On Thursday evening I went to Bethnal Green to photograph the class I have bene given permission to work with. It is a small class and 1 child declined to take part. The others have all agreed although some of them had no idea as their parents had simply signed on their behalf, evidently without discussing with them. However, each girl was happy to take part in the end once I’d explained what this was for.
I only had an hour with them and so I had to see this as very much an exploratory moment, working with each girl for 10 minutes. At the end of the hour I had about 10 minutes to photograph them in their class together (making them late for their following class!)
I have been thinking about the practicalities and the signification of working with this group. I am trying to show a group who use Oxford House which is different to the original users. What I have ended up showing if I concentrate on this group is that where once the centre was for males living in slums in Bethnal Green, here is seems that privileged middle class girls now use it. Although this is true there are a wide range of people using the centre. I attempted some street photography on my way there on Bethnal Green Rd but was not happy with any of the images. However, what was abundantly clear is that the centre is certainly not surrounded by white, privileged young girls.
I need to think about a sense of responsibility to the centre, the community, the other artists I am working with and the story that is worth telling.
I have over the last few days come round to thinking that I should be concentrating on Honor, Bethnal Green and Oxford House.
I have permission from OH manager to work in and around the building with Honor. But I think I also need to extend that beyond the centre and work with her on the street too. However, I will need to do this in September as she is so busy over the summer. The reason I think this is going to best is because her un-schooling differs to very much to the institution that set the original building and ethos up. Her and her family’s very different approach to education is a story about institutional power vs personal power. And that is what I am exploring. Perhaps one of the problems about placing Honor in the streets of Bethnal Green as well as the building is that although she does not come from some super wealthy family, her status in the world is certainly increased by various factors pertaining to who she is. I have more to say about this but don’t have the time just now nor the words in my head.
This work does link very much to S&O themes however and I will discuss tomorrow evening at the hangout I am planning to attend with fellow OCA students.
Some images sheet below from the session on Thursday night where I met some of the girls in LG’s Ballet class. Enormous thanks to Lisa of the Lisa G Academy for her support with this project. (c)SJField2017
