CHILDREN were given a unique opportunity to showcase what life is like through their eyes.

A total of 40 children from Solway Community School, Holme St Cuthbert School and Silloth Youth Group were involved in a photography project ran by local artist Zoe Forster.

The exhibition, says Zoe, was an honest, celebratory look at everyday life in Cumbria – a mode of activism, bringing about social change in how we view ourselves and our circumstances.

Started in December, the photographs were showcased at Caldew Hall in February. Efforts are now ongoing to run a similar exhibition in the Silloth Discovery Centre.

The project was funded by the Arts Council England. Zoe, 22, who is back living at her home in Silloth after attending Chelsea College of Art & Design.

She said: “My work has always been about storytelling, in which I look to my own community. I’ve been working with the land, creating objects from raw materials found here, that have their own history.

“So naturally I was drawn to the Tish Murtha photographic works exhibition at The Photographers Gallery a while back – a British social documentary photographer, she photographed marginalised communities & working class life in Newcastle during the 80s.

“This is how the idea came into fruition, I had always made work about my tiny rural community and exhibited it in London, that didn’t sit right with me and I felt a bit cheeky doing so, so I applied to Arts Council England for the grant, got local schools on board and we began the project about the community, for the community.

“After the kids had photographed, we chaotically developed the film, scanned and chose which photos were to be in the show. I wanted the kids to understand the physicality of a photograph, the science in creation and to be involved in every process of their own work. There was a multitude of fantastic photographs, amongst a few dozen Christmas trees - telling of the time this project was delivered.”

The best photographs were then chosen by Zoe for the exhibition.

She explained: “It proved difficult to whittle down the photographs to just 50 so I further applied for funding from the local charity shop to create a book, allowing for more to be shown, something the kids could take away and keep. The exhibition was a massive success, held in the local Caldew Hall – staying within the theme of community and it was lovely seeing how impressed the parents and family of those involved were with the kids work, and I’d like to say how impressed I was with the work produced.

“The main aim of this project was to make art accessible within one of the most north western corners of England, a place teeming with character, ideas, skill and stories. A place that geographically does feel alienated from the institutions of art and culture that Britain has to offer, and deserves to have creative opportunities that most metropolitan areas have.

“The funding from Arts Council England has allowed our local children to relish in this creative opportunity, shown them different ways of learning and hopefully helped them appreciate our modest way of life a little more.”

Zoe carefully chose the age group she wanted the project to involve.

“Children, especially the ones I was working with (10/13-year-olds), have a more honest look at the world. I felt if you got GCSE art students they would think too much into it, but 12/13-year-olds would give a much more honest look - which is what I wanted.”

Louise Clitheroe, who is in charge of art at Solway School, said: “They were developing photos, looking at composition of an image, using old cameras. They were amazed they couldn’t couldn’t see the image and they couldn’t edit it.

“It was a really good experience for them, it gave them a different aspect of art not covered by our curriculum.”