PHOTOGRAPHY / WORKSHOP
Open Aye ran a participatory photography project for Flourish House as part of their responsive art project, aiming to provide an impactful, relaxing and inspiring photography project based around the West End of Glasgow. The sessions were designed to engage participants in creative activity within their local spaces and to foster consideration of what Glasgow means to them.
The sessions took place in outdoor spaces around the city with each session exploring a different area of the West End such as Queens Crescent Gardens, Woodlands, Kelvingrove Park, Park Circus, Garnethill, the Botanic Gardens and Kelvin Way.
Participants were provided with a camera, photography tips, inspiration and a photographic theme for each session, encouraging them to use the camera as a tool for expression and as a means to explore the city through a new, creative lens. By using cameras and photography we were able to actively engage the participants in the spaces and generate discussion around issues such as green spaces, buildings, culture, education and history, leading to discussion around issues within Glasgow that matter to the group. The participants then went on to use the cameras as a tool to express their ideas surrounding these issues.
Open Aye was able to provide the participants with a fun, creative and safe space where the participants were able to express themselves whilst gaining basic digital photography skills, experiencing a sense of purpose within a group, seeing places from a different perspective and improving wellbeing.
At the end of the project, we organised a celebration exhibition of the participants’ favourite images at a green space near Flourish House. The participants also left with visual outputs which may help to inform the other elements of their responsive art project, as well as having physical and digital copies of their images to take home.