The young visitor – looked up at me and said ‘ The thing is bad things happen to people and it’s not their fault.’  That someone so young could see and understand and not judge a stranger. It’s a statement that gave me hope.

I was talking to a local primary school girl who was visiting the Workers Gallery with her grandma. The show was Small Town Inertia by acclaimed social documentary photographer J A Mortram. His inspiring body of work spanning 10 years (& still ongoing) in which those affected by the stark realities and consequences of austerity in Britain are given a voice.

The young girl’s grandma is part of a sewing and knitting group who meet regularly at the gallery. They began using the gallery as a space when the local church closed (and with it a big chunk of their social life). For weeks only one or two would turn up but it was a time for chatting and socialising and tea was always the fuel for a quick knit or sew. A few months on the group grew and it is now a noisy, dynamic group who organise raffles and trips out. Tea is still drunk – but it’s become a close-knit (excuse the pun) group of friends who sit and make things by hand together.

So that is why grandma came in – it’s a space she uses and she brought in her granddaughter because she was eager to take part in the forthcoming Community Photography Day (inspired by Jim’s show being at the gallery). So here we found ourselves talking about photographs of strangers lives. By reading Kirsty’s story we found out that when Kirtsy was a very young child she had lost her mom. We discovered that her mom had had a seizure in the bath and drown. That’s when this smart, compassionate girl looked up to me and said  ‘The thing is bad things happen to people and it’s not their fault.’

Good things can happen too.

Gayle Rogers is the resident artist at the Workers Gallery.

Small Town Inertia continues at the Workers Gallery until 27th July 2019. See www.workersgallery.co.uk for opening times.

See www.smalltowninertia.co.uk for J A Mortam’s work.


0 Comments