A HOUSE 2015/ Photoworks co-commission City Collective

City Collective begins with a photograph taken of staff on the balconies of Brighton’s Grand Hotel on the day it reopened after the 1984 bombing.

The project is a collaboration between filmmaker Abigail Norris, theatre director Maria Pattinson and an inter-generational group of Brighton & Hove residents who have collectively responded to questions relating to the HOUSE 2015 theme of Edge and Shift.

Together they have created two parallel films, presented as one installation in the domestic interior of the Housekeeper’s Room in The Regency Town House Basement.

What are the stories we tell about the moments of conflict that change us? Personal reflections on this and wider issues around unrest are represented in this co-commission. The work is, in a sense, a group portrait of city residents’ shifting thoughts and their feelings about conflict, both personal and political. Small stories can be big, and City Collective reminds us that such events, whether occurring in our home city or around the world, affect change in communities as much as in political legislation.

Photoworks would like to thank Impact Initiatives and BHASVIC for their support in engaging Brighton residents young and old.