Photography | Miki Rogers

Beamish!

It’s been such a busy autumn but nothing is a busy as the two months before Christmas if you’re someone who does stalls – in the meantime I’ll take you back to what I’ve done over the last couple of months and we have to start with Beamish ..

After my residency at Beamish last year with the One Suitcase’ Project, I’d been asked alongside my friends and collaborators Rumana of Bok Bok Books and Indi from Desi Blitz to take part in a South Asian ‘Migration Day’ Takeover with our ‘What’s in your suitcase project.

We met Indi and his fabulous Truck Painted Bus at the venue and got ready, dressing Rose Cottage where I was based, ready to chat to visitors and record them and Indi was serving homemade Samosas, the Welfare Hall where Rumana was telling South Asian based children’s stories and the Cinema, which was playing Indi’s Partition film. We were joined by an amazing South Asian dance group and a dementia group which works with people from the community in South Shields.

We all dressed the part – all three of us wearing traditional SA dress Rumana and I ware spoilt by having our hair done in the 1950s Hairdressers. – It was a fantastically busy day and we absolutely loved the colour, sounds and smells that had been added too the traditional 50s town, plus as always the staff were fabulous! I managed to record and edit quite a few pieces ready to be added to the Beamish archive – what an epic day with THE BEST people !

Zines in Hartlepool and Sunderland

We popped up at The Central Hub in Hartlepool for a mini Zine Fest! I was asked by Hartlepool Council with funds from Arts Council England to run this fab little zine fest as a way of getting younger people into the venue which is also the Central Library.

As always zine tests attract the best stallholders, kind, caring and sharing and we spent the day becoming even more of a collective than we had at the last event . The range of work was amazing and it was great to tell visitors about zines and zinemaking , especially as a way of sharing community specific information and passions.

Then last week it was over to Sunderland to run a Zine Making class at Hills Arts Centre right in the Centre of town – organised by the amazing Michaela (and the only fellow Michaela I know) of Pink Collar Gallery– through Norfolk Street Arts Heritage Fund. I love a zine workshop because everyone can make a zine and it can literally be about anything you like… as a starting point we had thoughts about Sunderland then and now , but the work produced really did pick up on personal emotions and memories around experiences of living and working in the city.
Zines can do all that ..

Tattoo Photography with Emma Vynokurova

Emma is a photographer displaced from Ukraine and now living in Newcastle. a friend sent me info about a tattoo photography project Emma was doing, recording people who had tattoos with a meaning, and Emma agreed to photograph me in her studio after hearing about my ink.

My tattoos, like much in my life reflect my memories of my Nana and her influence on me, especially on being a tea purveyor. Emmas project looks as these stories and links them through her ‘Pritani’ project (Pritani being the original name of Britain, and meaning ‘Painted Ones’ in old Celtic.

I spent a good few hours with the wonderful Emma, learned of her flight with her daughter from Ukraine as a result of the war, and her story in Newcastle so far, first with a sponsor in their home and now with her own home, and having to start again after giving up a successful career in Events in her home country .

Emma really understood where my tattoos where influenced by my Nana and the images , later part of an exhibition were beautiful. Can’t wait to see Emma again as we got on famously!

You can find Emma and her work at https://www.instagram.com/emmafoto.ua