Mexican-British social documentary photographer Roxana Allison was born in Manchester, grew up in Mexico City, and returned to live in the UK in 2008. Her photographic work is strongly influenced by her mixed cultural upbringing and focuses on themes of place, belonging and community through portraiture and documentary photography.
Roxana Allison’s Hope. Despair. Miracles. features portraits, landscapes and written word and showcases Longsight, in southeast Manchester: a working-class neighbourhood rich in ethnic diversity, yet long-associated – sometimes unfairly – with its complex social issues. Allison’s singular, insightful visual narrative shows Longsight in a new light.
The exhibition introduces the exceptional people devoted to growing food and improving the area’s streets, those providing quality and affordable housing, mutual support, art, music, sport, and safe spaces to learn and grow. It invites audiences to recognise the agents of change genuinely transforming people’s lives in multicultural working-class neighbourhoods across the UK – reminding people to never judge a book, or a place, by its front cover.
In a post-Brexit UK and post-Covid world that is enduring a cost-of-living crisis, Hope. Despair. Miracles. explores the idea of hope through action and that people-led change is attainable through the power of togetherness.
Photographer Roxana Allison says:
‘This exhibition aims to inspire hope – the images invite us to find beauty in the ordinary and shift our focus on the small wins, those that happen within our own sphere. These wins, in the face of great odds, can seem like miracles. If you take a deeper look beyond the surface layer, there’s so much hope there, but you can’t see it straight away.’
Running alongside the exhibition will be a series of workshops at Waterside, led by Lebanese theatre-maker and arts facilitator Nour Sabouneh, which will help people of all backgrounds and skill levels to use simple creative techniques to develop communication skills via friendly and fun shared group activities.
There will also be a chance to hear Roxana Allison discuss her work and inspirations in a special talk in March
Hope. Despair. Miracles. runs from Sat 27 Jan – Sat 13 Apr ‘24
Free entry | Open Mon – Sat 10:00 – 17:00
Lauriston Gallery, Waterside, Sale M33 7ZF
watersidearts.org/hope
