Anna talked about her  MA  journey, her work with a transgender group in Manchester and how she collaborated on a book with a local poet. Anna spoke about her project and the people she met along the way explaining how she felt great responsibility towards the people she worked with and how she feel a great ethical responsibility for the people she works with especially working with vulnerable groups she always thinks about where she would show the photographs as some of the people she photographed had never told their family or friends they were transgender or gay and she would always inform them before showing. (This ethical question is something I am very aware of and will make sure I follow in the same path as Anna making sure I protect the people who are generous enough to work with me)

 

Humphrey Spender Mass Observation work

 

Anna had won a scholarship to reproduce the mass observation Humphrey Spender did in Bolton . I found this work to be very interesting, I had previously seen a BBC film called “Housewife 49” that I had enjoyed.

After her MA Anna then went on to start the Pod Collective with her friend Emily Hayes, with an aim to work with asylum seekers and refugees in Manchester, using art workshops to build peoples confidences, which in return empowers people to have a voice and represent a community that often gets misrepresented or forgotten.

I found I had a lot in common with Anna’s work as People, stories and creating a visual dialogue is a thread that runs through my own practice. Pod Collective do this through Arts Council funding, I was very interested to hear how they write their bids for grants although Anna said this can take her up to six months to write, as I feel this maybe something I may need to know in the future. What came across throughout the talk was a clear message you need to be passionate about what you do, don’t do projects your not going to enjoy to as this will show in your work. Always keep in touch with people who help you and try to help others along the way.

When researching I found an interesting article on the life of Humphrey Spender

 

http://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/mar/15/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries1