Sidmouth School of Art welcomed Artist Photographer in Residence JJ Waller to the town during the annual Folk Festival for a very special collaboration in association with the festival, “Your Town My Town”.
JJ took to the streets, the beach, and all of the folk festival venues to capture the town, its people, performers and visitors, capturing a sense of Sidmouth and its unique character.
JJ’s portrait, “Your Town”, also included a packed schedule of photo shoots curated by Sidmouth School of Art, with an array of Sidmouth groups and organisations including:
- the Science Festival
- The Radway Cinema
- The River Sid Catchment Group
- the WHAT (Wellbeing and Health Action Team
- Sidmouth Cricket Club
- Sidmouth Bowling Club
- Manor Pavilion Theatre
- Churches of sidmouth
- Sidmouth Gig Club
- Plastic Warriors
- Sidmouth Town Band
- Sidmouth Town Council
- The Sidmouth Collective
- Patchers & Quilters
- Sid Life at Cotmaton House
- Sidmouth Junior Vikings Girls' Football Team
- The Photographic Club
- The Watersports Club
- Sidmouth School of Art
A Q & A event at The Arts Centre by the Manor Pavilion was part of the Folk Festival's cultural programme and provided a fascinating insight into JJ Waller’s street photography. The audience was treated to a brilliant, funny, insightful presentation of his work, which is full of empathy, humour and the unexpected, featuring his work in his home town of Brighton, and other coastal areas that he is drawn to, such as Benidorm and Blackpool. He shared his approach, which is creative and led by his curiosity and his kind eye for the interesting, sometimes theatrical nature of everyday scenes, that perhaps others miss.
Reflecting on his Sidmouth residency, JJ said: “A superb first visit to Sidmouth that certainly won’t be my last. A unique can-do town full of can-do people. I was massively impressed by the professionalism and scale of the Folk Festival, it was a great time to experience Sidmouth. For a photographer, being here was like striking photographic gold. What really was the icing on the cake was the superb efforts my hosts, Sidmouth School of Art, made to introduce me to so many amazing community groups and organisations, who invited me to make their portraits. I’m going to return and show my pictures that I hope locals will enjoy as an original, colourful, quirky and affectionate portrayal of your dynamic sometimes eccentric ‘Small Quiet English Seaside Town.’”
The "Your Town My Town" project also has an open call for anyone, resident or visitor, to submit a photograph that best describes Sidmouth, Your Town My Town, taken during the Folk Festival’s 70th anniversary event. Submission deadline, 5pm Friday 23rd August, via the Sidmouth School of Art website link here Your Town My Town - Submit Your Photograph | Sidmouth School Of Art (sidmouthart.org)
Sidmouth School of Art’s Director of Development, Louise Cole, added: “Working with JJ has been a complete pleasure and full of fun as he spent many hours and walked approaching 50 miles during his stay, engaging with everyone with his easy conversational style, often directing people to make a tweak here and there to realise his vision for what will make an amazing photo. We are very excited to move into the next phase of the project which will be to make a series of exhibitions including billboards, phone boxes and bus shelters to share the body of work created by JJ.”