UK Disability History Month: We Can Take Pictures (Revisited)
In this, the fourth in a sequence of blogposts for Disability History Month, Judith Fieldhouse and Dr Kirstie Jamieson introduce a 1982 photographic project in a Special Educational Needs school, and reflect on the difficulties encountered in re-establishing contact with participants and their families more than forty years later.
In 1982 a one-day photographic session, at Pinewood School in West Lothian, developed into a year-long ‘ground breaking’ project led by photographer, Franki Raffles, using polaroid and 35mm cameras to teach photography to the children. But taking photographs and making images was not all that the participants gained from the project. The project, while exploring the function of photography within education, helped the children’s creativity, while also enhancing co-ordination, perception, memory and storytelling. The project empowered the participants allowing them to express themselves in ways which they had never experienced before. The project was a result of Franki Raffles deeply held belief in the power of photography as a tool for social engagement and empowerment, rather than exploitation and the award of a Kodak Bursary alongside support from the Scottish Committee for Arts and Disability and the Mental Health Foundation provided the funding required to give the project its longevity which was documented in a booklet ‘We Can Take pictures’.
The pride and concentration and the engagement of the children involved can be seen in these selected images. They express themselves through storytelling, showing the audience their daily events. They document each other and create storyboards. The Archive of Franki Raffles Photography is held at the University of St Andrews Library Special Collections and co-managed with Edinburgh Napier University, and until recently this body of work remained largely overlooked.
Photographer: Franki Raffles – University of St Andrews, Photographic Collections
Photographer: Franki Raffles – University of St Andrews, Photographic Collections
The value of this project was recognised by researchers Dr Kirstie Jamieson, Dr Diane Willis and PhD Candidate Judith Fieldhouse at Edinburgh Napier University, and it was decided that there would be value in revisiting the project. The aim of the new project was to develop an exhibition that revisits ‘We can Take Pictures’ with an aim to inviting the original participants of the project and their families to reflect on the project’s impact, The event which will be documented through photography will allow the participants to collaborate enabling us to develop new materials, thus continuing the many of the values, such as storytelling and empowerment, which were foundations of the original project. This project will allow us to advocate for similar projects to support abilities of children and adults with learning disabilities.
The poster below was designed and over 100 were distributed and within the West Lothian area of Edinburgh and any communities connected with Pinewood School. Press releases were sent to local newspapers and many interesting conversations were started with people who remembered the school or pupils who attended. The pupils who had taken part with the original project remained difficult to trace. This led us to begin to question why this was the case? Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and Myspace are just some of the platforms over the years which have been used to either connect or re-connect people, however although social media and the internet has the potential to be beneficial to people with learning disabilities, research indicates that the ‘digital divide’ has produced inequalities, whether this be due to lack of access or skillset. Evidence has highlighted that people with disabilities have less access to the internet than others within society, this may be for varying reasons, be that economic, because of social attitudes, social exclusion, or training barriers. This raises the question, was why was it so difficult to make contact with the original ‘We Can Take Pictures’ participants?
During a recent interview in which, the Headteacher of Pinewood School at the time of the project, and Franki Raffles’ partner reminisce of the project, they tell stories of the children, remembering and commenting of their individual characters. The project gave the children the agency to tell their stories through the photographs which they took and are now remembered as participants of the project. However, this leads to the question do the participants lack the agency now to have their voices heard, and why has this happened? Where is the line between protecting people who may be vulnerable or leaving the stories and memories unheard? As the project has now raised more questions it was important to continue, but possibly not in the way we had originally envisaged.
Silence has been found when we look to find the voices of the participants of a project which took place in the 1980’s. Many avenues have been taken to try and connect with the participants of the project in the hope that they can participate in further projects and reminisce. The original project gave the participants agency and empowerment for a short period of time, rather than a longer term, this highlights the importance of revisiting and reflecting on the original project and archive. A change of tack has taken place and other approaches are being tried in order to contact the then youngsters who were involved, which at the same time empowering and allowing agency in a similar fashion to a new group of participants. By providing workshops, alongside exhibiting photographs, the same values of Franki Raffles “We Can Take Pictures’ workshop, can be upheld. This will allow opportunities to a further group within the community, to share stories and memories in innovative and creative ways. The campaign to share the original project will also be broadened allowing us to connect with original participants and their families.
Garvald in Edinburgh has agreed to be a Community Partner to the project. Their mission statement ‘At Gravald, we believe everyone is unique, has value and the potential to grow’, sits well with Franki Raffles methodology of advocating for equality and enabling everyone within the community to feel equal and empowered. Through creating a supportive community at Garvald, and having trust and mutual respect as the cornerstones of the community, the members are encouraged to learn new things and set their own goals fostering empowerment and agency over the decisions that the members choose.
The participatory workshops will use images from the ‘We Can Take Pictures’ project alongside other props to aid memories of days at school. In a similar fashion to the original workshops Kodak Smile instant print digital cameras will be used offering a way to express and communicate feelings thoughts and memories. During the workshops the participants will learn new skills while they use the cameras, download and print images and curate and tell stories with the images.
In the meantime the knowledge that has been gained from researching the Franki Raffles archive and ‘We Can Take Pictures’ project, can be used to empower, engage and give agency to more people as they reflect on the exhibits from the archive. They can begin reminiscing, telling their own stories and sharing their memories, all the while the project will filter through the communities be shared and in time reach the original participants and their families, who will then share their own memories.
https://collections.st-andrews.ac.uk/collection/franki-raffles-photography-collection/555035
Guest contributions to this series are always welcome. If you are involved with an archive community project working with records of disabled people we would love to hear from you.