Girl Power Film // Impressions Gallery

 

As a member of new focus, we get the opportunities to develop projects that relate to the current exhibition at Impressions Gallery. The short film Girl Power has been inspired by the photographic series 'Being Inbetween' by Carolyn Mendelsohn. Carolyn's series 'Being Inbetween' is a collection of portraits of girls aged between 10 and 12, exploring the complex transition between childhood and young adulthood. 

The film takes us behind the scenes of the photographs to meet three of the girls to hear their personal stories of hopes, fears and aspirations. The video introduces you to three inspirational girls; Alice, Amaira and Kiara.  

Meeting Alice

Each of the Girls we filmed was able to chose a location which they wanted to be filmed in. Alice aspires to become an author so picked Haworth as her filming location due to its link with the Brontë Sisters. I was on the filming team this day so was able to travel to Haworth and see Girl Power filming in progress. My role in the day was taking behind the scenes photos of Alice being filmed which a few can be seen below. Alice surprised us all with her confidence in front of the camera and listening to her story and the answers she gave to our questions were both beautiful and inspirational. Well Done Alice!

Editing over Zoom

Another part of the film consisted of Carolyn talking about her work and the process of meeting the girls. Although I didn't film this, I was part of the editing process of this section of the film. Editing over zoom meetings brings its own challenges however, we managed to edit the footage down into a concise summary of the work. I edited the film with Jennifer and Sarah. First we watched the film, working out bits that can be cut and essential clips that needed to be left in. Once we had done this, we needed to work out where in the film we could layover the images of the girls and where we needed to fill in space with photographs of the exhibition. A couple of hours passed and the editing was complete. 

Online exhibition opening and the launch of Girl Power 

Carolyns Exhibition launch was online, and it was also a showcase of our Girl Power Film to the public. The launch was on YouTube and was a great success! 

To view the full exhibition online, click here.

To watch Girl Power, the short film by New Focus, click here.

Girl Power is funded by @bradfordmdc @bradford_unesco and @bradford_2025  as part of their #MakeFilm programme, and supported by @aceagrams

 

Special thanks to Carolyn for introducing us to these amazing girls. #Bradford2025 #BeingInBetween

Bradford Family Archive // New Focus at Impressions Gallery

This project was developed by New Focus, Impressions Gallery's young peoples collective. 

During lockdown New Focus asked the people of Bradford to share family stories and photos via Facebook and Instagram to become part of an online archive. New Focus collected over sixty photographs and created a short film to highlight some of the stories uncovered.

The film takes us back in time, sparking memories of places forgotten, with photographs dating back to the early 1900s. Highlights include images of Bradford's Iconic locations... Local heroes include Lilian Armitage, a suffragette and the first secretary of the Women's Social and Political Union in Bradford. The film also reveals journeys to Bradford, with contributions from members of Community Works Nani Ji group (a social group for older Asian Women). 

To view the final film, follow the link below:

https://www.impressions-gallery.com/resource/bradford-family-archive/ 

Forget Me Not Project // New Focus at Impressions Gallery

As part of the group New Focus at Impressions Gallery, This allowed me to be part of a new project with them called Forget Me Not. This was inspired by the recent Arpita Shah 'Nalini' exhibition which explored her family history. This inspired us to explore our family histories that we would then curate together to go alongside the exhibition at the gallery. It was also going to be showcased on the big screen in City Park.

After we had all found an image and object that reflected our family in some way, we then had a day booked to spend in the photography studio at Bradford College. This allowed us to photograph our chosen object, photo and also a portrait of us alongside these stories.

Below are my own photos that was taken as part of the project:

Due to Covid-19 and the national lockdown the launch was unfortunately cancelled. However, we launched the video online over on impressions gallery site. We also was able to do a twitter Q and A.

 The video can be viewed here.

Impressions Gallery // Exhibition Installation (3)

Installing... Arpita Shah - Nalini

This week saw the take down of Christopher Nunns Work and the installation of the new exhibition by Arpita Shah. Like last time, I volunteered 4/5 days of the exhibition week. Mon, Wed, Thurs and Fri and was able to experience the different stages of the installation.


Monday / This was a day of taking work down. We took down Christopher Nunn's work, quality checked them and them wrapped them up ready for them to be stored. This was relatively easy to wrap as the work was in extremely light frames and all the same size. Nevertheless there was a lot and it was also unprotected (no glass) so we had to wrap them together and place tissue paper and foam between each print to ensure they were protected.


Wednesday / This day started with finishing off the painting in the gallery. One wall needed to be painted a light blue and there were plinths that were needed again so these also needed repainting. We also needed to dismantle previous plinths that were no longer needed and build up a table and bench set for the reading corner within the gallery.


Thursday /  Today, we started to unwrap the work. This is a part of the week, I find the most exciting. Especially as I didn't know what to expect. I had seen one image from the exhibition and read the description on the impressions gallery website but a part from this I had no idea about the project. From unwrapping the work, there were a variety of different images. Many of them was large scale frames which we unwrapped and placed carefully around the gallery. Towards the end of the day Angela and Anne came in and curated the show which again is a part of the installation week I find the most valuable.

Friday /  Today, the work began to be hung on the wall. As this was a touring exhibition, some of the plinths had be transported and needed repainting again so I did this. Arpita also had a large scale Taj Mahal on one of the walls which again, was an interesting addition to the gallery space and to the project itself.