ACCESS TO ART

Thanks to funding from Community First, we worked with a group of unemployed Lincoln residents (aged 40+) to produce a photography exhibition which delved into Lincoln’s past as well as showcasing what the group learnt through workshops run by Blueprint. The images used in the exhibition fused their own photography with period photographs of Lincoln.

The project taught the group numerous skills to help them find work. They all learnt how to use high end DSLR cameras and how to compose more striking professional-looking photographs. There was a great deal of post-production in Adobe Photoshop required to create the final merged images too, so the group learnt valuable IT skills.

More importantly though, the members of the group developed their self-confidence through working to produce an exhibition of a quality they never imagined they could achieve. All of them openly expressed this view to us at the end of the project and we could see a visible change in their attitudes. One participant went on to work at the community centre where we ran the sessions and another bought himself a better camera so that he could take his photography skills to the next level.

Some of the exhibition images can be viewed below:

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