken furniture in an effort to make the tents their homes.  It is a difficult environment in which to live: roasting hot in the summer and freezing in the winter; the tents leak when it rains and many of the men made sure to tell me how terrible the tent village is.  However, on the day I visited it was not a place of despair.  The staff are incredibly positive, hard-working and supportive of the residents (as long as they respect one another and the rules) and it was clear that they have good relationships with those in their care.  

 

Hal Far Tent Village

Home.

Fresh out of Detention. New arrivals.

Processing the new arrivals.

Providing the basics.

A brand new mobile home for the married couples. Eventually, it could sleep 8 people.

Domestic life in tented accommodation.

Cooking and sleeping sometimes go side by side.

Keeping track of the residents. Each individual has a unique reference number allocated by the police that refers to their year of arrival and the boat on which they arrived.

The 't' shirt says it all!

 

I have met many extraordinary people over the past two weeks, and some of their stories will be shared elsewhere.  But the one phrase that will stick in my mind for a long time to come was offered to me by Mohammed Hassan (formerly of Somalia and now of Hal Far Tent Village,) these three words seem to sum up the experience of all of those who have found themselves in Malta on the way to their ‘freedom’:

‘Hope is Power’.

 

The Narrative, Final Edit

Sid at 71

9,697,800 people in the UK are aged 65 and over.
2.5 million pensioners (over 1 in 5) live below the poverty line.
9%  of people aged 65 and over in the UK feel they are cut off from society.
12% of older people feel trapped in their own homes.

(Statistics from various government sources – all to be found on the Help the Aged website)

If you read the above statistics published by the charity Help the Aged, the impression that we get of becoming older is that it is a negative experience.  Pensioners are poor, isolated, trapped, discriminated against.  Whilst there is no doubt that this is the experience of some, it is not that of all.

Look again at the statistics:  if 1 in 5 live below the poverty line, then 4 do not.
If 9% feel cut off from society, 91% do not.

This 91% might as well be invisible as far as the media is concerned; they are ignored rather than celebrated.

Sid is 71 and one of the 91%.  He is part of the invisible majority  A retired engineer (a toolmaker to be precise), he also served in the RAF reserves, did a stint as a commercial photographer, and for fifty years has been a committed naturist.  He leads a quiet life, but not a dull one.

Unlike the stereotype so often presented by the media, he is neither vulnerable, nor sad.  Sid is passionate about motorbikes (his pride and joy, is a 1969 Triumph Bonneville), he holidays in a VW Campervan, walks Dartmoor and Exmoor with a naturist walking group and is a member of The Motorcycle Nudes.  He works out to his Coronation Street exercise video three or four times a week; for an older man, he has strong thighs!

Although married for 49 years, they have been celibate since 1976; their bedrooms are at either end of a short corridor.  The most intimate contact he has is now with the semi-strangers he dances with at his weekly jive class.

This is a photographic narrative about one septuagenarian who although conscious of his increasing years (and expanding waistline), chooses to engage with the world in his own (mostly naked) way.

He is old, but happy.  There is an alternative to those statistics!

“The fitness teacher used to be the barmaid in Coronation Street. The DVD lasts an hour; I do it three or four times a week.”

“I do most of the talking. Half of the time Norma doesn't really listen.”

“I was 17 the first time I sunbathed in the nude; I've been a proper naturist for 50 years.”

"My skin's pretty tough. I spend most of my time outside, even in the winter.”

“I've three motorbikes and a moped. My favourite is the 1969 Bonneville. She's a beauty.”

“We've been celibate since 1976. We don't even touch anymore.”

“It's Norma's conservatory really; she paid for it.”

“I go to camper van rallies. I meet up with friends from the VW forum.”

“Norma made the rose in a metalwork class. It's all rusty now.”

“I still work quite hard, fixing things and digging the garden. I don't overdo it though. I make sure I rest.”

“I go dancing 2 or 3 times a week. Rachel is a new partner. She's good fun, like a daughter.”

“I like simple things. Lunch is often a sandwich. I really love cheese, but have cut down to try to lose weight.”

“I love being out. I walk with a group. It's all blokes, but women and textiles are welcome.”

