Evicted from their homes after 48 years …
Ann and Rita, evicted from the flats were they live after 48 years. ‘They (developers and local goevernment) said they’d build us new homes, but we can’t afford them and they’re miles away. They’ve destroyed our community’
In memory of Abdo Sa’eed Al-Selwi
This post is in memory of shopkeeper Abdo Sa’eed Al-Selwi who was brutally murdered in his Huyton shop over the weekend. It really sickened and upset me. My family live in Huyton and the people are great, but this was bad. This is Najib, a spokesman for the Yemeni community in Liverpool – he’s holding a photograph of his murdered friend. The photograph was taken in Abdo Sa’eed Al-Selwi’s first shop on Lodge Lane in the Toxteth area of the city.
John the drummer
I met John outside a pub, late morning, he wears diamond earings and a jeweled bracelet. I thought he was interesting.
”I used to be a drummer, now I get dressed up and go and watch the bands’
Student’s work: 2nd posting of the ‘What we see’ exhibition photographers work – ‘lifes a mess and sofas left on Kenny Streets’
photograph by Anne
Anne loves taking photographs. I could have walked around all day with her taking photographs. She just gets lost in the whole process , completely silent, just looking and as a result produced some of the projects most arresting images. Kensington in Liverpool is a typical inner city neighbourhood and we joked that we could furnish a home by the time we reached the end on any particular street just by collecting things left in the street; sofas tvs…
photograph by Emma
This was taken down at the container docklands in north Liverpool. I love the colours in this and the way its framed with part of the fence left in. At the exhibition opening Emma said she liked this photograph, because its chaos and complicated and that this reminded her of her own life.
Student’s work: 1st posting of the ‘What we see’ exhibition photographers work – ‘empty houses and laughter on the streets’.
Phtograph by Bernie
Bernie’s street photography is great. I love this, it’s spontinaeity. Bernie is a good photographer because people trust her and she’s a giving person. When she takes photographs people she’s giving and taking at the same time…people let her ‘in’.
Photograph by J
This is a derelict house a stones throw from the hostel in which I delivered the ‘What we see’ project. The person who took this ventured inside. I love it’s camera shake and it’s feel, it looks like something from the frontline of a war zone, I half expect a group of Marines to go running from one room to the next.
‘It’s amazing that this is empty’ ..she said.. ‘..this is a good house isn’t it…people can’t get homes and there’s these just here, empty’…this person has spiralled downhill rapidly since the time the course ran. The cycle of homelessness has really trapped this person in the few short months I’ve known them ….someone told me how they’ve gone from vulnerably housed to street homeless with a severe substance misuse problem in a matter of months.
Opening of the ‘What we see’ exhibition in Kensington Library, Liverpool.
Wanda and camera at the opening
BBC review
http://www.bbc.co.uk/liverpool/content/articles/2008/05/13/capcult_homeless_exhibit_feature.shtml
Liverpool Daily Post review
Art in Liverpool listings
http://www.artinliverpool.com/blog/blogarch/2008/05/what_you_see_photo_exhibition.php
** every day until next Friday the 23rd May when the exhibition ends I’ll be posting the photographer’s work on this blog so you can see for yourself how cool their work is.
Thanks to everyone who turned up to the ‘What we see’ photographic exhibition oepning last monday, here’s a few photographs of the opening and a few links to reviews below. The exhibihtion is all about getting the photographs seen and shared and thanks to a live broadcast the photographers and myself did the morning of the launch on BBC Radio Merseyside the exhibihtion hashad quite alot of attention – so I’m really pleased about that. I also intended the exhibihtion to be a way of opening up debate around the social housing and homelessness issues in the city. I wrote this article to accompany the exh. to summarise what I wanted it to achieve
Gang in Bootle
Gang of lads by the ralla (railway), covering their faces. These were good kids, the social breakdown between young people and the ‘establishment’ seems to be getting worse, despite the fact that we know that we should be including young people in a dialogue, we seem to be pushing them further away. When I listened to the Chief Constable of Merseyside Police talking about a zero tolerance approach (they dont call it this, but its a ‘tough on crime’ initiative) i couldnt help be think how blunt an instrument this was.
‘What we see’ – a photographic exhibition by Liverpool’s homeless
Hi I’ve put together an exhibition of photographs taken by members of Liverpool’s homeless and vulnerably housed population – the product of a grassroots photography course I taught in winter 07/early 08. The students were great photographers, no bullshit, they were and probably still are great. They produced unique, different and interesting photographs - they were consistently brave in their image making, always trusting their eyes and taking risks with their ideas . I really enjoyed guiding them through the project and putting the exhibition together.
I’m going to post photographs by the students during the exhibitions duration so you can view them. The project I taught forms part of my informal educational programme called ‘lemons and limes’. This is an umbrella concept that covers all the photography centrered educational projects I run, see www.christianpetersen.com for more details. If you have any interesting projects using photography, especially different stuff then it’d be great to hear from you.
Check the flyer/poster out below and come along if you’re in town.
Noël et les punks…
This is Noël. I met him the other day. I cycled past him and then stopped and turned around to talk to him, he’s French and in the legal profession. He was a pretty thoughful guy and I am captivated by the expression on his face here. He has a timeless punk look and was very happy the following day when I bumped into him as he’d met loads of nice punks in a pub in Liverpool – how greats that?! The graffitti in the background was opportune, it was just there, even though it sort of comes across as contrived, it was completely coincidental. More people like Noël please!
