I have been invited to make a series in conjunction with John Umney and Keith Greenough, both OCA alumni, to be exhibited in November. Today I went to the venue, Oxford House in Bethnal Green, and photographed Honer who has agreed to work with me making a series of images that explore her relationship with dance, and her link to the building. Honor is home-schooled, 13, and dances most days of the week. Instead of attending school she attends dance classes and her hours are equal to, if not more than, regular school hours. She is also severely dyslexic although I am not sure at his point if we make anything of that – it will need to be up to Honor and her family. I am very wary of putting Honor in the same sort to role as reality TV does to children. However, I am also interested in language and writing – as well as the relative newness of mass education in terms of social history. i.e. how that links to a Victorian programme of school building and education aimed at bettering society, but also at providing factories with skilled workers and an army with men that were capable of being ordered about.
Oxford House is key to the whole project, and was started by an Oxford College called Keble in 1884 – see further details below in the phone image showing the main objective as stated and documented in an Oxford House display:
Some further information from Historic England’s website: “Oxford House was built in 1891-2 as a permanent headquarters for a ‘settlement’, established in Bethnal Green in 1884. The institution was in the vanguard of the settlement movement, which encouraged privileged schoolboys and undergraduates from England’s grandest public schools and universities to form ‘colonies’ in very poor urban areas. Here the students would live and undertake social work, some in preparation for ordination. Oxford House was closely connected with New College and Keble College in Oxford, the latter founded in 1870 in memory of John Keble, the leader of the Tractarian Movement, which sought to recover the Catholic heritage of the Church of England. A report on Oxford House in 1894 described its aims as follows: ‘that Oxford men may take part in the social and religious work of the Church in East London; that they may learn something of the life of the poor; may try to better the condition of the working classes as regards health and recreation, mental culture and spiritual teaching; and may offer an example, so far as in them lies, of a simple and religious life’. Walter Besant described the settlements as ‘lamps in a dark place’. Yet it was sometimes observed that the undergraduates had as much to gain from their time in the East End than vice versa: a canon of St Paul’s Cathedral, Henry Scott Holland, joked at a Mansion House fundraising dinner for Oxford House in 1891 that the settlements provided a refuge for ‘the surplus of educated gentlemen’.” (Historic England, 2017)
The contrast between Oxford House’s origins – a place to better the condition of working class boys – and Honer, whose life is full albeit very different to many other young girls’ her age, is striking.
In addition to images of Honor dancing in the studio and perhaps more detailed images of her ballet feet or hands etc, in various places in the building, I will also be making portraits of her class mates (all girls, and the same age) on 6 July. I will have an opportunity to shoot the larger class again in September if necessary but I will have less access and time with them. I can observe any of Honor’s classes at any time dependant on my own availability (which at the moment is rather limited).
Today I took photographs in order to see what shapes Honor made with her body, but also to get her used to me photographing her, and for me to get used to being in her space with her and her teacher. I was observing more than anything else but I did take photographs and used it as an opportunity to get used to the restrictions. For instance, the light is not good enough to capture frozen movement, without additional lighting if I want bright clean images. So I need to think about how I choose to work with lights.
I don’t think I want dramatic one lamp lighting e.g. below….
I think I am after a rehearsal feel, a class for a single person, a female, a rejection of formal schooling, opting for schooling of her own making.
There is a slither of natural light as you can see through the window and some strip lights on the ceiling. There is a mirror to consider on one wall, another wall with a door and other distractions plus one blank wall which is rough and ready – I don”t mind that but all of these things need to be thought about.
Here are some images I captured today demonstrating some of the issues I need to consider re lighting. Click on images to see larger version. One of Honor’s teacher’s, Becky is also in some images – Mostly shot at 500sec and f2.8, ISO 500
(c)SJField 2017
Ref: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1396458