Reframed – The Travelling World is Not Arriving
ReFramed is a Midlands-based network for Black, Asian and other racialised communities interested in producing photographic visual art. Set up by a team of award-winning photographers and curators, from these above communities, who believe that visual arts can play a critical role in shaping civic and contemporary attitudes. Starting collaborative conversations and changing prevailing thoughts about race, the local environment and our communities. As the first wave of COVID-19 approached, we were conscious of how our communities were being disproportionately affected and yet under-represented both in terms of who was being interviewed about it but also regarding who was asking the questions. The lack of inclusion and diversity in the media and the arts, whilst long-term and historical, seemed to be most apparent to us. Regrettably, even after many arts organisations, in the wake of the global Black Lives Matter movement, had pledged to be more inclusive. As a result, we undertook, with collaboration from Black Country Visual Arts and funding from the Arts Council, to create a range of opportunities for artists, from a cross-section of backgrounds, to respond directly to COVID-19 and the multiple ways it had affected their lives. The funding enabled us to support two artists, a number which later grew to five with the support of Kala Phool, Slanguages, New Art Exchange and Birmingham City University. Alongside these established artists we also, through workshop-based training opportunities, worked with several new artists across the Midlands to help them produce bodies of photographic work. We believe that it is fundamental that those involved in commissioning and making work that is directly about our communities, have the lived experiences, knowledge and consent of those communities in order to reflect them in honest and recognisable ways. In this light, it has been a great pleasure for all of us at ReFramed to have been able to give these artists the platform and opportunity to respond to this moment in time. The following images in this publication reflect the approaches of both our Bursary Artists and photographic workshop participants. Through their eyes we get to see their lives, thoughts and feelings reflected to us in an enduring time that is still yet to pass.
ReFramed is a Midlands-based network for Black, Asian and other racialised communities
interested in producing photographic visual art. Set up by a team of award-winning
photographers and curators, from these above communities, who believe that visual arts
can play a critical role in shaping civic and contemporary attitudes. Starting collaborative
conversations and changing prevailing thoughts about race, the local environment and our
communities.
As the first wave of COVID-19 approached, we were conscious of how our communities were
being disproportionately affected and yet under-represented both in terms of who was being
interviewed about it but also regarding who was asking the questions.
The lack of inclusion and diversity in the media and the arts, whilst long-term and historical,
seemed to be most apparent to us. Regrettably, even after many arts organisations, in
the wake of the global Black Lives Matter movement, had pledged to be more inclusive.
As a result, we undertook, with collaboration from Black Country Visual Arts and funding
from the Arts Council, to create a range of opportunities for artists, from a cross-section of
backgrounds, to respond directly to COVID-19 and the multiple ways it had affected their
lives.
The funding enabled us to support two artists, a number which later grew to five with the
support of Kala Phool, Slanguages, New Art Exchange and Birmingham City University.
Alongside these established artists we also, through workshop-based training opportunities,
worked with several new artists across the Midlands to help them produce bodies of
photographic work. We believe that it is fundamental that those involved in commissioning
and making work that is directly about our communities, have the lived experiences,
knowledge and consent of those communities in order to reflect them in honest and
recognisable ways.
In this light, it has been a great pleasure for all of us at ReFramed to have been able to
give these artists the platform and opportunity to respond to this moment in time. The
following images in this publication reflect the approaches of both our Bursary Artists and
photographic workshop participants. Through their eyes we get to see their lives, thoughts
and feelings reflected to us in an enduring time that is still yet to pass.
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ARTISTS<br />
Raúl Valdivia Murgueytio<br />
Pages 6 to 11<br />
Raúl Valdivia Murgueytio <strong>is</strong> a Peruvian-born independent scholar based in the UK. H<strong>is</strong><br />
academic interests include v<strong>is</strong>ual, cultural and curatorial studies, with a particular focus on<br />
Latin America. Trained in clinical psychology and sociology, he received h<strong>is</strong> Ph.D. from the<br />
School of Arts at Birkbeck, with a thes<strong>is</strong> on the photographic practice of marginal<strong>is</strong>ed groups<br />
in Peru.<br />
Raúl became interested in photography through h<strong>is</strong> training of school teachers in global<br />
citizenship education. In h<strong>is</strong> sessions, he d<strong>is</strong>cussed a range of global <strong>is</strong>sues using examples<br />
of social documentary photography, including Sebastião Salgado’s series on migration and<br />
modern slavery.<br />
Raúl’s photographic practice addresses notions of cultural identity and belonging, and it<br />
<strong>is</strong> influenced by the work of Carrie Mae Weems, Seydou Keita and Francesca Woodman,<br />
among others. Currently, he <strong>is</strong> organ<strong>is</strong>ing an exhibition of photographs by renowned<br />
Peruvian intellectual José María Arguedas, to be shown in London 2021.<br />
Kr<strong>is</strong>han Patel<br />
Pages 12 to 15<br />
Kr<strong>is</strong>han Patel <strong>is</strong> a 19 year old from the West Midlands, currently studying Geography in h<strong>is</strong><br />
first year at university. H<strong>is</strong> cultural identity has been influenced by growing up in an Indian<br />
household with a lot of ethnic family and friends around him.<br />
With h<strong>is</strong> future ahead, he <strong>is</strong> ready to develop h<strong>is</strong> photography skills. Th<strong>is</strong> interest in<br />
photography has been inspired by h<strong>is</strong> family members as well as a desire to see the world in<br />
different perspectives.<br />
He enjoys exploring work about underrepresented members of society and personal stories<br />
that convey a powerful message. Aside from studying and photography, Kr<strong>is</strong>han has interests<br />
in music, films and sports such as football, badminton and basketball. He <strong>is</strong> keen on learning<br />
more about a range of other cultures.<br />
Amrit Doll<br />
@a__doll__<br />
Pages 16 to 21<br />
Emerging art<strong>is</strong>t and writer, Amrit Doll, <strong>is</strong> based in Leicester. Amrit has used th<strong>is</strong> project to<br />
bring together writing and photography to convey the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on<br />
taxi drivers. Many are from ethnic minority backgrounds and have a cultural reticence when<br />
d<strong>is</strong>cussing hardship.<br />
After studying MA Fine Art at Birmingham City University, she has presented artwork across<br />
the Midlands and in 2018 to 2019 completed an AA2A residency at Loughborough University.<br />
Nilupa Yasmin<br />
Kala Phool & Slanguages Bursary Award Winner<br />
www.nilupayasmin.com<br />
@nilupayasmin_ & @bangles_for_all<br />
Pages 22 to 25<br />
Nilupa Yasmin <strong>is</strong> an art<strong>is</strong>t and educator working with primarily lens-based media. Nilupa takes<br />
a keen interest in the notion of culture, self identity and anthropology.<br />
Combined with her love for handcraft and the materiality in photographic explorations, she<br />
repeatedly draws upon her own South Asian culture and heritage.<br />
Her research examines the principles of craft in art-based practice; becoming an evident<br />
methodology shown throughout her work whilst investigating ideals and traditions that are<br />
very close to home.<br />
She continually draws upon what it means to be a Brit<strong>is</strong>h Bangladeshi Muslim Woman and<br />
aims to create a space of representation for the underrepresented through her photographic<br />
practice.<br />
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