By Brontë Schiltz
Moss Side, a predominantly working-class and ethnically diverse part of Manchester, has faced decades of biased press.
In 2018, a BBC news article noted that the area “has historically had a reputation for being a neighbourhood of gangs and gun crime” – but also, quoting historian Dr Charlotte Wildman, “a flourishing suburb where diversity is celebrated”, home to “strong communities”.
Now, a photography project at Moss Side’s Millennium Powerhouse, a community centre in the heart of the area, is aiming to bring those aspects of its surroundings to light.
Powerhouse Portraits combines a 30-year retrospective from local photographer Ian Johns with a community project through which 40 local participants were given 99 disposable cameras, sketchbooks and notebooks to document their community. These photographs are displayed on the walls of the Powerhouse and compiled in a limited-edition magazine.
Original articles from Street News.