With an aim to focus on community within my work, I have taken some stills of the local park that I walk around in my lunch break to get a sense of the environment I am in. I want to take time to really see my surroundings, pick up on the environment that not only I am in, but also the people I want to be talking to that will ultimately influence my work.

I work volunteer at the local community cafe, where people who are in need of free food, or those who want to donate, can have a professionally cooked meal using surplus food from the surrounding supermarkets, which aims to reduce food waste. They also teach people how to grow their own food and create affordable meals. There website can be found here

https://www.osnosh.co.uk/

I spent most of my twenties in London and never experienced the level of community connection that I have experienced here, although I know it exists in some London neighbourhoods. Here, there seems to be an ease of communication between community projects and an underlying motive to help one another without ulterior motive.

My work is not just about expressing this kindness and compassion I witness but also is an exercise in undoing the ‘everyone out for themselves’ mentality that a corporate advertising environment drilled into me. An exercise in really seeing and understanding the good will of the people around me and acknowledging that this is hard to do when having experienced trauma which I myself have. An exercise in seeing the light through the fake dark layer that some experiences can put on the world.

Art heals, and through my work, using myself as a guinea pig, I want to demonstrate that.

Also working closely with the local community memorial hall, which puts on local events and host locals businesses, I intend to use peoples actions of kindness and generosity as my inspiration within my work.