The craziness of 2020 continues, and I am trying to keep positive by making portraits in new and interesting ways to reflect the times that we live in.
A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to make some images of the women involved in an Oxford Homelessness charity called the Gatehouse. The Gatehouse is a drop in cafe and community centre led by women and has many long-term female volunteers and guests. The portraits are for an outdoor exhibition which will be part of Photo Oxford in October and November. The theme of the festival is Women and Photography, and we’ve titled the image series “Strength and Resilience”. The aim is to recognise the impressive ability of many of the women connected to the Gatehouse to cope with what life throws at them.
We initially started planning to make these portraits about 9 months ago, when no one could have predicted how 2020 would unfold. We were going to do the photography in May, which turned out to be deep lockdown and so we postponed. After deciding that we could go ahead with the photos outdoors in September, I started thinking about how we could make striking images which recognised the power of these women, but also that we were in the middle of a pandemic. I had the idea about using a sneeze screen just in time to order one before the shoot. As I worried about its timely arrival, I ordered another smaller one to be sure. In fact, I think having two screens worked really well and allowed more variety of images.
I loved the visual effect of the reflections on the perspex and glass and also the possible metaphorical interpretation that the screens symbolise the invisible barriers faced by those who are vulnerably housed.
On the day of the shoot, I set up my backdrop and sneeze screens in the courtyard outside St Giles Churchhall, where the Gatehouse normally operates. People dropped in one at a time for their picture session so that there were never more than 6 people there. We had a lovely sunny day, thankfully, and I really enjoyed meeting and chatting to guests, volunteers, workers and one of the charity’s founders.
I was very keen that all the portraits were similarly respectful, and I hope that people will look at the pictures when they are displayed and consider the important contribution to society made by each woman, regardless of their housing status.
During the COVID19 pandemic the Gatehouse continued to work for their community by providing food by delivery and take away. They also gave one-to-one support to those in need. During lockdown many street homeless were housed and tenant protection was provided to the vulnerably housed. However, there remains much uncertainty about the future. We hope that these portraits will help raise awareness about the work of the Gatehouse, and hopefully help with fundraising as well.
