ANDY YATES TRACKS :
I think if you told me when I was younger that I would now have a career in the arts, I probably would have laughed and asked ‘what does that mean?’. I grew up in a working class family, living in Bootle; my mum was a civil servant and my dad a local council worker. Sport was our currency and the arts wasn’t really something we shared much interest in.
At school I was a bit of an ‘all rounder’, a jack of all trades (master of none!). I did well at most things but this meant that I struggled to really know what I wanted to do. If anybody asked me about what job I wanted to do beyond school, I would tell them, an accountant because I was good at maths and the most interesting adult I knew at the time was an accountant. He used to travel a lot around Europe to watch the football, so I thought he must have been earning some good money.
After my A Levels, I was accepted onto an accountancy apprenticeship, but didn’t follow through as I got a summer job and decided I would prefer to carry on earning money. For the next 5 years, I worked at the family and civil courts and the Department for Work and Pensions.
My time as a Crisis Loan Decision Maker started feeling like it was making me a bit cynical and I decided I needed a change, so I spent the summer in Portland, Oregon as a camp counselor to 10-11 year-olds at a Camp America. I then followed this up with a coast to coast trip of the USA, from San Francisco to New York, armed with a DSLR that I bought before the trip to capture memories while I was away. This trip is what first gave me the photography bug.
When I got back, I knew I wanted to spend some more time traveling so I booked a working holiday to Australia where I spent the next 15 months, with a little time in New Zealand. My camera stayed with me and was the perfect way for me to really take in the places I visited and share my captured
Hahei Sunrise, 2013
memories with people at home.
I came back from traveling and naively thought that if I studied photography it might be a gateway into being a travel photographer. However, with no money left, I had to take the first job I could find, a Customer Service Agent for Santander.
While working at the bank, I enrolled to study Photography and Digital Imaging at Hugh Baird University Centre. The course was really good. The tutors invested a lot in the students and we had lots of great opportunities to develop and gain real world experiences. It opened my eyes to understanding what photography can say in the world. I went from taking pictures for aesthetic value to taking pictures with a purpose and meaning behind them.
Words haven’t always come easily to me, so being able to use images as a way of communicating what I’m feeling and how I see the world has been really important to my personal growth.
During my third year, I started a new project exploring my local community in Waterloo and Crosby called ‘Andy Finds Community’. I focussed on finding posters and notices on shop windows and park notice boards advertising different community groups in the area. I attended the groups to take part and captured what was going on through images. It led me to gardening groups, a walking football team, a history and philosophy group, and many more. It was great fun and a really helpful way to explore what community looks like. The course had links with Open Eye Gallery and ‘Andy Finds Community’
Monument Valley, 2012
IT TAUGHT ME HOW TO DEVELOP AND MAINTAIN PARTNER RELATIONSHIPS AND THE MANY DIFFERENT HATS NEEDED TO PURSUING, AND NAVIGATING A CAREER IN THE ARTS.
was showcased at the gallery as part of the final year exhibition.
As a result of this relationship, Open Eye Gallery offered me a paid internship to be a Project Assistant on a young persons project. Having spoken to the Director, Sarah Fisher, and Head of Social Practice, Liz Wewiora, I said I wasn’t sure about the role as I would have to consider whether it was worthwhile. Considering the pay wasn’t great and I already had a job where I was earning more money, I told them I would need to think about it and get back to them after the weekend.
Despite feeling like a bit of an imposter, I realised this opportunity was too good to turn down, and accepted the position. It was only much later that Sarah told me that no one had ever done that to her before and that normally when an opportunity in the arts like this comes up, people say yes straight away. Sarah is still telling that story today!
I started in the summer of 2017. The project was called ‘Our North’ exploring what it is like for young people to grow up in the North. I worked with 2 groups of young people, one from Sefton and one from Runcorn doing a series of workshops with photographers and curators exploring themes of the North. This ended in producing a small
publication and pop-up exhibition at Open Eye Gallery. It was amazing seeing the responses of the young people, having their images on the walls and knowing that people are taking an interest in their lives. It was such a valuable experience and a privilege to share it with them.
This experience taught me how a project develops from start to finish. I worked with youth workers, artists and curators and I organised trips, photo shoots, exhibitions and a book launch. It taught me how to develop and maintain partner relationships and the many different hats needed to pursuing, and navigating a career in the arts. We continued to work with Sefton Youth Services for the duration of my time at the gallery.
Images: History Group Poster, Andy Finds Community, 2017 FoSFG Poster, Andy FInds Community, 2017 Jim, Andy Finds Community, 2017
SCHOOLS WORK
When I started working for the gallery, they didn’t have a specific young persons and schools programme, but were looking to develop one. Fortunately for me, I was in the right place at the right time and Sarah asked me to try working with a school (this was a new step for me and the gallery) and I said yes straight away this time! We started a relationship with Whitby High School, (Ellesmere Port) and worked closely with their Year 12 students, inviting them to the gallery and setting a brief connected to the current exhibition. The students received ongoing support and workshops with the gallery through the duration of the project and had the opportunity to experience what any artist working in a gallery context would experience. The work created was shared in an exhibition at Open Eye Gallery and then more locally at Ellesmere Port Library. The opportunity to show their work in a professional context, something artists spend their lives trying to achieve, was really important to the success of the project and was something that provided the students with a real experience of what the arts can do. We continued to work with the school throughout my time at the gallery, which involved opportunities to work on research.
