New Ideas

I have emailed a large number of people, including several community groups I have worked with before- which shows that contacts are very useful. I have had several tentative replies, so we'll have to see which ones are a definite.
Since then, I have had a new idea about gallery space. What I would love to do, id put all of the little photos in bottles, (with a spring on, so they come out) and then have a little light box so people can see them. There would be a massive pile of bottles with photos in, and people have the chance to pick up a bottle and see for themselves how the photos are. I liked this idea because it relates to the letter in a bottle- you throw it out, and hope someone will pick it up and read it, and treasure it- but you have no idea who. I liked this for both the kids (as this is a kid thing to do) and for the homeless, as this relates to waste, and hopeful hopelessness. Its also relatively cheap to make, whereas telescopes are hard to buy and it's illegal to put photos on the street.


I also have been contacting quite a few disabled people charities and schools. I have done huge amounts of community art work with most of these (Oska Bright, Isis Academy, etc ect) I feel like this would also be an interesting and "voiceless" group to document. We will see who might be interested/answer.

I have also come across a lovely photo documentary site online. The site shows photos (usually one) and has a voice over and soundscape, with someone essaying or talking about their experience, and things relating to the photo. I loved this as a style, because  it made you really look at this one photo, and the more the person spoke, the more life the photo gets, until you understand it right from the perspective of the person talking. I really liked that these two elements worked together to make the photo mean something different from what you thought, and exactly what the person who took it meant; this is really powerful and interesting. I liked that you get your first impression and then the actual meaning; they contrast nicely, showing what you expect and don't expect. This is pretty simple to make- it is just a lot of films- so I think I might try and copy this style for my own. Here is my favorite example of work:

http://cowbird.com/story/608/1000_Words/