I aim to make work which reflects the complexity of people’s lives and does not reinforce damaging stereotypes.
I treat people with respect and always seek informed consent – fully explaining the aims and context of my work to potential collaborators. This is an ongoing conversation and participants have the right to withdraw consent at any point.
I am mindful that I often work within communities/groups with very different lived experiences from my own.
I do not claim to speak for anyone – I listen and find creative ways to amplify people’s voices. Sometimes this involves me holding the camera but on other occasions I support people to create their own images. Whichever form the work takes, I try to be as collaborative as possible.
As a trained journalist, text is important to me – I believe words anchor the meaning of images. This is especially important when I’m working with groups with a history of misrepresentation. I work with people to develop captions which accompany any images.
