'a picture speaks a thousand words'
I want to use my words to engage individuals, creates conversations and challenge stereotypes
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Principles of empowerment and driving positive social change through work that promotes mental health, equality and gender issues is absolutely central to my ethos.
My professional and personal practice is centred around the following belief in:
The power of the image to help form or challenge social norms
The catalytic validity of photography - the power to make change and inspire others to do the same
The camera as a tool to ethically empower people through participation and co-creation
Disseminating work in a way that really appeals to, educates and inspires new audiences
Foxstrut.org
A completely new and very exciting movement to empowerment women & the LGBTQ+ community on our nighttime streets. Foxstrut has been created in collaboration with artist ~Lorna Rees to mark the World Health Organization’s global 16 days of Activism against gender-based violence. The overarching project, known as Urban Fox, will include a powerful series of portraits of Dorset women defiantly inhabiting public space in the dark, wearing orange and fox themed costume. The inaugural 'Fox Strut', took place in Bournemouth, the urban fox capital of the UK, on Friday, December 8th 2023. It is being more widely rolled out in 2024, with plans to exhibit the portraits and shed light on a spectrum of lived experiences, showcasing this bold reclamation of the night.
Foxstrut Bournemouth: 29th November 2024 Foxstrut London: 22nd November 2024 Foxstrut Poole 6th December 2024 Foxstrut Birmingham (tbc 16th November 2024)
Find out more about Foxstrut here
Sexual violence & victim blaming
Asking for it, is a multi-award winning, mugshot series. It continues to be exhibited and used in an educational capacity, in different ways across the world. These include:
- Interactive exhibitions in community spaces, shopping centres, galleries, barristers chambers, colleges and universities
- Talks for groups and universities, (including subject specialisms in art, photography, law, anthropology criminology, sociology and psychology).
- Inclusion in the Case et al Criminology textbook
- An interactive option survey at www.askingforit.net
- As part of a specialist social action and research project into Sexual Violence, Law and Photographic Artwork, with Newcastle University
- As part of an interactive exhibition, art project and sexual harassment/bystander intervention workshops for over 400 students at Weymouth College.
Find out more about Asking for it here
Art protest #intheirshoes #takeastand
A social media image led awareness campaign to post images of people shoes in response to the murder of Sarah Everard. In addition, over 500 pairs of shoes were collected in just 3 days, amidst pandemic restrictions, displayed and photographed publicly as a visual art metaphor. The shoes were subsequently donated to charity ShoeAid.
Find out more about intheirshoes here
Male dance stereotypes - Boys in Ballet
I have, so far, produced three series of images on this topic, as well as services donated in support of boys in ballet in my role as an Ambassador for National Boys Dance Day (October 23rd).
Boys will be boys - A personal project which documents different interests and identities of the teen and pre-teen boys, smashing stereotypes of boys in ballet. An image from the project was awarded an honourable mention at the 17th Julia Margaret Cameron Awards. It has also been awarded ‘Official Selection’ in the IPA 2022.
Frontpage - a series of Newsies styled images, promoting boys in dance by photographing ambassadors of National Boys Dance Day. Images from the series were awarded an Honourable Mention is the 20th Julia Margaret Cameron Awards, 2023.
Stranger things - Stronger lines - A new series in 2023, styled in 1980s fashion to appeal to young audiences and promote boys in dance by photographing ambassadors of National Boys Dance Day.