As a freelance writer for Big Issue North I also knew a lot of Romanian Roma were working as vendors, due to being shut out of our jobs market. Eventually, after six months of trying to meet potential Roma collaborators, I was introduced to a magazine vendor, Ramona. This became the first of a series of creative collaborations, parts of which were variously funded by the Lipman Miliband Trust, Arts Council England, Amber Collective and Big Issue North Trust and exhibited at Side Gallery and Salford Art Gallery. The main purpose of this work was to challenge problematic and flattened representations of people from these very diverse communities through long-term engagement and the act of co-production.
