Peter Walker completed an MA in photography in 2008 at Bolton University and has further developed a keen interest in social documentary photography
In 2009 Peter was jointly commissioned by Oldham Council’s ‘Gateways to Oldham’ team and the Housing Market Renewal pathfinder project to create a photographic record of the environment, history and community of the Primrose Bank estate.
Working with residents and community groups, Peter has created images that bear witness to the cultural and social diversity of a changing community.
The photographs taken over the course of a year portray the changing face of the estate and the changing community – from a stark 1960s concrete council housing estate, towards a twenty first century place to live. Peter has recorded surprising images that are both beautiful and powerful, and these are complimented by a vision of the latest proposals to regenerate the estate.
An exhibition of photographs by MA Photography graduate Caroline Edge and Humphrey Spender opened on the 30th March at Bolton Museum and Art Gallery.
This exhibition compares photographs taken by Humphrey Spender in 1937-8 for the Mass Observation Worktown study of Bolton with modern photographs of seasonal rituals taken by Caroline Edge. Visual parallels between old and new explore communal desires and activities that cross generations.
Caroline Edge with Rotary Club Representatives and Mike Lomas, University Director of Business Development and External Partnerships
The Mass Observation was founded to ‘collect a mass of data based on practical observation, on the everyday life of all types of people’. From 1937-8 the organisation made a study of life in Bolton (Worktown) collecting a large number of observer accounts of attitudes and behaviour. Humphrey Spender’s photographs formed part of this survey and capture the spirit of a northern mill town at work and play.
This exhibition will be displayed for 6 weeks and is supported by the Humphrey Spender John Marriott Scholarship for Social Documentary Photography, 2009.
MA Photography Alumni, Adrian Barber, has been working with Bolton Museum and Archive Service and the Genesis Entry to Employment Youth Group to create an exhibition on crime and punishment.
The exhibition tells the story of two people in prison cells. The first will be a Victorian cell, telling the story of Agnes Lawless, a prisoner in 1871. Agnes was a young servant girl who stole from her employer and received six month hard labour in Stangeways Prison as a result.
The group has worked in partnership with Hindley Young Offenders Institute to tell the story of the second cell, a young person who has recently committed a crime.
The youth group took on the roles of Museum staff and had full control over design and content in the exhibition. Members of the group took on roles such as project manager, finance officer and administration assistant.
