Culture and Community - Syd Shelton
‘Becoming a One Planet City means focusing on nurturing a culture of sustainability, community and a sense of place which builds on local cultural heritage to foster identity and connection’ Brighton & Hove Sustainability Action Plan
Brighton & Hove has an international reputation for arts and culture. Its historic monuments, festivals, indoor and outdoor events have forged the city into one of Britain’s premier tourist destinations. Integral to this cultural activity is community participation where individuals come together from an inordinate range of social, cultural and geographical backgrounds.
These communities emerge, on the one hand, accidentally as in the street theatre of London Road, a major artery of Brighton or through organised events such as the Kemp Town Carnival which began as a form of village fete devoted to local inhabitants. The carnival is now a major calendar event of dance, music and local food that attracts some 25,000 people. The annual Big Screen on Brighton beach brings a diverse audience together and is powered by solar panels and used chip fat. Communities are also carefully nurtured by organisations such as the Brighton Youth Centre, Paradiso Productions and the Grow Project.
These forms of cultural activities illustrate how Brighton & Hove’s community involvement perpetuates the city’s sustainable and cultural dynamism.
British artist Dion Salvador Lloyd was born in Brighton in 1967. His work has been exhibited widely across the UK and has been selected for the Royal Academy ‘Summer Exhibition’, Discerning Eye, RWA in Bristol, RBSA in Birmingham and ROI at the Mall Galleries, London.
He currently works at Red Herring studios in School Road, Hove as a full time practising artist.
Mark Thompson, Artist, Red Herring studios. Red Herring exists to provide both studio spaces and a community of shared interests in order to enable artists and makers to produce, show and otherwise promote their work. Red Herring is managed, maintained and funded by its studio members and is based in an old industrial building in School Road, Hove.
A family of allotmenteers, who are originally from Zimbabwe, but have made Brighton & Hove their home. They boast the best plot of sweet corn on the Eastbrook Farm site in Portslade. Brighton and Hove have almost 3,000 allotment tenants spread over 32 sites and an ever-growing waiting list.
Brighton Youth Centre (BYC) is a hub of activity open to all Young People between 5 -19. BYC also hires out spaces for other groups to use and works in partnership with many different projects that support a wide-range of young people, including those with disabilities, young carers, young offenders, young parents and homeless young people.
Saudi Arabian England supporting twins had to watch the England v Uruguay game from outside the enclosure of the Big Screen on Brighton beach as the game was completely booked out. Brighton’s Big Screen is a huge 100 square ft. LED screen, which uses a mixture of solar panels and a used chip fat generator for all of its power.
Sky Sports News interviews young England supporters before the England v Uruguay game at the Big Screen on Brighton beach.
A volunteer at the Brighton Bike Hub repairs a 1930s bike. The Brighton Bike hub project runs a bike maintenance and training centre from the Old Municipal Market on Circus Street.
Established and managed by Groundwork South, the project provides access to affordable bikes, cycle maintenance, renovation & training. Brighton Bike Hub is a volunteer staffed and community based enterprise.
Visitors to the Royal Pavilion’s music room with audio guides. Built for the Prince Regent, later King George IV, between 1787 and 1823, the Royal Pavilion is remarkable for its chinoiserie.
During the First World War, the Pavilion was transformed into a military hospital. From 1914 to 1916, recovering soldiers from the Imperial Indian Army were stationed there. Today it is the premier cultural tourist venue in Brighton.
Outside the enclosure of the Big Screen on Brighton beach, as the England v Uruguay World Cup game was completely booked out.
Tenant Farmer, Roly, at the 450 acre Saddlescombe Farm, in the South Downs National Park but only five miles from the centre of the city. Roly is host to the ‘Grow Project’, which is run by mental health charity, Mind.
John Segs Jennings, bass player and lead singer of the ‘Ruts DC’ at Concorde 2. Segs is one of the two surviving original members of 1970s Rock Against Racism favourites. They play a mix of 70s anthems such as ‘Babylon’s Burning’ as well as contemporary material.
Kemp Town Carnival was created in the mid nineties, originally a community collaboration between St Georges Church and Sussex House. It has grown from its beginnings as a small village fete, into Brighton’s ‘Notting Hill by the Sea’.
Vintage Scoops is the home of Betty; a 1973 Bedford ice cream van owned by Vic and Fiz McMullen who serve locally sourced traditiocnal ice cream.
