Community through photography
Open Eye Gallery
As well as presenting exhibitions, Open Eye Gallery commissions photographers to work collaboratively with communities of place or interest, bringing groups together to learn from, share with and nurture each other.
Community through photography
Open Eye Gallery
A socially-engaged photography gallery located on Liverpool’s Waterfront and working across the city.
As well as presenting exhibitions, Open Eye Gallery commissions photographers to work collaboratively with communities of place or interest, bringing groups together to learn from, share with and nurture each other.
Photo: © Rob Battersby
Launched in 1977, Open Eye Gallery has a long-standing practice of collaboration with communities in Liverpool.
Open Eye is taking a lead in developing a socially-engaged photography network nationally. In Liverpool, Open Eye puts these ideas into practice with projects such as Dementia Eye: A View to Remember delivered in partnership with Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust and Liverpool SURF Group.
Photo: © Rob Battersby
Credit: Clickmoor Group
Credit: Clickmoor Group
Bringing different voices, photographers, and communities together, the collaborative process is just as important as the final product
Bringing different voices, photographers, and communities together, the collaborative process is just as important as the final product
In the Spotlight
Clickmoor
Formed prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the intergenerational photography group Clickmoor is based in Clubmoor, North Liverpool. The group has been working with photographers, Emma Case and Kat Monaghan, to share stories, experiences, and start conversations through photographic practice.
Members of the Clickmoor Photography Group in conversation with Liz Wewiora (Head of Social Practice, Open Eye Gallery) in October 2020.
Members use photography to explore issues of identity, community, health and wellbeing, while learning new skills, building their confidence and finding new ways to connect with the people and places around them.
Members of the Clickmoor Photography Group in conversation with Liz Wewiora (Head of Social Practice, Open Eye Gallery) in October 2020.
Through photography, I think we’ve been able to talk to each other on a deeper level ... because you’re bringing things out in your pictures that you might not say in words, you know quite intimate things or this happened to me
Covid-19 and beyond
In response to the pandemic, Open Eye developed an online programme, which included live-stream talks and virtual exhibitions.
Throughout lockdown, the Clickmoor group were able to continue engaging with photographers Emma and Kat via Zoom. The group began using photography as a way to document what they experienced, their feelings, and reflections during the COVID-19 pandemic, and produced a Zine called ‘Lockdown’, which brought together a selection of their photographs.
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