Twelve: A Participatory Project Highlighting the Experiences and Motivations of Volunteers
Twelve is a participatory photography project focussed on the work of volunteers in one of the UK’s most deprived wards. In early 2023, with the backdrop and context of the UK’s Cost of Living Crisis, photography practitioners and educators, John Harrison and Shaun McAllister, conceptualised a creative practice that could explore the contribution made by volunteers working in Blackburn (Lancashire, UK). The resulting proposal led them to develop relationships with two local organisations that rely of the work of volunteers to deliver support for people in Blackburn. Following several months of engagement, their proposal for on-site participatory photography practice was approved, and creative residencies at both organisations began in October 2023. Following the residencies, a series of exhibitions were delivered in 2024 to reveal the outcomes of the project to a national audience: OXO Towers (South Bank, London) in June 2024, The National Festival of Making (Blackburn, Lancashire) in July 2024, The Open Eye Gallery (Liverpool) in October 2024. The resulting publication (see above) that emerged from this project contains the participatory portraits, texts drawn from interviews with volunteers, critical essays by writer Shonti Mukherjee, and an expansive statement about the nature of volunteering by Gill Fourie (Blackburn Food Bank). The project and the outcomes were realised with the generous support of BIMM University, The Duchy of Lancaster, The National Festival of Making, and The Trussell Trust.