About the project
‘Project Popular Camera’ was a collaborative arts project embarked upon with Rocket Artist Tina Jenner. Throughout this project I was examining the specific research question:
‘How can the researcher facilitate a process, which enables a balanced artistic collaboration to transpire between an artist with a learning disability and herself, using a combination of photography and writing as the stimuli?’
The purpose of this arts project was to develop and facilitate a framework through which a reciprocal transfer of skills, knowledge and support could enable both the participant and I to develop our artistic practice together.
It was the dialogue between us that determined the projects direction. Through the mutual dialogue came the idea of each creating a personal-alphabet. We supported one another to take photographs and to create text exploring the words they’d each chosen to represent letters of the alphabet.
We experimented with different types of cameras including film and digital; we printed black and white photos using the University of Brighton’s darkroom facilities. We created some of our images at Garage Studios; a professional photography studio and training centre in Brighton. There we worked alongside professional photographer Kevin Mason who helped us use the studio’s lighting. We also worked in the Rockets art studio at the Phoenix, Brighton.
What resulted from this collaboration is a rich body of work, exploring themes of identity and equality.
