AD5803 - Sustainable Communities Ideas

I have to admit that I have always been particularly excited about this module, since it really reflects my personal interests in sustainability, society, and communities.

During the last summer I had the opportunity to spend a few weeks living in a grass root community based in Samothraki (Greece) aiming to become self-sufficient. This experience made me really reflect about the benefits of this alternative life-style, very different from our common daily-life, and I realised that I had found a pathway to follow for my Documentary Photography practice.

I made a series documenting the life at Green Flow (the community in which I stayed) and I currently aim to develop a long-term project telling the stories of many other different communities around the world and how these life-styles can bring us back in harmony with people, nature and ourselves.

Here some pictures from my series "Samothraki Palingenesis":

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This module really enables me to continue and develop my practice on the theme of sustainable communities and improve my skills on film photography.

The last semester, I started shooting on medium format TLR cameras and now I think that this new medium will become a consistent part of my future projects, and for this new module I am going to shoot on a Yashica Mat 124.

Ideas

Initially, I considered to document a self-sufficient community in the UK, and I did some researches about existing communities in England.

My contacts included communities such as:

- Lammas

One of the most famous established communities in the UK, the project mainly consists in an Eco Village based in Wales.

http://lammas.org.uk/en/welcome-to-lammas/

- Tinkers Bubble

A small woodland community, completely independent by fossil fuels.

http://www.tinkersbubble.org/

-Projects on Workaway

Workaway is an online platform through you can find projects to get involved. This is how I found the community I joined the last summer, and there are dozens of similar projects in the UK.

However, I realised that this sort of project was not the right one for me for this assignment. I strongly believe that in order to represent a community, you really need to get to know them, being fully involved in their projects and daily life, and you really need time. So I left these ideas (for now) and I focused on another aspect of sustainability that I really want to explore: sustainable education.

At the moment, my plan A for this assignment would be documenting one (or possibly more) alternative education system. In particular, I really would like to document one (or more):

Steiner School

Montessori School

Forest school/kindergarten

List of Steiner schools/ kindergartens near here:

Stroud:

The Children of One End Street mariewaring@yahoo.co.uk www.oneendstreet.com - contacted

Sunlands Kindergarten sunlands@btinternet.com - contacted

Wynstones:

Wynstones School reception@wynstones.com www.wynstones.com - contacted

Bristol:

Bristol Steiner School info@bristolsteinerschool.org www.bristolsteinerschool.org - contacted

Steiner Academy Bristol info@steineracademybristol.org.uk www.steineracademybristol.org.uk

Willow Tree Kindergarten info@willowtreekindergarten.org.uk www.willowtreekindergarten.org.uk - contacted

Bath:

Laurel Farm Kindergarten laurelfarmenquiries@gmail.com www.laurelfarmkindergarten.co.uk - contacted

List of Montessori schools near here:

Oxford:

Oxford Montessori Schools http://www.oxfordmontessori.co.uk/forest-farm/

List of Forest schools/ kindergartens near here:

Worcester:

Suckley School http://www.suckleyschool.co.uk/forest-school/

Madresfied Primary School http://www.madresfieldschool.net/forest-school/

Oak Leaf Forest School http://oakleafforestschool.uk/

Birmingham:

Sutton Outdoor Preschool https://www.suttonoutdoorpreschool.co.uk/ liz@suttonoutdoorpreschool.co.uk

Stroud:

All Seasons Forest School http://www.allseasonsforestschool.co.uk/activities/

This is a first rough list of contacts for a potential project documenting the subject of sustainable education. I am quite positive that I will have access to at least one school, and I am thinking about offering some kind of collaboration, like a photography workshop with the children (for example, a portrait session).

Another idea for this assignment, would be documenting the phenomenon of city farms in London. I know about different projects running and I have already visited some of the sites.

Hackney City Farm http://hackneycityfarm.co.uk/

Spitafields City Farm

Kentish Town City Farm

...etc

A particular interesting story around the farms in London, would be documenting The Coriander Club.

This is a club founded in the 2000 aiming to support the integration of Bengali women, some of whom only speak Bengali and do not have other occasions to the leave the house. The club provides a regular opportunity to socialise with other women, learning to grow vegetables and how to cook them too.

Article available at: http://spitalfieldslife.com/2010/04/16/the-coriander-club-lutfun-hussain/

Last but not least!

Today I had another idea suitable for this assignment, and it would be documenting the equine therapy for disable people.

At the moment I have found this association at the Cheltenham Racecourse: https://www.cotswoldrda.org.uk/

and another one based in Stroud: http://www.redhorsefoundation.org/