A packed out audience took their place on October 10th 2019 for the National Photo Symposium at the lecture theatre of the University of Birmingham. Most of the 120 delegates comprised a majority of BA degree photography graduates and artists as well as leaders in the Photography world in the UK. The focus for all speakers for the fully booked conference was centred on socially engaged practice took place . BCVA Director Anand Chhabra was invited to speak by GRAIN’s director Nicola Shipley about Black Country Visual Arts projects and regarding the research, collaboration and community impact the project. It was a brilliant event with lots of input going into the audience and ways to hear from them through varied Q/A.
Apna Heritage Archive
Pupils at St Luke's talk about their own personal archive.
Year five pupils at St Luke's got to talk about their own personal archive bio and share their archive photograph with the school. There was a great deal of excitement as the pupils looked for their portraits as you can see in the image above. After reading out their own hand written information sheet they got to file away the information along with their photograph into the new St Luke's archive box. The children were really positive about the archive sessions and have enjoyed learning about our project and the importance of archive and heritage.
Pupils at St Luke's primary school learn the value of archives
BCVA once again teamed up with St Luke's C of E primary school in Blakenhall to talk about our new Apna Heritage Archive project. Over the course of 4 workshops they will learn about the value of archives and how to create their very own archive made up of portraits and information about themselves. The children learned how to take a portrait through a practical game of 'human camera' and portrait session. Over the next few workshops we will visit the Wolverhampton City Archives to learn more about archival practice and take new portraits in national dress. A big thank you to all the staff and children for their hard work and enthusiasm for the project. Apna Heritage Archive is funded by Heritage Lottery Fund.