My Town exhibition at Bridge Arts, Castleford

About

This striking exhibition is the culmination of an art project involving young people from the Wakefield Young Offenders Team. In 2009 six participants took part in a three week photography project aimed at providing them with new skills and creative experiences. As part of the project they were trained to operate digital SLR cameras which they used to create three large artworks under the theme of ‘My Town'. The scheme, led by fine art photographer Asha Munn, was developed to encourage the participants to consider the positive and negative images associated with the place they live. Each participant was entrusted with a camera and asked to act as a recorder, narrating their town as they see it. The intention of the project was to give the group the power to represent themselves and thereby challenge the control of those who may choose to portray the participants in a negative light. It is hoped that by working in this way, the young people involved will begin to see that they have control over how they are perceived. The digital artworks created as a result of the project were exhibited at YSP in August 2009 and are now on tour at Bridge Arts, Castleford.