THE
Having started the schools programme, the gallery supported me with an application to be part of Curious Minds ‘The Culture and Arts Schools Expert’ (CASE) fellowship. This was a year-long leadership development programme designed to protect, nurture and develop schools experts within the North West cultural sector to strengthen the ability of cultural organisations to work in partnership with schools.
The fellowship involved two residentials, a school placement, and opportunities to practice advocacy skills and explore governance. This was a really important mark on my journey as it provided a hands on experience of the practical specifics of working with schools, as well as time to reflect on what I had achieved so far, and an opportunity to help shape my future work with culture organisations and schools.
CULTURE AND ARTS SCHOOLS EXPERT (CASE) FELLOWSHIP
Ellesmere Port Library, Whitby High School, 2018
Our North Exhibition, Open Eye Gallery, 2018
Our North Exhibition Opening, Sefton Youth Voice, 2018
ARTIST IN RESIDENCE
During this time we developed a new relationship with Joseph Paxton Campus (Wirral Hospitals’ School), a small school setting for those unable to attend mainstream school. All students have medical needs which often involve aspects of mental health. Here, I worked as an artist in residence developing a project that was shaped by both the school and the students.
This experience taught me the importance of really understanding the context of the environment I’m working in. Given the complex needs of the students, it was vital that I understood the school’s processes and ways of working before I started working with them. It then became about making the environment as comfortable as possible to allow the students to enjoy and get the most out of taking part in the project.
The work developed became about how the role of photography can be used as an educational tool in unlocking the way we navigate our daily lives.
Read more about the project in this article on Engage.
This Is Me, Wirral Hospitals School, 2020
MA SOCIALLY ENGAGED PHOTOGRAPHY, UNIVERSITY OF SALFORD
The next step on my photography journey was to start developing my personal practice. The gallery supported me with this by providing a bursary towards some of the costs of a Masters in Socially Engaged Photography at University of Salford. This was a great opportunity to reflect on my previous work and start to explore what a socially engaged practice looks like for me. The course provided me with opportunities to shadow socially engaged photographers, work alongside similar stage artists, build on my connection with Open Eye Gallery who help support the course, and learn to critically engage in the learning of socially engaged practice.
COVID happened in the middle of my MA, so like for everyone, it completely changed the parameters of how I would normally work. As a result, I explored different digital methods
of engaging with a group and how to communicate this well. Most of the work created was through a Facebook group, where I developed a series of weekly activities to engage with. This was a really interesting exercise as it required careful consideration around how to create and explain an activity in its simplest form, and share it with a group of people I had never met. This made the basis of my final project and has acted as a really useful resource for me since, as I now have a selection of ready to go activities whenever I start working with a new group.
For anyone currently exploring a socially engaged practice, I would recommend taking the next step and doing an MA, as it gives you the space needed to really explore what it is while being around other practitioners who you can learn from.
Allerton Oak, TreeStory, 2020
Having completed my MA, I continued as Creative Producer at Open Eye Gallery and also took on some freelance projects as lead artist. One of those projects is TreeStory, developed by Open Eye Gallery, dot-art and Liverpool City Council. It initially started with a group of local academics, historians, and residents sharing a story about a tree that holds some significance to them, after which I would go and photograph it. This included trees such as the Allerton Oak in Calderstones Park and Adam and Eve in the courtyard of Speke Hall.
It then went out to the public, inviting them to share a story and an image of their favorite trees. Funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund then allowed us to extend the project to schools and community groups in the
Liverpool City Region. I worked with nearly 20 different community groups and schools for this project. It has been fascinating working with such a wide cross section of people aged between 4-80 and seeing the differences in how they interact with trees. From the enthusiasm and excitement shown by primary school children to the wisdom and steadiness imparted by a retired person, it’s been such a privilege learning from all of these groups.
The project was exhibited at LOOK Photo Biennial in 2022 and at Liverpool One in 2024. This was one of my proudest experiences, seeing a project that I’ve worked on being visible to the public on a street that I’ve walked on almost daily for years of my life. Friends who I hadn’t told about the work were getting in touch to say they’d seen the project and how much they liked it.
TREE STORY
TreeStory, Workshop with LIPA Primary St James Gardens, 2022 LOOK 22, TreeStory Exhibition, 2022
NEXT STEPS
In 2022 I left my formal role at the gallery but continue to work closely with them, collaborating in a number of different areas.
Through the opportunities I have been given, I am now able to continue working on a broad spectrum of projects with people of all ages. The levels of input and support I received from OEG have not only given me the platform to have a career in the arts but have also offered me a self-belief that I belong here. It is a real privilege to be able to do the work that I do and I’m looking forward to seeing what comes next.
Flashes of Blue, Lowton High School, 2024
Tracks is a series of case-study-style publications looking at the professional and personal development of an individual. Published by Open Eye Gallery, Tracks considers where an individual and the gallery have intersected or continue to intersect; a record of shared values, learning and impact.
Open Eye Gallery and Andy Yates 2025
Cover image: Portrait by participant during Life Rooms Workshop, 2023
Images used: Andy Yates / courtesy of Andy Yates