OPENSHAW COMMUNITY PORTRAITS
An Architect for a Day project
Science & Industry Museum
The brief
I was commissioned to provide photography for An Architect for a Day, a project commissioned by the Science and Industry Museum exploring how a high street could be reimagined for future generations, using Openshaw as a real-world case study.
The project encouraged children and adults to think about what makes them feel proud of their high street, what matters to the local community and how it might look in the future.
My brief was to capture the diversity of the Openshaw community, its high street and the people who live, work and spend time there.
The approach
I worked with Manchester Settlement to go out into the community and meet a wide range of people. With consent managed by the project team, I took a natural and candid approach to photographing people in their everyday surroundings.
There wasn't a lot of time with each person, so building rapport quickly was important. I wanted people to feel comfortable with me and the camera, allowing me to capture something of their personality and connection to the area rather than creating formal, posed portraits.
The outcome
The resulting photographs capture the diversity of people in Openshaw alongside the character of the high street itself.
I wanted the images to feel authentic and give a sense of the people and community behind the place , creating a visual record of Openshaw at a particular point in time.
The photographs were projected in a dedicated space at the Science and Industry Museum, creating a visual story of Openshaw and its residents as part of the wider project.
The images were also retained by Manchester Settlement for its archives, creating a visual record of the community as part of a project looking towards the future of the high street.
Commissioning organisation: Science and Industry Museum
Project: An Architect for the Day, by Laura Sanderson
Location: Openshaw, Manchester
Photography: Community storytelling and documentary photography