Blog 2: How Better Lives might change my work in the future
Diversity, social responsibility and sustainability are probably not the primary aspects I think of starting a new project. For example, as a fashion journalism student it is not an obvious part of my work to operate in a sustainable way, because mainly all I do is write words on a document.
After a couple of weeks, I revised some of the lectures and realized working sustainable, socially responsible and diverse is definitely possible for me, but maybe not at first sight. I do not need to change the process of working, but I can push my outcome in a more socially relevant direction. Throughout my writings and projects, I can try to raise awareness of the Better Lives core values.
As Better Lives project I chose Contemporary Portrait Photography considering that journalism and photography are closely connected. The first lesson changed my mind the most.
One of our practical tasks was to shoot some portraits of the market sellers at Shepherd’s Bush market. That project already inspired me in a huge way based on the fact that different cultures and ethnicities merged to a place where locals go for grocery shopping or just to have a chat with one of the market stand owners.
In my future projects, I will definitely try to include this type of cultural rawness found at “unglamorous” places like Shepherd’s Bush market. However, they are doubtlessly crucial and vital for a flourishing community. Instead of trying to have the craziest and most aesthetic outcome in the project it is more important for me to bring the person and their history in focus.
Especially during this crisis, I learned and experienced how important it is to look after one another and how necessary it is for the community you live in to support the local shops and people around you. Only by including all three values
Now, my first aim with my creative outcome is to influence my surrounding in a positive way. Instead of putting the focus for instance on someone already successful I will try to portrait local, unknown and talented people with different backgrounds and origin.