In Spring 2022, students from Hanley Castle High School, near Malvern, worked with a professional photography practitioner, a film maker and Severn Arts to explore rural identity/isolation and the impact of the pandemic on young people’s lives through photography and photographic processes.

This project was funded by the Containment Outbreak Management Fund (COMF) to support young people, who have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, through the provision of additional youth activities. This photography project complements a wide range of other projects (mainly sports) as part of this funding, but also seeks to identify the gaps in more isolated, rural areas. 

Across three full-day workshops, students learnt how to use photographic equipment to identify and capture artistic images, explore the photographic process of cyanotype, and working with the venue National Trust Croome Court, how to curate an exhibition of their own photographic work. 

The project culminated in a public exhibition, curated by the students themselves, at Croome Court in April 2022. Visitors to the exhibition were able to view students’ work, as well as a film (see below) produced for the project that explored students’ experiences and perspectives on rural identity as young people living or attending school in Worcestershire.