The World As We See It - Feeling Exclusively Included in Skipton

Creativity, togetherness and self expression - yes, yes and yes. All have been present in a Photovoice project that we’ve been working on with Exclusively Inclusive in Skipton. But it’s been about so much more than that.

Exclusively Inclusive are a community group who believe in the power of friendship and being connected in natural relationships. These are folk who have had many labels applied to them in their lives - as one member of the group, Chris Porter says “labels are for jars, not people”!

Photovoice is process where we use images to think about ourselves and the world around us from different perspectives. In addition to celebrating the strengths we’ve been acknowledging the challenges that people have faced in their own lives.

Experiences of feeling excluded from society, of being judged, of bullying and not always being listened to by services that are meant to do just that and more. Hearing people talk about this stuff is powerful, seeing these things represented through photography is next level!

I’m so inspired by the compassion and energy of this group - not only for each other but for the world around them. The photographs that they have created represent a whole range of things - from taking action on matters of concern in the community and contributing so much to the lives of others, through to photos full of joy, friendship, family and love

To have been able to work alongside Exclusively Inclusive over the last couple of months and be invited to share reflect and learn together through photography is a huge privilege - I want to thank everyone involved at Exclusively Inclusive for making me feel so welcome and at home, it was a wonderful experience to share and I am hopeful that this is just the beginning of our creative collaborations!!

Through this Photovoice project an amazing collection of photographs and narratives have been created and can’t wait for people to see the exhibition that we have planned!

We are delighted to share that Skipton Town Hall have very kindly offered to host our exhibition entitled ‘The World As We See It’ opening in January 2022 for more information and to book a ticket to attend the opening showcase please visit HERE.

If you can’t make the opening event then fear not! The images will remain on display until April at the Hub in Skipton Town Hall so there’s plenty of opportunity to view the work and through the magic of QR codes we’re inviting people to share their reactions, responses and thoughts about the images created the themes raised as a way of growing the conversation.