What was the world like through the eyes of six to eleven year olds during the third national Covid lockdown, in 2021?

From February to April 2021, Carolyn Mendelsohn ran a series of photography and mentoring workshops over Zoom, to enable a group of children from across the Bradford district to tell us their stories through photography. The pictures you see here are a snapshot of their experiences and their incredible work. Over the course of eight weeks, the children were given new challenges and practical photo tasks to do, including ‘take a photograph of something important to you’ and ‘take a photograph from the ground’.

While Our World gave the participants the opportunity to learn good basic camera skills and a better understanding of photography, it was much more than just a creative activity. Having a new interest during home learning and lockdown was positive for the children’s wellbeing. All have talked about the new friendships they have made with others of different ages, and all have said how much they enjoyed sharing their photographs with each other. Now, it’s our turn to enjoy them!

The young Photographers are: Alex Firth, Ashim Hussain, Astrid Bousfield, Eliza Deakin, George Brooks (artist name: Ena), Hiba, Isadora McCann, Ivy Thornton, Nell Baker, Peter Holmes, Quinn Tearne, Verona McEwan-Peters, Charlotte Hellmich, Elliot Butler, Finlay Moulding, Robyn Judson, Stella Seymour.

Our World is a special project run by Through Our Lens, led by Carolyn Mendelsohn, assisted by Phoebe Cookson and Holly Wade, two participants from the original Through Our Lens group. The project was made possible by Response 2 Arts Grant from Bradford Council.