Social History / Documentary photography
Exhibitions from Bristol Photo Festival’s ‘DREAMLINES’ project to be staged across the city
Over two consecutive weekends in September, venues across the city will exhibit images made for Bristol Photo Festival’s project DREAMLINES: Picturing Bristol High Streets.
The chosen photographers include some leading Bristol-based and international practitioners, all of whom have collaborated with local communities and businesses in order to make work that truly represents them.
Their resulting images represent isolated moments in a complex world of interwoven life stories; from Shirehampton Men’s Social Club to Two Mile Hill’s Salvation Army brass band, Shire Stitchers textile club to a young Black mums group in Stapleton Road, and Filton Avenue’s foodbank to the nearly century-old Bakers Corner.
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Member of Shirehampton Men’s Club, Steven Ackerman – photo: Chris Hoare. “I chose to mostly attach myself to Shirehampton Men’s Social club, which is in effect a community centre. Through many visits I have been welcomed by its members and in fact become a member myself. It feels like a privilege to be welcomed into a private space like this.”
The Salvation Army brass band re-enacting The Withsuntide Parade through Two Mile Hill – photo: Sebastian Bruno. During his research, Bruno came across an image of the local Salvation Army brass band, marching along Two Mile Hill Road. While the image dated to the 1970s, it represented a tradition that reached back further still. In the 1920s, the annual Whitsuntide Procession would bring together approximately 10,000 local church members to parade with banners and bands along the high street. Bruno met with current members of the local Salvation Army Church, creating a plan to re-stage the historic parade. On Saturday July 10 the band came together, setting off from the church along Two Mile Hill Road for the first time in recent memory.
Sabrina, member of The Shire Stitchers – photo: © Clementine Schneidermann
With what it calls “a strong emphasis on heritage, asking how the past can foster identity and belonging today”, DREAMLINES is a project with community at its centre.
As such, it has included workshops and creative sessions as a key part of its development, helping to more fully explore individual relationships with their local environments.
Amy, Stapleton Road – photo: Jade Carr-Daley. On Stapleton Road, Carr-Daley has continued her exploration of black motherhood. She began upon discovering her own pregnancy, with the work grounded in a desire to increase the visibility of women of colour, creating a sense of community between those with shared experiences of navigating motherhood and the changes it brings.
Bakers Corner – photo: Khali Ackford. Ackford has been at the heart of some of the most culturally significant protests and movements in the UK, including the UK BLM movement, the toppling of the Edward Colston statue in Bristol and marches against male violence. He has been working to explore the everyday hidden heritage in Two Mile Hill, where many businesses have historic roots.
Janun in his restaurant Afghan Tasty Corner – photo: Mohamed Hassan. Hassan has been collaborating with communities along Stapleton Road, creating a contemporary portrait of the neighbourhood. His process has involved both street portraiture – conducted during Eid celebrations – as well as organised sittings, which offered a space for reflection.
One of the participating photographers is Kirsty Mackay, who decided to focus her efforts for the project on amplifying the stories of local food bank users on Filton Avenue.
“Most people using the foodbank were in crisis,” she reflects. “I wanted to get people’s experiences and their voices out there into the public domain. So I wrote their words across the high street on bus shelters and across the pavements. It is an imperfect, but urgent response.”
Filton Avenue – photo: Kirsty Mackay. “I’ve been working on the cost-of-living crisis for over a year. The problem I was facing was how to make photographic work about the crisis, when there is so much shame around the situation people find themselves in – not having enough to make ends meet, because of rapidly rising costs.”
Filton Avenue – photo: Kirsty Mackay
Long-time member of Shirehampton Men’s Club, Paul Gyles – photo: Chris Hoare
DREAMLINES: Picturing Bristol High Streets, organised by Bristol Photo Festival will go on display at High Street venues across Bristol this summer. Details of the individual exhibitions are now available on the website.
The project is funded by Historic England, Bristol City Council and the West of England Combined Authority.
Bristol Photo Festival will return in Autumn 2024.
Main photo: Michael Alberry
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