Wobbles are ok!

I devoted several years of my practice to a deeply emotionally charged body of work that took me into prolonged self-reflection, centering most of my photographic creation solely on my personal lived experiences. This resulted in temporarily losing the ability to envisage a project involving other people, especially people I did not know.

After several months’ break from making any work, I suddenly felt uncomfortable in my photographic seclusion and was ready to remerge.

Ideas started to develop, and I decided to commence a long-form series that enforced me to reengage and rebuild my confidence in approaching people to photograph, putting to the test my capacity to step outside of my comfort zone.

The opportunity to finally feel rooted and insert myself as a photographer in my own community sounded exciting as much as terrifying. While self-doubt occupied my thoughts, a chance to study a postgraduate degree appeared on the horizon; things were naturally aligning towards moving my practice forward while growing my confidence and trusting my self-confidence. This is how Hope, Despair and Miracles was born in 2019.

I am aware that the results achieved as a photographer so far have been partly possible thanks to receiving valuable advice and feedback from peers and professionals which I am grateful for. I am also pleased to recognise my personal efforts at persevering through my 20 years of practice, with the last two years of coronavirus lockdowns and restrictions  being the most challenging ones so far.

I have learned that to grow in confidence, one needs to face the unknown and accept that failure is a possibility along the way. Learning from our failures allows us to gain confidence, as hard as this may seem.

Like everyone, I’ve had lows and highs but undoubtably, resilience, self-belief and self-kindness have been key in helping me navigate the different stages of my career and reach the level of confidence necessary to push it forward.

As for celebrating the victories, I consider this still a work in progress, but I am heading in the right direction because above everything I have learned, I now accept that wobbles are ok!

Hope, Despair and Miracles focuses on the ordinary people making a real difference in my community, Longsight in South-East Manchester, UK. It celebrates the grassroots and individuals that make small changes with a huge positive impact on everyday life. Through a combination of considered portraits and landscapes, the project is a commentary on socio-economic inequality and human resilience.

In a time where communities are facing a post-Covid crisis, Hope, Despair and Miracles aims to transcend the local and inspire others to recognise that change is possible, and togetherness is essential; it calls us to focus on the meaningful people and places that we notice around us.