April 15, 2024
Public engagement in the spotlight
Documenting a sense of place in The Meadows, Nottingham
This blog spotlights current research the team are supporting through the civic impact champions training programme. Read to learn more about the work of Mark Rawlinson, who is using photography to uncover new stories about The Meadows.
Photo collage by Rita Pena.
The Institute’s Civic Impact Champions Programme (CICP) is tailored to researchers who are interested in responding to local need, with the aim of increasing knowledge of regional decision-making structures and building networks outside the university. As well as carefully tailored training and networking opportunities, each cohort member is provided with funding, financed by HEIF, to enable them to put the skills they develop into practice through a related project.
Dr Mark Rawlinson, Associate Professor in Culture, Language and Area Studies and Arts Faculty Civic Lead, is one of five academics forming this year’s CICP cohort. In 2023, Mark delivered a three month Research England funded collaborative project called ‘Documenting Place/Making Place’ with Make it Easy Lab, an educational space and traditional photographic facility in Nottingham.
I wanted to work with Make it Easy Lab as I’d visited their labs and used their film processing services and got to know the team, especially Dan Wheeler who runs the lab. I then learned about their monthly socials, where people come along and show their work and support each other. Make it Easy Lab has a library, so I went along and donated some books. While there Dan and I started talking about his work and my research on histories of photography, and out of that we started discussing potential projects. And here we are!
The residency enabled 6 participants to produce a series of photographs focused on the Meadows and surrounding areas, which were later displayed as a public exhibition.
Photograph by Annie Warren
Mark’s new project builds on this existing work, supporting two Meadow’s residents to use photography to document and work more closely with local communities. Not only will the project help the residents develop professional competencies to enable them to seek funding as individual practitioners, but also encourages individuals in the Meadows working with these residents to produce photographic documents which engage with a range of social issues.
Right now, one of the residents is working with an elderly-ladies line dancing club, encouraging the ladies to make photographs which will from part of the dialogue of the areas the residents will capture as part of their ‘official’ photograph project and exhibition.
Following on from the success of this year’s programme we hope to be able to run the CICP, with supporting project funding, again next year. Watch this space for details!