Exercise 5.5 Kingsmead Eyes

PROJECT THE DOCUMENTARY PROJECT

5.5 Exercise

Visit the web pages of the Kingsmead Eyes project (http://gideonmendel.com/kingsmead-eyes/ or http://www.kingsmeadeyesspeak.org/).

Investigate the original 2009 project and the latest Kingsmead Eyes Speak project.

Write notes in your learning log about how the work is presented on the website, in particular the use of mixed media – stills, video and audio. (Open College of the Arts, 2014:107)

Kingsmead eyes- Gideon Mendel

This was the result of a long collaboration with the Kingsmead Community school in Hackney when he was photographer in residence. He was partnered also by Crispin Hughes and the poet Joelle Taylor. Mendel engaged year 5 students in photography workshops encouraging them to be creative whilst sharing their lives and cultures and building bonds between communities and the school.

In Kingsmead eyes (2009) at the same time Mendel made portraits of each child and assembled them into composite images which he used in a video installation featuring their work and their words. Here in turn, they share their stories and backgrounds through visual and audio. Their mages are interestingly from a child’s perspective, the height (stairways, corridors) and the interest (their families, toys) and to us seem very creative like the inside of a box of chocolates – but this is the benefit of an untamed child’s view, which is great.

For his subsequent project Kingsmead eyes speak (2011), Mendel worked with fewer students for a shorter period. Their work is presented on different platforms both as slides/gallery with accompanying text and audio files as well as video presentations by the students.

I particularly like the way the students explain in whichever format, why they like their images and why they’ve shot some of them. The combination of various media gives the students a variety of opportunities to share their perspectives and ensures that it reaches their audience. It also ensures that viewers have the opportunity to be affected by what media touches them best.

I have researched Mendel’s work recently, notably his HIV /AIDs work in Africa and global warming work Drowning World. I found before that he uses alternative ways of storytelling to reach audiences. Mendel shows again in this work his belief that photography has the ability to make positive change in the world. He is also demonstrating his inclination to give long term commitment to projects to bring make impact.