Present and Continuous

Present and Continuous is the result of an 18 month collaborative project myself and the Many Hands Craft Collective, an Over60s group based within Ancoats. The project also formed part of my Masters By Research degree, exploring the role of photography as a socially engaged arts practice.

The group decided to focus on what brings them together, discussing age, creative agency and local geography, and why this collective, through its shared passion for craft, now consider themselves an active creative community.

The project resulted in an exhibition at Manchester Craft and Design Centre and this recently produced publication, also in collaboration with designer Tommy Morrison. You can watch a recent interview about the publication as part of the 2020 Hypertext Bound Art Book fair public programme HERE

The project overall looked to analyse how photography, arguably one of the most accessible forms of communication today, can be used as a way to co-author work between photographer and community.

From the project’s inception, to the conceptual ideas, production of work, editing and final curation of its public showcase, Present and Continuous aimed to test out photography as a collaborative endeavour. I continue to work with the group today as an artist and creative producer and am always learning something new from them :)