Photo exhibition showcases legacy of late documentary photographer

LONDON:

The work of a female social documentary photographer is set for display at an exhibition in Scotland, more than 10 years after her death.

The solo exhibition of Sandra George, whose parents are Jamaican, is being presented at the Glasgow School of Art Exhibitions, forming part of the programme for Glasgow International Festival Of Contemporary Art 2024, Scotland’s biennial festival.

George (1957 – 2013), who spent the first seven years of her life in Jamaica, captured thousands of images of community projects across Scotland from the 1980s through to the 2000s, but never exhibited her work.

She specialised in portraits of life within marginalised communities and covered issues across community, care, access and equality.

Tyler Hewitt, speaking about his mother’s work, said: “Sandra created a visual record of community-led, grassroots projects happening across Scotland over decades. Her work demonstrates what so many can achieve and what is possible with the right education or support, particularly those who many of society have deemed of little or no value.”

Hewitt added: “This work betters our world and all our lives, lifting all of us for mutual reward. I hope others will be inspired from seeing this show, particularly new generations of artists, community workers and educators. I also want to add how grateful I am to the women of Craigmillar Now (a community-led arts and heritage centre in Edinburgh) for all of their great work.”

George moved to Birmingham from Jamaica, and then to Edinburgh, to live with her father.

She studied at Napier University in Scotland, gaining a BA in photography. She also earned a BA in fine art in drawing and painting at Edinburgh College of Art.

For more than 30 years, George was a freelance photographer for organisations and publications such as the Sentinel, the Tollcross Community Newspaper, Shelter, the Craigmillar Festival News and the Craigmillar Chronicle.

In the 1980s and 1990s, she worked in community development in various parts of Edinburgh for organisations including the Craigmillar Community Arts Centre.

In 2004, she graduated in community education at The University of Edinburgh and went on to lead various youth organisations.

The artist worked extensively among the disadvantaged, covering communities like the Braille classes at the Royal Blind School in Edinburgh, and the British Hotels Disabled musicians.

MULTIDISCIPLINARY PRACTICE

George’s collection of thousands of negatives taken during her lifetime is held by Craigmillar Now.

The collection is being cared for by a team of volunteers who are rehousing, cataloguing and digitising the works with the support and guidance of her family, most specifically her son.

Her family is working to grow her photographic legacy through greater visibility and profile.The solo exhibition also presents a selection of her wider artistic multidisciplinary practice, which includes printing, painting, book works, textiles and jewellery.

The exhibition is curated by Glasgow School Of Art exhibitions director Jenny Brownrigg, who has curated several exhibitions of work by women social documentary photographers in Scotland, including Franki Raffles: Observing Women At Work (2017) and Glean: Early 20Th-Century Women Photographers And Filmmakers In Scotland (2022-23).

The exhibition and accompanying programme to George’s work is developed in collaboration with Rachael Cloughton, director of Craigmillar Now.

Brownrigg said: “GSA Exhibitions chose to select Sandra’s work for Glasgow International because the quality of photography is outstanding and deserves to be seen by wider audiences.

“She wrote, ‘Stop making assumptions about people/start from the level people are based.’ Her photography, through her community work, makes visible the groups of people that society has deemed invisible. Each person in Sandra’s photography has their own agency.”

George’s work message – community, care, accessibility and equality in the arts and workplaces, ethics in working with others in under-reached communities, exploration of identity – are all relevant to issues and themes today.

As part of the event programme, Christian Noelle Charles, a black female artist living and working between Scotland, UK and New York, has been selected for the Sandra George Archive commission to develop an event in response to the archive.

The exhibition of George’s work is part of Glasgow International and is at 5 Florence Street, Gorbals, until Sunday, June 30. Admission is free.