browseStepping Up
Richard Grassick (Photographer)
Original Side Gallery touring exhibition text, 1999:
The photographs in this exhibition are about the move from primary to secondary school in the Durham Dales. The project took place in 1997 and 1998, and involved the majority of young people in the small Weardale schools who were moving to Wolsingham Comprehensive in the autumn of 1997.
After a series of workshops in each of the schools, a group of 17 came together each week throughout their last term at primary to document in pictures and writing their feelings and experiences as they approached this major change in their lives.
At the same time photographer Richard Grassick and writer Julie Ward worked closely with the group, organising workshops, documenting the preparations that were going on for secondary school, and helping the group bring together their material into what was eventually to be published as a book. This was published in 2000 after two years’ work by an editorial group of seven young people.
The photographs in this exhibition, taken by Richard Grassick, formed the focus of an exercise by members of the group in September 1997, during their first weeks at secondary school. The words are their own response to the pictures that were taken during the last weeks of primary.
Note: The book of Stepping Up is available from the Amber website. The Stepping Up web site is at www.steppingup.org.uk
Paperback 96 pp (1999) ISBN: 0-9538320-0-7
Alternative text:
Stepping Up tracked the lives of a group of young people in Weardale, County Durham, as they made the move, in summer 1997, from their small village primary schools to the large comprehensive (senior) school that serves the dale. The book tells that story in words and pictures, produced both by the young people and by Amber member Richard Grassick and writer Julie Ward.
The philosophy behind the work was one of collaboration. All the participants were given a 35mm camera with which to document their lives during the transition from primary to secondary school, whilst Richard photographed some of the key events during that period. Workshop sessions involved training in both traditional chemical darkroom techniques, processing film and printing contact sheets, and digital methods for individual printing of images, scanning negatives, manipulating in Adobe Photoshop, and outputting on an ink jet printer.
In the process of assembling the material for a wider audience, it became apparent that the young people had a strong sense of image as metaphor. When they looked at a photograph of someone crossing a bridge, for example, they would imbue the picture with great significance describing, for example, their own passage from primary to secondary school - and now they were safely on the ‘other side’ they could look back and see more clearly where they had come from and how difficult or easy the journey had been. This process of revelation and reflection gave the young people and the artists new insights. It became easier to agree common themes, to identify powerful symbols, to isolate significant moments and explore them further.
The stories in the book were compiled by writer Julie Ward towards the end of the project. They were based on her observations of and involvement in the transition process over the period of a year. Key scenes in the narratives were drawn directly from the children's own writing or from classroom drama sessions led by Julie during the introductory period of the project. In writing the two stories Julie tried to retain the original feelings articulated to her by the young people whilst at the same time fleshing out the narratives to produce complete stories which could be understood and enjoyed by other young people approaching the end of primary school. Drafts of both stories were discussed and changed by the Editorial Group who spent long hours discussing the meaning and usage of particular words and phrases. The aim was always to represent the world of the young people concerned as they themselves experience it, rather than from an adult perspective.
The challenge of producing a book was always going to be a great one for the group. Together, the editorial group and Richard and Julie worked on the layout and design of the book, drawing on all of the work produced previously. It was the adults’ task to enable the young peoples’ voices to be heard as effectively and authentically as possible. This always meant striking a balance between letting the members of the group express themselves, and offering skills and support where these were needed. We hope that we have found the right balance in the book.
‘If you hold a stone in your hand it feels really solid, like it will never break. There’s a place at the top of Cosy Hill where people have been piling up stones. There’s a big mound of them, like a tower. You’d think the wind would blow it over, but it’s really solid. Dad says it’s like a cairn, a sort of monument to something special. He says that when people get to the top of Cosy they’re so pleased with themselves, they put another stone on the cairn. I cycled to the top of Cosy on the last day of the summer holidays. I was dreading the next morning.’