Major Project

Sorry for taking a while to get this down I have been talking about it to people for some time now. From all the ideas I’ve had, I feel I came up with two serious story proposals. One of these was to go back and look at the issues of destitution and deportation amongst failed Asylum Seekers. I thought I would do this in in Newcastle as I already know of at least two organisations dealing with this and I’m confident they would help me out. However after going back up there (I’m from Newcastle) to test the water for a weekend one serious problem arose. I really did not enjoy being there. This may sound a bit odd but I felt if I’m going to be there for two months dealing with such an intense subject the last thing I need is to be finding the city hard to live in. I also fear this could affect the photography and my irritation would be reflected in the work.

So one down one to go. The next idea is to look at the traditional Romany Gypsy of the UK. Some of these guys have been here for around 500 years or more but are still one of the most excluded groups in British society. I feel they are the one last great prejudice we have, and while people see no problem using their abusive names you could loose your job using the equivalent about other minorities. I feel there are two ways to approach the subject. The first is to try and explore the people and culture in general. My fears are this may be a bit too general and plays into a term that I’ve heard Roma use when talking about outside representation of themselves – The Roma Circus. In other words it has the danger of becoming a classic portrayal of the exotic ‘Other’. And so the second approach is to explore the subject through a more specific political concern. Local councils are supposed to provide legal camping sites for traveling communities. However Roma and other groups complain that these are few and far between leading to many groups stopping their caravans in what would be considered illegal camps. This leads to constant harassment from the authorities that be. On the other hand local residents see the groups as a nuisance occupying land illegally bringing crime and rubbish. This is one of the biggest issues surrounding these groups and may be one of the most fertile grounds for prejudice. Doing it this way I could look at one of the most relevant political issues surrounding these groups while also exploring the people their culture and traditions.