Over May and June 2021, I photographed the residents of Basildon, Essex, in a pop-up studio and gallery set up in a vacant store at Eastgate, in the town centre.
The project celebrates the people of Basildon by showing a 'snapshot in time', and reflecting the diversity of the community.
I also collected stories and thoughts about the town from the participants, and these are published alongside the portraits in a free, 40-page newsprint publication. At the end of the project, all participants were also able to collect a free print of their portrait from the gallery wall.
Basildon New Town was established in 1949, one of eight towns developed by the Labour government to help alleviate London's acute post-World War II housing shortage.
New Town Portraits was part of Open Lab, a programme of arts events run by BasildON Creative People and Places and Things Made Public, with support from Arts Council England, Basildon Council, Orwell Real Estate, Basildon Town Square Consultation, Eastgate Basildon, and Gateway FM.
1,000 copies of the newsprint were made available - FREE - at various locations in the Basildon area, including Basildon, Pitsea, Vange, Fryerns, Laindon, Billericay and Wickford libraries, Eastgate shopping centre, the Basildon Centre and the Towngate Theatre. I'm also happy to post a free copy for a contribution of £2 towards postage - order here.