Pictures at an Exhibition ….

Last Friday brought together storytellers from Bournemouth, Brighton and Sheffield to view an exhibition based on the project and to see screenings of their films. Also in attendance were some of our Advisory Group members and Rose Attu from The Reading Agency who spoke about the fantastic work they are doing encouraging more young people and adults to read.

The exhibition gave centre stage to all of our project storytellers, featuring each of their portraits (courtesy of Ray Gibson) and bios.  A projector also showed the digital stories on a loop as the attendees gathered.

We then moved into the auditorium to watch the project story which Ross Adamson has put together. This is a really important, entertaining and moving overview of the work we’ve been doing over the last year, and it was wonderful to hear from our storytellers again and see the images of our time together from the workshops.

In total, 10 storytellers made the journey, by coach (Bournemouth) train (Sheffield) and on foot (Brighton).   Each of the storytellers recounted their experiences of the project and it was lovely to hear about the lasting legacy of the stories as these are shared with friends and family.  It was also inspiring to hear about how some of the storytellers have gone on to make more stories equipped with the skills and confidence using new technologies that the workshops have given them.

Special thanks to Isobel Creed for organising the event, to Ross Adamson for putting together the project story, and to Ray Gibson, whose photos have played such an important part helping us to capture those special moments.

Over the next few months we will be putting together some of those images and the audio from the event. We’ll also be reflecting back on the project and what we’ve achieved.  If we are successful in attracting more funding the plan is to take the project on the road, reaching out to new audiences and capturing more responses, so watch this space!