The early rain gives way to sunshine as the Kemp Town Carnival gets into full swing in Portland Place. The Carnival was created in the mid nineties, originally a community collaboration between St Georges Church and Sussex House.
It has grown from its beginnings as a small village fete, into the largest street party in the city which this year attracted 25,000 visitors.
Saltdean Lido Community Interest Company is the new leaseholder of the Saltdean Lido site, taking ownership of a 60 year lease in 2014. A 12-18 month refurbishment programme will now be undertaken aiming to reopen in 2016 as a community facility.
London Road is a diverse working class community sandwiched between the North Lanes to the south and the great railway viaduct to the north. It is both a local shopping centre as well as a hub of bus stops taking people to all of the northern and eastern suburbs of the city.
The people of London Road occupy it with pride, it has a street style of its own.
Paradiso Productions is a charity for disadvantaged people, providing opportunities to create poetry, story, comedy and radio. This year they are running creative writing workshops leading to a performance at the Dome Theatre for October’s World Mental Health Day and the Brighton Comedy Festival.
Ruts Fans at Concorde 2 on Friday the 13th of June. The gig attracted a mix of people who had been there back in the day and new fans checking out the legendary punks from Southall.
Deckchair stores on Brighton beach double as commercial poster sites for the city’s cultural events.
Brighton’s Unitarian Church is a place which explores spirituality without being committed to a particular religion or sect. The church building was completed in August 1820.
The ancient Temple of Theseus in Athens inspired its design and the architect was Amon Henry Wilds, who designed much of Brighton’s fashionable Kemp Town.
Indie band, British Sea Power’s Neil Hamilton Wilkinson (bass guitar, vocals, guitar), Martin Noble (guitar), Jan Scott Wilkinson (vocals, guitar). The band is famed for their live performances, lyrics and the adventurous choice of locations for some of their shows.
Friday the 13th at Concorde 2. 1970s punk rockers, the Ruts DC filled the venue for a mix of their 70s classics and contemporary material and were joined on stage by MC Horseman.
Rocky, a 24 year old Kurdish man from BandBazi, practises for a young people’s event run by the Starr Trust at arts venue, Fabrica. BandBazi is a performing arts charity that uses circus and theatre skills to give a voice to marginalised groups through professional productions and education programmes.
Fabrica is a former Regency church in the centre of Brighton which was established as an arts venue by artists from Red Herring Studios in 1996.
England fans packed the beach around the enclosure of the Big Screen.
Once a week the ‘Grow Project’, which is run by mental health charity Mind, meets at Saddlescombe Farm, in the South Downs National Park. Two of the participants spend the day working as temporary shepherds herding sheep to a new pasture on the 45 acre farm.
A ‘rainbow road crossing’ was unveiled in Brighton as part of the celebrations to mark LGBT Pride month. Brighton actor and musician Heather Peace opened the crossing. She called the artwork: “A gift from me to anyone that embraces diversity”.
Brighton MP Caroline Lucas said the rainbow crossing was: “A great tribute to that spirit of diversity and inclusiveness embraced by our city”.
MC Horseman joins the Ruts DC on stage at the Concorde 2. MC Horseman is known to many for his massive skanking version of “Insane In The Brain”.
Mark Attree, Romany Allotmenteer at Eastbrook Farm, Porstlade, where he tends the most immaculate plot on the site using only a hoe. Brighton & Hove has one of the largest allotment services in the country with 36 sites and almost 3000 tenants.
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PHOTOGRAPHER APPROACH
I see my photographs as a visual argument. The culture and community brief of the One Planet Living project provided me with the space to maintain this perspective. As the month-long shoot developed, it was necessary to constantly review my work. I looked for gaps, repetition and changed direction in order to produce a balanced photographic essay which reflected the diversity of Brighton & Hove.
Additionally I wanted to find a balance between the ‘grabbed’ street photographs and the ‘set-up’ portraits of artists, musicians and allotmenteers that constitute this body of work. I originally intended to take all the photographs in black and white. But when I shot the Kemp Town Carnival on 7th June 2014, the vibrancy of this event made me realise that colour was needed for this assignment.
The camera I used was a digital range finder. Its demure size and near silent shutter operation enabled me to work fast and get close to people I wanted to photograph. I shot some 5,000 images for this project. Making the initial edit was a marathon in itself.
In the spirit of the One Planet Living Project I walked or travelled by bus to most of the locations.
EXHIBITION INFO
This exhibition took place between 01/10/2014 – 31/07/2015 at the Brighton Dome Cafe-Bar and Earth & Stars pub in Brighton