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.


Ace

Abbie

Julie

Reg

Joan

Chanel

Soriyetta

Inila

Aiden

Jake

Elliot

Rosie

Brian

Maureen

Peterson

Ashley

Jason

Kelly

Lizette and Martha

Natasha and Aamirah

Gareth

Prince

Aron

Mark and David

Adam

Kimberli

Mavis

Rachele-Leah

Davinia

Mason

Pat

Margaret

Nihal

Shel

Deborah

Mick

Anne

Carol

Colin

Logan

Tia

Takunda

Brian

Paul

Matthew (with Rocko)

Shahjan

Chris

Duke

Sylak

Nicky

Linda

Irene

Lilly-Jayne

Stephen

Helen

Elle

Pelaiah

Jackson

Matt

David

Donald

Denzel and Diogo

Jeanine

Carol

Edward

Gareth

Eileen

Patrick

Ian

Temi

Terrie

John

Rachel

Simon



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