A commissioned artistic response, alongside documenting the work of Full House Theatre Company.
I’d never visited a Gypsy, Roma and Traveller community before, nor worked with the people in them. This meant I was a little unsure how it would go initially, as there are many negative preconceptions as to what can be seen as a self-contained and protective group. But having seen Full House Theatre successfully deliver artistic outreach with young people across many different backgrounds, I knew it would be an interesting journey.
The dedicated sites, set across what’s known as Greensand Country, in the rural space surrounding Sandy, Biggleswade and Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire, were all self-contained and whilst adults were understandably a little wary of outside visitors, we were always made to feel welcome.
As far as the children and young people that participated were concerned, I was progressively more struck each time with how happy they were and how they were allowed to play freely, both as individuals and as a group with unbridled energy. They went where they wanted, did what they wanted and were highly confident with each other and with us as strangers to their home.
What also struck me was how they supported each other as if one large family, with the older and more self-aware still keeping a loving and protective eye out for the smaller ones, even from other families, and their animals, who all had an equally free, but comparatively safe, space to roam and play.
This made them highly inquisitive, prone to distraction before, during and after the tasks, which was understood at the outset so became a feature of the relaxed nature of the artistic participations; space and flexibility was given to allow them to navigate the exercises, or not, as they wished. But when they were focused, which was most of the time, the work they produced was creative, bold and free - there was no sense of seeking approval or being afraid to ‘give things a go’ which is what life is all about really, especially as a young person, or anyone for that matter. I saw no mobile devices outside, no desire to do everything for self-documentation or posing, or approval - just the freedom and spirit to create.
I was also struck over the year, just how much some of the regular attendees (given a number came and went, by nature of the GRT community) had grown up visually, which I noticed when curating the images from each end of the project. What hadn’t changed was any of their spirit, happiness or camaraderie that I saw at the outset and which forms a vibrant part of the wider Greensand Country GRT community.
As to the photography itself, which was shot alongside my more conventional, arms-length, reportage, documenting the artistic projects and the Full House team in action, these response images are even more unstructured, reactionary and in some cases technically ‘off’ but that was a feeling that struck me; people running in and out of shot, brief moments and cheeky observations plus the odd inquisitive interaction. These are aspects I would not normally have embraced in my practice previously, but I too got a fresh chance to experiment and play.
I came away from the project with nothing but a positive experience from very open and friendly people; it’s reinforced the message that if you treat people with openness and mutual respect, even in places you may feel wary initially, it’s possible to create artistic outputs that enrich all involved.
