Wondering About West London? -issue2

WON DERING A B OUT

WEST LONDON?

ISSUE 2 | 4 DEC’20

CONTENTS

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EDITOR’S LETTER Cinzia D’Ambrosi introduces the second issue

ISSUE 2

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INTERVIEW WITH SARAH KLEIO, DANCE STUDIO BUSINESS OWNER, RICHMOND.

By Subeer Suri

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ABOUT THE PHOTOJOURNALISM HUB

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HOW DO YOU IMAGINE THE FUTURE POST COVID 19?

Learn more

By Tiana Rendimonti

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THE LONELINESS OF LOCKDOWN FOR THE OLDER GENERATIONS

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ILLUSTRATION

By Soraya Sol

CONTRIBUTORS EDITOR IN CHIEF CinzIa D’Ambrosi

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DIGITAL EDITOR Laura James ARTICLES / PHOTO STORIES Tiana Rendimonti Subeer Suri Soraya Sol

By Ava-Jayani Karanth

Ava-Jayani Karanth Urmila Nagarkoti

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A DAY IN THE LIFE OF URMILA, A PHOTO STORY

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By Urmila Nagarkoti

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GET IN TOUCH PHOTOJOURNALISM HUB Cinzia@Photojournalismhub.org

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EDITOR’S LETTER

t is with great pleasure to present the second issue of Wondering about West London? a news-based zine run by the Photojournalism Hub and kindly supported by W12Together, a resident-led partnership.

Wondering about West London? is produced by young people living in west London and covers local news and stories. The project belongs to the Photojournalism Hub’s West London Zine project that aims to provide a platform upon which participants gain practical media experience and a body of published work and a portfolio valuable for furthering education or accessing employment opportunities. Participants of the project receive mentor-ship and dedicated weekly one two one support whilst developing their creative work.

The second issue of Wondering about West London? continues with a reflection on the impact of Covid-19 on our communities with photo stories on isolation among the older generations, on business owners’ survival. It shares the hopes of young people post Covid-19 through a series of photo portraits and interviews. Furthermore, illustrations and a day in the life of an avid food lover and great young chef.

ABOUT THE

PHOTOJOURNALISM HUB

T

he Photojournalism Hub is a not for profit community group that uses Photojournalism to address and engage people to human rights abuses and social justice issues and it connects Photojournalism to action for policy change by training individuals and organisations to expose social justice issues.

The Photojournalism Hub is a not for profit community group that promotes, advances and provides training in high quality photojournalism The Photojournalism Hub trains local community groups and individuals to advocate for social justice through a photography and citizen led programme called Visual Citizen Journalism. A course helping to present and address social justice issues for policy changes through visual evidence, photo stories and active citizen journalism.

Wondering about West London? brings amazing creative, resourceful and touching content from a youth perspective. Amidst the current lockdown, participants are bringing you content that demonstrates an acute sense of reflection, curiosity and a talent in sourcing content. I am immensely proud of this achievement and I would like to renew my gratitude to W12together for supporting this worthwhile project.

The Photojournalism Hub organises Photojournalism Exhibitions, Talks, Events a n d foste rs d i a log u e an d c o l l abo r ati o n i n t h e d e ve lop m e n t o f i n - de pth j o u r n al i st i c i n ve st i g a t i ve re s e arc h o n h u m an ri g h t s v i ol a t i on s.

The activities of the Photojournalism Hub focus on bringing together communities, advocates, researchers, journalists, photojournalists, criminal justice teams, and all those interested in the advancement of fair and independent journalism to raise awareness, advocate and deliver recommendations on today’s national and international social justice issues.

Cinzia D’Ambrosi, Editor in Chief

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HOW DO YOU IMAGINE THE

KOBI

FUTURE POST COVID 19?

Words & Photography by Tiana Rendimonti

“I THINK PEOPLE WILL STILL WEAR MASKS BECAUSE THEY WILL STILL BE

SCARED OF THE VIRUS AS

MANY PEOPLE WILL NOT TAKE THE VACCINE. I THINK LIFE AT SCHOOL WILL CHANGE AS THERE WILL BE FEWER

RESTRICTIONS

AND WE WILL FEEL FREE AGAIN. LIFE WILL BE

HARD,

AS MANY PEO-

PLE WILL STRUGGLE TO GET BACK TO NORMAL.”

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NADIA “I THINK THAT LIFE AFTER COVID 19

IS STILL GOING TO BE ALL OVER THE

PLACE. PEOPLE ARE STILL GOING TO

HAVE THIS BIG

UNCERTAINTY.

IN REGARDS TO SCHOOL, LESSONS ARE GOING TO BE NORMAL AND THERE’S

NOT GOING TO BE ANY MORE BUBBLES, HOWEVER, I THINK PEOPLE ARE STILL GOING TO BE CAREFUL.”

PIPER “I FEEL LIKE IT’S GOING TO BE HARD

FOR MOST PEOPLE TO GET BACK INTO A ROUTINE OF THE NORMAL LIFE

BECAUSE EVERYONE IS STILL GOING TO BE SCARED OF GETTING

INFECTED.”

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VICTORIA “LIFE AFTER COVID IS GOING TO BE ABNORMAL

AND IT IS GOING TO BE REALLY

UNCOMFORTABLE FOR PEOPLE AS WE TRY TO GO BACK TO

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NORMAL.”

