In 2022 I was commissioned to work with communities from Wigan, developing stories centred around the King Street Heritage Action Zone. Once full of theatres and offices, this grand-looking street close to Wallgate train station has fallen on hard times – home to empty properties, struggling pubs and clubs and with clear evidence of rough sleeping. I chose to split my commission in two – running a series of photo walks and a final workshop open to anyone who wanted to share their stories of the street, but also developing a project with people who use the Brick, a local charity which works with people with experience of homelessness. One of the participants from that side of the project had actually slept rough on King Street before eventually kicking his addiction and becoming housed. The public work was exhibited in the public realm on King Street – with these stories and more going into an ebook freely available online. The Brick project became a beautiful co-produced zine designed by Amy Cecelia Leigh, which was printed and also made available digitally. This project was commissioned by Streets Apart and funded by Historic England.
See the Brick zine here.
See the Street View ebook here