Gideon Mendel and Crispin Hughes worked in Kingsmead Community School in 2009 to make an exhibition with our Year 5 class. This was a remarkable experience for the pupils. They learnt a huge amount about the process of photography from operating a digital camera in a confident and creative way to image making and the rigorous process of editing.
The resulting exhibition 'Kingsmead Eyes' at the V&A Museum of Childhood was a huge success. The artistic quality of the photographs on display was of an incredibly high standard and for many of the kids seeing their work displayed in that environment was an immense boost to their self-esteem. The whole process also made a positive impact on our parents and wider community. For the pupils this was a really enjoyable experience which will not be forgotten.
The problem we have now is that our current Year 5 Class are disappointed that they will not get to do the project as well. The ‘Kingsmead Eyes’ video, which was displayed in the exhibition, is now online and has been broadcast on the school Espresso network. It has been a valuable long-term legacy of the project that it has supported the creative curriculum we use and developed knowledge, skills and understanding well beyond the reach of the usual school photography project. The Continuing Professional Development provided for the staff involved was inspirational and the end product will be used both internally at the school and as a teaching resource for many other schools. This is 'pupil voice' at its best.
Louise Nichols
Head Teacher, Kingsmead Community School
The ‘A World Like Mine’ project at Lathom Primary School in Eastham was part of the Creative Partnership programme delivered by A New Direction. My part within this programme was to act as a Creative Agent - a broker between the school and the practitioners.
Crispin and Gideon were skilled practitioners who enabled and facilitated the young people to understand the process and the project so that they grew through their involvement in it.
The young people not only experienced working with fantastic practitioners who inspired them to take pictures of their world, they also had the experience of getting their families involved in their work and in their school. They developed a new way to view the world, through the lens of a camera. A year after the project, the young people are still talking about the experience.
The children were able to create an incredibly high standard of work, that wowed both their teachers and their families. The school used the photographs as a spring board for other work related to the young people’s world and environment. This culminated in a performance and showing, under the title ‘A World Like Mine’ where the young people celebrated their world and their cultures, their sameness and difference.
The young people were seen as the experts, they showed their skill and craft to the world and were publicly celebrated for it. It gave the community a feel good factor ‘our young people are great and are capable of great things’.
Robert Stephenson
Creative Agent for Creative Partnerships / A New Direction
'Crispin and Gideon have a fantastic set of skills and within minutes they had a class of 28 children totally absorbed in photography. Over the course of an intensive week long residency, they then supported and inspired the children as they took photographs documenting their own lives. Gideon and Crispin have the very highest standards, gently but continuously raising expectations of the work that children can produce. Their residency delivered both high quality process and high quality end product, with intelligence, humour and absolute commitment – a real pleasure to work with!'
Rachel Adam
Juice Festival Director, NewcastleGateshead Initiative
"All the children involved learnt how to use a digital camera and were set a range of briefs to work on at home. Being given the opportunity and trust to take cameras home gave the children a great sense of excitement and challenge. The work that the children produced was really moving and it gave us as teachers a real insight into their lives which you don't usually have the chance to see. Parents were all enthusiastic about the project and were involved in helping their children to think about the different briefs."
Naomi Julian
Lead Teacher at Lathom Primary School