I was introduced to 'The World in Wolverhampton Revisited' project last summer - myself and a colleague took part in writing a book based upon the architectural features of Wolverhampton.
 | | Candid snaps of valued people, places and events |
The Light House Media Centre was one of the buildings we included and they were enthusiastic for our school to be involved in a photography project with Vanley Burke.
Vanley Burke
Vanley has been taking pictures, for over thirty years, of black and asian communities - not only in the West Midlands but in South Africa and other parts of the world.
Vanley visited our school and ran a workshop. He put the children at ease with stories about his life. He shared examples of his work and his cameras - the children were in awe of their size, weight and cost.  | | Vanley at Woodfield Junior School |
During the workshop, Vanley and the children explored the school grounds, discussing what made their school what it is and viewing it in a way they had never considered before. As Vanley is a keen archivist he gave one child the responsibility of documenting the events of the day. Initially they found this challenging but soon realised the unrestricted nature of how Vanley wanted them to feel and work and snapped away happily at their activities. Valued people, places and events
Vanley left several disposable cameras with the children to enable them to document how they perceived their lives.
They waited eagerly to receive their cameras and were excited about the development and the showing of their work at the Light House Gallery.  | | Candid snaps of valued people, places and events |
The photographs that emerged were an array of family and friends, examples of home life, their cultures, faiths and past times. Some shots were obviously candid, images caught in unexpected moments of valued people, places and events. Pride
The children were filled with pride when they viewed their photographs and with encouragement soon saw the natural parallels between their modern images and those taken by Vanley fifteen years earlier. It made them think about their part in the project. As Sandeep (one of the pupils involved) said: "In fifteen years time, when we are about 25 or 26, some children might come and say ‘look at these pictures’ and know what our lives were like when we were there fifteen years ago."  | | Jenny and pupils at the Light House |
This project enabled the children to see their world in a different way. It helped them appreciate that writing is not the only form of expression. The history of their lives is as valuable as the history they find in school books. I would like to thank Vanley Burke for giving the children pride in themselves, their abilities and their world in their little part of Wolverhampton.
The World in Wolverhampton Revisited |
The exhibition is at the Light House media centre until Friday 14th November 2003.
Light House is situated in The Chubb Buildings, just off the Wolverhampton Ring Road. | 
