Documenting
Your Community

“I am a final year student at Manchester Metropolitan University. My images depict my home town of Oldham in Greater Manchester.” – Grace Potts.

“This photograph was captured in the Smithdown Road area of the city – in the streets surrounding the church where my brother is a priest. The L15 and L8 areas of Liverpool have long been social melting pots: ethnically/culturally diverse, working-class and full of lively hustle and bustle. For many years, the city of Liverpool has swayed towards the political left – with many of the city’s natives craving a fairer and more ‘socialist’ geared society! So the sprawl of graffiti reading ‘Fight For Socialism’ felt like a fitting tribute to my city’s state of mind and provided a striking backdrop with which to capture the two hooded youths speeding past me on a motorbike. The photograph is from my open-ended documentary project – ‘The Streets of Liverpool’. It is a project born out of my desire to create compelling and lasting images of the city and how it looks today for future generations.” – Sam Jones.

“This was taken in Hackney Central, London, which is my local area. I’ve been working on a project to capture the areas of London subjected to gentrification, with Hackney being one of those. I wanted to capture the community and interview them about their thoughts and feelings towards the changes.

“The man in the photo is Otis. He owns and runs that food truck, which he has been doing for the past ten years; he told me that he loves the sense of community in Hackney, even though so many people come and go from the area. He says he has noticed such a change in the area within the past ten years and hopes it continues to improve for the people in the community.” – Mia Gillen.