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THE LONELINESS OF LOCKDOWN

FOR THE OLDER GENERATIONS

Words and Photography by Ava-Jayani Karanth

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020 has been a trying time for all with having to adapt to a ‘new normal’ and trying to carry on. But the pandemic and it’s consequences have been particularly difficult on older generations, and studies have found that they have been suffering from ‘lockdown loneliness’. 50.1% of adults aged 64 or over have reported experiencing loneliness due to Coronavirus, especially during the lockdown, according to the UK government website. Age UK found that over 2 million people in England over the age of 75 live alone. In addition, more than a million older people go for more than a month without speaking to a family member, friend or neighbour. With the current Covid-19 outbreak, this has only been amplified.

I wanted to create a photo story of this topic as I feel that whilst we all have our own individual struggles today, now

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more than ever, we should not forget about older generations. My photos bring to light the loneliness that encircles the older population like a suffocating scarf, especially those who live alone, and highlight that the current pandemic really affects others and in particular the vulnerable and the elderly, more than perhaps one could imagine. And they aim to make us aware and question our individual responsibility to reach out to another and ask a question, say hello or simply smile to brighten someone’s day.

I set forth to carry out this visual study in open areas, such as gardens and parks to provide a safe and healthy environment for those I have interviewed and photographed. I approached people who were in my target age bracket and photographed those who were willing. I was also able to let them open up about their lives and share how they are coping with the current global health crisis.

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A DAY IN THE

LIFE OF URMILA,

A PHOTO STORY Photography by Urmila Nagarkoti

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INTERVIEW WITH SARAH KLEIO DANCE STUDIO BUSINESS OWNER, RICHMOND. Words and Photography by Subeer Suri

S

arah is the owner of a Dance Studio in Richmond, west London, for the last 7 years. The current Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns to contain the numbers of contagion in the UK, has had a massive impact on her business. Last February, her dance studio was preparing for shows/events then people began getting nervous about reports of the spread of the Coronavirus and the attendance started to wane until March when a national lockdown began.

Her dance studio has lost 50% of attendance, the majority of which are clients that are either young students or those whose parents decided to return to their countries of origin due to job losses and/or other personal reasons. Some clients left as a result of the move onto delivering the dance classes online.

Sarah took the quick decision to move the studio’s classes to a remote format.

It was a necessity to retain the business.

The move to host the entire activities online was originally predicted to take 4-5 months, however incredible efforts were made and a plan was acted upon quickly and in a matter of 3 weeks Sarah’s dance studio had her entire classes online.

There was no other choice to save the busin e s s , e ve n i f th e re we re som e techn ic a l h i tc h e s , su ch a s i ssu e s w i th mus ic

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licensing, for instance. Furthermore, there were a lot of other changes, including insurance companies that had to modify their policies in a very short time and new costs such as web designing, digital platform subscription costs, cloud storage and so forth. Sarah noted that despite the challenges, the move to a digital delivery of the business activities has provided an extra edge and possibly new sources for future income. They filmed as many videos as possible for client’s on demand requests, for instance.

Some of the advantages of going online were that the business did not have to pay for a receptionist as well as it gaining new members who could not come to the studio pre-lockdown because of its location.

According to Sarah, teachers embraced the online element of teaching with a mix of hesitation and excitement, meanwhile students were excited to join the classes online during the first lockdown, but as time passed, they found the model tiring, particularly since they already had education classes online.

Furthermore, it wasn’t the same experience as having a real human interaction.

Sarah reflects that it can be a real struggle to teach online to kids under 6 as they are very young, possibly the older ones are finding it easier comparatively.

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When things reopened after the first lockdown, there was a glimmer of hope. Yet, social distancing measures affected the business as the dance studio attendance dropped from 16 to 5 people. This had a catastrophic effect. It has been a rough time and to make it profitable Sarah kept the online format going. This has allowed for the business to continue operating even during the second lockdown, where numbers have increased dramatically and with the schools being kept open, the dance class schedule was maintained.

The business was able to access the government furlough scheme so Sarah could put one of her full time employees on it to reduce the economic burden.

During summer, the government continued to pay partially for her employee and Sarah had the option to put herself on the furlough scheme as a company director.

Initially, the studio received a grant to help pay the studio rent from Richmond Council on a Leisure & Hospitality Band of commercial property and business rates, however more assistance is very much needed.

Although creativity is important, Sarah adds that creative arts and sports do not seem to have been prioritised by the UK government. She expl ains she had to furlough her full time employee and had to distribute the hours to her self employed teacher. If they would have remained regul arly employed, then the business would have had to potentially close and the teachers would have lost their jobs. The employees have taken pay cuts to help the business.

She hopes that in the future a vaccine will allow more people to return to attending studio dance cl asses whilst navigating on low numbers until gradually there would be an increase and a recovery for her dance studio.

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DISCLAIMER & COPYRIGHT Wondering about West London? has made all the possible care to ensure that content is accurate on the date of publication. The views

By Soraya Sol

expressed in the articles, photo stories and other editorial content reflect the author(s) opinions and do not necessarily are the views of the publisher and editor. The published material, editorials and all other content is published in a good faith. Wondering about West London? cannot guarantee and accepts no liability for any loss or damage of any kind caused by this publication. All rights reserved and nothing can be partially or in whole be reprinted or reproduced without a written consent.

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