“Nadia is an artist and co-founder of Rumpus Room, a youth led project space focused on social action. Rumpus Room also run an open studio for anyone to come in and use the space and facilities for a couple of hours a week.
I wanted to feature Nadia in this project as she has been a really great and supportive person when it comes to offering opportunities within Rumpus Room, whether that is taking photos for events, writing for the online blog or offering further training within the space. I photographed Nadia in the Rumpus Room Yard which hosts many outdoor workshops, exhibitions, pot lucks and gardening club.”
Tabassum
Tabassum is a community worker and the co-founder and director of Bowling Green Together, which is a dedicated green space located in the heart of Pollokshields, a predominantly South Asian area of Glasgow. The space often hosts fundraisers, cultural events and family play sessions which are open to the whole community. I have photographed Tabassum multiple times in Bowling Green for other projects, only this time it was to capture the presence that she, and the space hold within the community.
Both Syma and Tabassum were also community engagement officers for the Tape Letters Scotland project, which is how I first met them as the project photographer. The nature of networking within the grassroots organisations in Glasgow, is that you’re never too far from running into people you know. The connections of the people I photographed are not limited to this project.
Hussein and Maya are great friends who first met when they were asked by Nadia to host workshops at Rumpus Room, and just down the road is where the Greater Govanhill Community Newsroom is located. Tabassum and Syma knew each other from their high school days and have since gathered a vast amount of knowledge of their community which help instruct their projects to this day. Tabassum’s Bowling Green is also utilised for the Rumpus Room ‘Romp Around’ free family play days.
Hussein
Hussein is a writer and artist whose work focuses on sociopolitical and environmental themes. I first met Hussein when they were the coordinator for the Manifesto for Change a project part of the Our Shared Cultural Heritage project, a South Asian youth-led programme based in Kelvingrove Museum. The aim of the project was to decolonise and diversify the museum space.
I chose to photograph them in the Scottish Poetry Rose Garden in Queens Park. It’s a place in the heart of the Southside of Glasgow where Hussein works and where many grassroots organisations are located. I also liked the idea of photographing a contemporary writer among the names of old Scottish writers from history.
An interesting story about this photograph is that just weeks before, Hussein shared a post on their Instagram about the time they handed Jeremy Corbyn a rose when he came to Glasgow in 2017. When I was setting up the shot, Hussein pointed out that the rose bush to the right of me was the exact bush they picked the rose in the early hours of the morning that Jeremy Corbyn came to visit. That’s when Hussein plucked the rose which features in the portrait.
Maya
Maya is a workshop facilitator and youth worker who I met when we were both part of the Our Shared Cultural Heritage project.
When I first met Maya, I was really inspired by their experience in facilitating workshops and how they set up and delivered their own writing workshops to local communities. We would often plan and organise workshops for Our Shared Cultural Heritage events, which has helped me gain the confidence and knowledge to host my own. I photographed Maya in their shared studio space.
Samar
Samar is a journalist at Greater Govanhill which is a community run local newspaper. I met Samar when she was writing an article about the exhibition Glasgow: City of Empire in Kelvingrove Museum which I helped co-curate as part of the Our Shared Cultural Heritage programme. Since then, I have bumped into Samar during various events she was covering. I am now involved with the Greater Govanhill photography club and occasionally feature in the magazine.
I photographed Samar outside the Greater Govanhill Community Newsroom which is the main space she works from. It’s also a place for people to rent desk space and where the different meetings and clubs are hosted.
Syma
Syma is a community worker and the ethnic and minority project development officer for the Glasgow Women’s Library.
Syma’s commitment to community work is evident in her knowledge of Glasgow’s South Asian community. It just so happened that her first community project, She Settles in the Sheilds, which showcases the multiple generations of South Asian women who live in the Sheilds, was for the first time in years being shown at the Glasgow Women’s Library as part of Glasgow Doors Open day.
I’m happy that I was able to capture Syma’s portrait in a space which gives an insight not only into her place of work, but the project that started it all for her.
