A NEW exhibition exploring Oxford Road through photography and poetry has gone on display in Reading.
The Alliance for Cohesion and Racial Equality (ACRE) brought the project to life after it was among those given council funding through the High Street Heritage Action Zone.
Now it is on display in the former Battle Hospital site on Oxford Road, where photographs and poems exploring life and culture there have been combined into a single exhibition.
The works are the culmination of a number of workshops with members of the community led by Reading-based artists, Nyasher Browne and Alex Douglas, who helped participants hone their writing and photography skills.
Twenty artists contributed verse and photographs to the collection, representing a small of the road’s culture through a number of different perspectives and walks of life.
The funding was also used to make safe creative spaces for people to develop their self-expression in an open, friendly environment.
Among the contributors was Joseph Silvanos Wafula, a visual artist, who said: “A lot of my creative friends moved out of Reading to find creative spaces.
“So it’s awesome we’re starting more here, but I feel we need to do more, and not just on the surface– if we can build on this momentum.”
He explained: “People to to places for their art scenes– it draws people– and it feels like it’s been missing in Reading.
“It brings the community together, and draws people into the town, and then you can start investing into a lot more.”
Nyasher Browne hosted the poetry workshops for the exhibition, and said that the event was a way of introducing people to poetry “in a way they can actually relate to.
“This isn’t just the poetry and the photography, it helps people release their feelings and emotions, which benefits their mental health.
“It doesn’t get any better than that.”
Ms Browne explained that the response from participants was extremely positive: “Everyone was so sad when the workshops finished.
“If there were the funding for it, I wouldn’t have stopped them– but the space and the funding just isn’t there at the moment.”
Alex Douglas, a Reading-based photographer, said that the workshops she led: “Taught people how to tell a story through taking photos.
“They all wanted to carry on with either one or both of the workshops– we became quite a close-knit family, really.”
She explained that photography was an incredibly accessible art form, too: “Everyone’s phone’s got a camera full of filters and effects.
“A lot of people find it hard to do street photography; you might have to be discreet or approach someone, so using your phone is a lot easier than getting a big camera out.
“The Oxford Road is the heart of Reading, and there are opportunities for art on every corner, and in every shop– all the way down the road.”
Occy Road: Episode 1 is showing at the Oxford Road Community Centre, 344 Oxford Road, from Thursday-Sunday, June 1-4, and again from Thursday-Saturday, June 8-10, from 10am-4pm.
