This is a taster of a collaborative photography project which took place in Waterford during the Bealtaine Festival 2017. The project gave a group of women an opportunity to explore photography in their own lives and that of the group.
The group involved was an already closely bonded women’s group of 20-25 participants. The group is part of St. Brigid’s Community and Family Resource Centre, Waterford and was initiated as a response to a local tragedy.
I worked with the group for 4 session in all. These images are a selection of those made as part of the project, some were shared by group members and others were taken by group participants with their own cameras.
Themes which we worked on were memory, friendship, play and portrait. Through exploring photography as memory a collage of prints was created from images of each members hands. They called this “Hardworking hands-all our lives.”
We had playful exploration of themes including, friendship, young at heart, holidays. Working in small groups, each developed their own theme and and story line.
Group members also shared their personal favourite photographs and these were scanned as digital files. The women also began to use their own cameras and phones to capture their friends in portraits and learn about improving their skills as photographers.
Thanks to all the wonderful participants, St. Brigid’s Community and Family Resource Centre and Garter Lane Arts Centre for making the project possible.
And this is a meditation on “ripening” which I made to accompany the work and to stimulate discussion with the group.
