‘Stilled Lives’, Kay Walsh
HS Projects commissioned ‘Stilled Lives’, a collaborative project between Kay Walsh and Core Arts. ‘Stilled Lives’ investigated the making of contemporary still life studies focussing on significant elements within daily life. Through this exploration of the unseen or unnoticed elements of individual lives of people dealing with mental illness, the image making became a ‘site’ for the expressions of human existence.
The participants were asked to make a series of images that pictured their environment, home, possessions, obsessions or interests to tell us who they are. This could be an object, a place, a glance or a gesture. The images selected for the exhibition included those by both volunteers and members of the Core Arts community and opened up a dialogue between the viewer and image maker and in doing so questioned some of the common preconceptions that surround mental health issues and the lives of the people that it affects.
‘Stilled Lives’ was funded by the Insight Community Arts Programme (2002 – 2015). The project ran from July to December 2008.
‘Wish’, Nigel Ellis
HS Projects was appointed by Gazeley Properties to deliver a section 106 public art commission to act as a marker for their new business park in Crayford, Kent.
In close collaboration with the developers, architects Higgs Young and Bexley Council we developed the project and artist brief for a site specific, low maintenance, robust sculpture that retained highway visibility.
Following a selection process, Nigel Ellis was commissioned for his response to the physicality of the site and the business of Optima Park, a business and warehouse distribution park. The simplicity and uncluttered clean lines of ‘Wish’, Ellis’s 4 meter high, powder coated steel sculpture, relates well to the architecture and functionality of the site.
HS Projects commissioned ‘Wish’ on behalf of Gazeley Properties for Optima Park, Crayford, Kent in 2004.
‘Beyond Vision I’, PhotoVoice
Working in collaboration with the international charity PhotoVoice, HS Projects launched ‘Beyond Vision I’ in 2008, a three year project with street children from Ecuador.
In partnership with the local, non-profit organisation Juconi and photographers, Lara Kay and Lynn Weddle, ‘Beyond Vision I’ continued the photographers’ earlier work with street children that had begun in 2005.
Photographic courses for street children were run in partnership with the Chantal Fontaine School of Photography in Guayaquil, Ecuador. On completion of the beginners’ course, an advanced programme was run for some of the most enthusiastic and talented young photographers. They learned photographic skills, transferable IT skills, such as website design, and also had the opportunity for tutorials and portfolio reviews with professional photographers. Four-month internships within the photographic industry in Ecuador, alongside encouragement to enter photographic competitions and exhibitions, helped raise the participants’ profile and professionalism while broadening their employment opportunities.
‘Giving children who literally have nothing, access to the luxury of cameras and images of themselves and their lives is a significant contribution in itself. From Juconi’s perspective the lasting impact of ‘Beyond Vision’ has been bringing to the children a realisation that what they choose to photograph is a communication from them.’
JUCONI (Junto Con los Niños or Together with the Children) was founded in 1995 as an Ecuadorian not-for-profit organisation that provides specialised educational and therapeutic services to street-working children and their families.
The Chantal Fontaine School of Photography is a prestigious establishment based in Guayaquil, Ecuador. It is run by Chantal Fontaine, a professional photographer, and provides key commercial photographic services, running a digital studio, an agency and production services, as well as an acclaimed educational programme.
PhotoVoice is an award-winning international charity and the only development organisation of its kind in Europe. Its projects empower some of the most disadvantaged groups in the world with photographic skills so that they can transform their lives.
‘Beyond Vision I’ was commissioned by HS Projects and funded by the Insight Community Arts Programme (2002 – 2015).