Raise awareness of destitution through documentary artist residencies with families in Doncaster Dec 2016 - Mar 2017.
by Les Monaghan in Doncaster, England, United Kingdom
Raising more money will enable me to work with more families, and continue to work with those in the first phase of Relative Poverty. This will mean that the picture of destitution widens to include people of different ages and backgrounds and highlights the overlaps with health issues (especially mental health).
Within a stone's throw of where you live there is a family living in destitution. When the Joseph Rowntree Foundation published their report on the issue earlier in 2016 it did not receive the attention it deserved.
Many of us in the UK live comfortable lives, I want to give you a glimpse of what life is like for those who do not. The photograph above shows the amount of money Dave had on 28 November 2016. It was pretty chilly in his home. Now that the temperature has dropped, countless families in Doncaster are cold in their homes, unable to afford fuel costs, or balancing heating bills versus food.
Some of us are better at providing direct help, my skills are in communicating ideas to a wider audience visually. These families, and the thousands like them, are what keeps me awake at night. I want to communicate to the widest possible audience the realities of their lives. This is my way of trying to help, firstly, through awareness raising among the community locally, then to our policy makers, and if they don't listen, ultimately to the electorate. By focusing over the long term, and with care, on these families, we can help others across Yorkshire and the UK.
I am raising money to spend the time with a number of families creating work that is in-depth, rooted in documentary and co-authored. I will be ‘in residence’ with each family for 10 days. I will create a documentary photography series complemented by running a workshop a day based upon my previous community and engagement work. We will create mixed media and collage works to allow you to hear their voices directly. Here's an example -
Timeline created by student at Engage Training, Doncaster during habitus workshops, 2015
We will create collaborative portraits and photo archive work. We'll pursue new ideas developed through the intensive process, for example, we have discussed creating homage portraits re-interpreting iconic photographs of the destitute, and we'll doubtless reinterpret my public works, Aspirations and The Desire Project -
NURSE | GAMER from the series Aspirations Doncaster (2014)
The ongoing work will be visible here:
After the residencies, sharings at CAST, Doncaster and in local churches have been organised to test local audience responses and provide critical feedback. Further critique will be provided by artist experts. This feedback will shape a touring exhibition that will visit all 24 of Doncaster's libraries, culminating in a final exhibition, sharing, and public Q and A at the Central Library in 2018. There is potential to reach up to 66000 library users - 20% of the population of Doncaster. Separate funding is being sought for this exhibit with Unite Community, Doncaster Libraries and Tesco Extra Woodfield chipping in. This exhibition will be of flexible size, consisting of mounted prints and texts suspended above bookshelves. Library computers will be available to view further images and access links. An artist talk with local guests will take place at every library - in Doncaster I've found that we might not discuss the art but everyone wants to talk about the issues art raises.
The exhibit will give a rounded, layered and personal view of the complexities of destitution. It will provide a lasting document and engage directly with local audiences. Most of all I intend it to have agency. I believe, we cannot, as a society, continue to ignore this issue.
Relevant experience
This work extends an inquiry I have been undertaking over the last seven years using photography, collaborative work and exhibiting to test representations of UK society.
The Desire Project (2016), funded by ACE, is a collaborative portrait series currently exhibited in the Frenchgate Centre, Doncaster and at –
http://lesmonaghan.blogspot.co.uk
The Desire Project allowed Doncaster people some reflective time to ponder what they most want. Political and societal changes have rendered us all as individual consumers, those portrayed have been photographed alone, but when exhibited they are grouped together and their desires for health, happiness and a better world coalesce. We want the same things, we want to get along, we want to be social, we want community. In a space dedicated to consumption the exhibit asks what we value most, and of over 180 subjects asked only one wanted a product.
