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I was
introduced to 'The World in Wolverhampton Revisited' project last
summer - myself and a colleague took part in writing a book based
upon the architectural features of Wolverhampton.
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| Candid
snaps of valued people, places and events |
The
Light House Media Centre was one of the buildings we included and
they were enthusiastic for our school to be involved in a photography
project with Vanley Burke.
Vanley Burke
Vanley has been taking pictures, for over thirty years, of black
and asian communities - not only in the West Midlands but in South
Africa and other parts of the world.
Vanley visited our school and ran a workshop. He put the children
at ease with stories about his life. He shared examples of his work
and his cameras - the children were in awe of their size, weight
and cost.
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| Vanley
at Woodfield
Junior School |
During
the workshop, Vanley and the children explored the school grounds,
discussing what made their school what it is and viewing it in a
way they had never considered before.
As
Vanley is a keen archivist he gave one child the responsibility
of documenting the events of the day. Initially they found this
challenging but soon realised the unrestricted nature of how Vanley
wanted them to feel and work and snapped away happily at their activities.
Valued
people, places and events
Vanley left several disposable cameras with the children to enable
them to document how they perceived their lives.
They waited eagerly to receive their cameras and were excited about
the development and the showing of their work at the Light House
Gallery.
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| Candid
snaps of valued people, places and events |
The
photographs that emerged were an array of family and friends, examples
of home life, their cultures, faiths and past times.
Some
shots were obviously candid, images caught in unexpected moments
of valued people, places and events.
Pride
The children were filled with pride when they viewed their photographs
and with encouragement soon saw the natural parallels between their
modern images and those taken by Vanley fifteen years earlier.
It
made them think about their part in the project. As Sandeep (one
of the pupils involved) said: "In fifteen years time, when
we are about 25 or 26, some children might come and say ‘look at
these pictures’ and know what our lives were like when we were there
fifteen years ago."
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| Jenny
and pupils at the Light House |
This
project enabled the children to see their world in a different way.
It helped them appreciate that writing is not the only form of expression.
The history of their lives is as valuable as the history they find
in school books.
I would
like to thank Vanley Burke for giving the children pride in themselves,
their abilities and their world in their little part of Wolverhampton.
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The
World in Wolverhampton Revisited
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The
exhibition is at the Light House media centre until Friday 14th
November 2003.
Light House is situated in The Chubb Buildings, just off the Wolverhampton
Ring Road.
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