Belongings by New Focus

Belongings is the outcome of a photography project exploring the unique and diverse identities of eight young people living in Bradford. 

New Focus, Impressions Gallery’s young people’s collective, worked with award-winning photographer Maryam Wahid and Lisa Holmes at Keighley Photo Hub to create self-portraits reflecting their own sense of identity and belonging.

Inspired by Maryam Wahid’s exhibition Zaibunnisa – which found the artist returning to her mother’s homeland of Pakistan to examine her cultural heritage – New Focus honoured and celebrated their own histories of migration, war, family and community through portraiture.

The portraits capture the power of storytelling through photography, and expose how seemingly ordinary objects can carry intense memories and instil within us a sense of connection to ourselves, our ancestors and our loved ones. 

Following a series of mentoring sessions from Impressions Gallery’s curatorial team, New Focus are now displaying their photographs and stories in a series of concertina books in the gallery bookshop. The stories presented range from a celebration of Northern Soul and a shared belonging to a subculture, to honouring family members who escaped war. 

Belongings will launch as part of Bradford Zine Fair on Saturday 23 September 1.00pm to 2.30pm and continues until 22 December 2023.

Belongings features photographs and words by Amina Ahmed, Rory Connors, Louie Haslam-Chance, Sara Mahnoor Nazim, Nathan McGill, Kyle Stansfield, Chloe Taylor, Kamila Zaborowska. The project was made possible with support from Impressions Gallery, Bradford Community SOUP and a small project grant from Bradford Council.

Text written by Kamila Zaborowska, New Focus.

Image top by Amina Ahmed.