Responses to The Desire Project:
From fellow artist -
'beautiful and timely work' 'It does weave together so many important threads [that] have have been left tangling by the recent vote.' - David Roberts, Fugitive Images
From evaluation respondents -
'absolutely fabulous, really impressed... it's the one thing that isn't branding, it reminds me of living in Doncaster during my formative years... thanks for making this'
'I relate to the faces, I've learnt not to make a value judgement [based on appearances]. It gives everyone a voice'
'The portraits jumped out... its quite deep... nice to see a partnership [with] ordinary people beautifully photographed. We relate to Ben Parkinson [but all] the issues [raised] ring true with most people, even 'world peace'. It makes us realise that we're all the same, we have similar targets [in life]'
Asked what she thought the artist might be trying to say, a 35 year old woman answered, 'I don't know... its an open question that leads to things that I would never have thought of'
On Twitter -
Terrible Tumbles @thesmyth Jun 28
Just been brought to tears by the @LesMonaghan Desire project in @frenchgate Utterly beautiful.
Terrible Tumbles @thesmyth Jun 28 @LesMonaghan @frenchgate I read them in order from getting off the escalator and by the time I'd reached the girl who wants her mum to be...
Terrible Tumbles @thesmyth Jun 28 @LesMonaghan @frenchgate well I just lost it. It's an incredible set of pictures which have been curated beautifully. Huge well done.
Ann Limb @AnnLimb Apr 22 This is an amazing set of portraits @LesMonaghan - perfect for #DoncasterCommission @MyDoncaster @jomillerdonny
Julie Nightingale @JulieCBJ Apr 18 Amazing photo project in Doncaster. People pondering big question: what do we desire most?@ace_national @lesmonaghan
Gaynor Cox @coxey Apr 6 I'm in Doncaster's Frenchgate Shopping Centre. Just spotted @LesMonaghan's lovely 'Desire Project' photographs
Boswell62 @Boswell62 Apr 6 'The Desire Project' portrait exhibition in @frenchgate shopping centre is very interesting & thought-provoking @LesMonaghan
shanemaughan @shanermaughan Mar 30 @LesMonaghan just seen your exhibition in Doncaster. Great work #art #photography
Hayley Alessi @Hayley_Alessi Aug 10 @LesMonaghan just seen #thedesireproject in Frenchgate.. So emotive and absorbing I stood still, oblivious to the crowds. Beautiful work
Aspirations (2014), commissioned by RUOS, originated as result of a six-month residency in Breightmet, Bolton in 2009/10. It reconciled a need to fairly represent individuals in a community balanced against the artist’s subjective voice. Each subject in the portraits has their aspiration recorded onto their image, thus from the wall of the gallery or from the blog they get to ‘speak’ to their audience. Over 600 portraits constitute a slice of Doncaster in 2014 with themes of community, class, work, social mobility, education, parenting, pose, fashion, society, history, habitus and familial likeness all contained within the simple premise. Again, this is a collaborative portrait series.
http://aspirationsdoncaster.blogspot.co.uk
A short documentary film of Aspirations is available here -
A participant's reflection on taking part in Aspirations:
'When Les came to our local Primary School to take photos for the Aspirations Project I was really surprised and delighted at how much conversation it sparked between me and my 10 year old son (Sam) and my 8 year old daughter (Emily). For months after the photos were taken we kept talking at length about what I had wanted to do when I was Sam's age, how difficult I found this at first and how I had to convince others around me to let me study drama. Sam talked about how he was interested in both engineering/science but also wanted to continue with this music - at first he didn't think this was going to be possible so we talked through having one as a job and one as a hobby. Every time we walk past the blown up images in Doncaster we look and talk about the range of jobs people want to do and whether we think they will do it.
My daughter Emily has Down's Syndrome and we used Makaton signing for her to tell me what she wanted to be - I think it was a singer or a dancer. She loved the simplicity of seeing the images and then reading what jobs people were interested in. It helped her to understand that everyone would like to be something different and that this was ok.'
Lucy Robertshaw
I have been working as an artist, tutor and photographer with children, young people and vulnerable adults for eleven years. As well as being subject to enhanced CRB checks (I am also DBS checked) I have attended training, safeguarding and awareness sessions with Art Refuge, Photovoice, the Refugee Council, DARTS, NHS, Youth Justice Board, South Leeds Youth Offending Team and TIPP. I have current public liability insurance.
This project has been approved for funding through the Artists + The Crowd match funding. It will receive a bridge of 25% towards its fundraising target from Arts Council England.
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