Ridley Road Stories

Working at the intersections of photography and social engagement, Future Hackney develops relationships with those involved encourage them to express wider societal experiences such as mental health, exclusion, confinement and being non-binary as it relates to the African and Caribbean experience. In some cases they also guide those involved in taking their own photographs.

As a participatory arts project Ridley Road Stories continues to document black lives in Dalston, encouraging those involved to share and archive their own histories. It combines documentary, street portraits and co-authorship to create a hybrid genre of photographic storytelling and produce outdoor exhibitions that are inclusive.

Future Hackney is a long-term project that documents social change in East London. Local visual storytellers work alongside residents to create a living archive of a rapidly changing East London. This exhibition is collaboration with Hackney’s Windrush initiative commissioned by Create London.

The first exhibition was launched in November 2020, with the second exhibition following up in September 2021, both supported thanks to National Lottery players.