Whitchurch 2019 // Collaborative Portrait by Jamie Dodd, Kelsey Dodd, Rowan Howells, Robyn Wright, Matthew Vaughn, Noah Gilmore, Dylan Batchelor – Ralphs and Stephen Burke.

Photographer

Stephen Burke

The Story behind the Portrait

This portrait came about through a project I was working on with a group of young people who attend the Youth Group at The Beechtree Community Centre in the rural town of Whitchurch, which lies just 2 miles from the Welsh border in northern Shropshire.

The project was a collaboration with Jamie, Rowan, Kelsey, Robyn, Matthew, Noah, Dylan and me. Through conversation, exploration and play we worked together to create a project about their lives and what their experiences were like of growing up in a rural town.

The portrait is part of a series of collaborative photographs created by the group. They worked democratically (and sometimes not so democratically!) together to photograph each other in places that were important to them. These places of importance ranged from the several local parks where they could be independent and of course the chip shop!

The young people also documented their home lives, relationships with friends and landscape of the area through the use of disposable cameras. The photographs that were made by the group were presented as an exhibition at the community centre, you can also see a selection of the photographs made on the @WittyPhotographers Instagram page.

Within my work, I am interested in the relationship between the photographer and participant, and questioning the role of the photographer, who has agency? Who has power? Who is telling whose story?

I try to aim to balance the power dynamics between photographer/artist and participant. This project is probably the closest I have come to achieving those ideals with the young people contributing and being equal decision makers in the research, making and exhibition of the work.

The project was for GRAIN Projects and in partnership with The Hive, Shrewsbury and supported by Labyrinth Photographic and Arts Council England.

 

 

 

 

 

Within my work, I am interested in the relationship between the photographer and participant, and questioning the role of the photographer, who has agency? Who has power? Who is telling whose story?

Bio

Stephen Burke (b.1989) is a photographer and artist living and working in Birmingham, UK. His work explores the relationship between people and place, and how our social and physical environments can have a determining effect on who we are and how we live our lives. Conversation, chance, collaboration and celebration are key themes in his approach to creating work.

Stephen studied BA Photography at Falmouth University graduating in 2012 and completed an MA in Documentary Photography & Photojournalism at Westminster University in 2017. He has been commissioned by The Guardian, The FT Weekend, Sunday Times, The Telegraph Magazine and on long term projects by WERK, Some Cities, Ampersand Projects, Living Memory and Multistory.

He is also the Project Producer for GRAIN Projects, an arts organisation based in Birmingham specialising in commissioning and delivering photography-based projects.

Website and Social

stephenpburke.com
Instagram
Twitter

GRAIN
grainphotographyhub.co.uk
Instagram
Twitter