Research:

Help the Aged – http://www.helptheaged.org.uk/en-gb

Saga – http://www.saga.co.uk/

Abstract from research into the presentation of older people and the way this affects their treatment by Alison Parsons, Nursing Unit Manager, St Vincents Hospital, Sydney -
http:www.ciap.health.nsw.gov.au/hospolic/stvincents/1993/a06.html

Articles:

‘Joan Bakewell to put a spring in the step of the elderly.’  Marie Woolf, The Sunday Times,
November 9, 2008 – http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article5114845.ece

‘Ageism, pensions and the end of high heels – it’s time I spoke up.’   Joan Bakewell, The Guardian,
November 10, 2008 – http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/nov/10/ageism-joan-bakewell-voice-of-older-people-pensions

Michele Hanson, The Guardian, November 11, 2008

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/nov/11/features-features

Contemporary photographers who have made work about older people:

Georgina Ravenscroft, ‘a prime passage’

Julian Germain, ‘For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness’

Larry Sultan, ‘Pictures from Home’

Nicholas Nixon, ‘Pictures of People’

Steven Tynan, ‘Robber’

Peter Granser, ‘Sun City’

Mario Giacomelli – ‘Lullaby’ and ‘Death will come and it will have your eyes’

Naomi Harris – ‘Haddon Hall’ – http://www.naomiharris.com/

The Spot Project, Final Edit

Word: Red

“If you happen to walk any distance between two redheaded girls, it is a sign that you will soon be very rich.”

Approximately 1% of the world’s population has ginger or red hair.

“Redheaded women are either violent or false, and usually are both.”

By 2150, it will be 0%.

“In Donegal, if a girl is born with red hair it is a sign that there was a pig under the bed.”

Folklore, myth and general foolishness would have us believe that to have red hair is to be cursed in some way or other. Challenge anyone to invent or repeat playground nicknames for redheads and they will no doubt come up with ones such as Carrot-top, Copper-Knob, Duracell and Ginga. For centuries redheads have been derided and now their very existence is at threat.

According to geneticists such as University College London’s Professor Steve Jones, the already beleaguered, recessive gene that causes red pigmentation is in danger of dying out and by 2150, we could be living on a planet without the vibrance and colour of the ‘gingers’.

The survival of the ‘ginger gene’ is now the responsibility of the boys and girls, young men and women that are to be found in the suburban garden, on the playing fields and in the high streets of all of our towns and cities.

It is a responsibility they are not quite ready to worry about just yet.

Red i

In this gap there should be a Red ii … but for some reason, it won’t load…  If you want to see the missing image, please scroll down a few pages until you find a shot of a young man, entitled Cheltenham i

Red iii

Red iv

Red v

Red vi

Red viii

Red ix

DP2 – The Spot Project: Research

Research:

Contemporary portrait photographers who have made work either about redheads, young people and/or young people on the street:

Redhead, Joel Meyerowitz

Root Ginger, Jenny Wicks

Female, Jitka Hanzlova

Portraits, Rineke Dijkstra

Seeing Red, Howard Schatz

Websites:

http://www.joelmeyerowitz.com/

http://www.howardschatz.com/index.php?gallery=SEEING%20RED::3::1

http://www.redandproud.com/

http://www.roodharigen.nl/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6725653.stm

The ‘Red’ Project – one final push…

More red-heads.  I now have enough to put into a final edit.  Phew!  Once again, try to look beyond the poor digital files…  The negs look okay!  Thanks again to all of the lovely young people who stopped long enough to let me photograph them – and for coping with my learning-to-use-flash-technique.

Narrative project update

Apart from the fact that Sid’s lovely Minolta seems to have died on me (and the project isn’t finished yet) – I am still enjoying working on the Narrative.  Here are some more shots, although not ones that will go into the final edit… am saving the best until last…  Apologies for the low res scans…

 

Spot – The Ginger Project

My strategy is now about stopping young people with ginger hair on the street, explaining the idea behind the project, and if they are willing – photographing them…  Early days.  I want to use fill-in flash to ‘lift’ the portraits, but haven’t found a way of using the Metz effectively yet.

So far, I’ve photographed in Reading, Basingstoke, Cheltenham and Newport.  I’m coming to a few conclusions about young people with red or ginger hair: they are the sort of people who say, ‘yes’, even when they feel self-conscious; they say ‘yes’ not because of vanity, but because they want to help me;  they have lovely faces and beautiful hair – and mostly they don’t realise how gorgeous they are!  Oh to have been born a redhead!

Countryside i

Cheltenham i

Newport 1

Newport ii

Newport iv

Newport v

Newport iii

Reading

Basingstoke