TAKE ONE A DAY
Take One a Day is a photography exhibition highlighting the power of creativity and how looking for the beauty around us can help us deal with the many difficulties of modern life.
'Take One a Day' is on display at the Usher Gallery, LINCOLN
from 13 July until 15 September 2024
SELECTION OF the LANDSCAPES BY PAUL GUTHERSON
The landscape imagery featured in the exhibition came out of a traumatic experience for Lincolnshire man Paul Gutherson. Paul discovered the body of someone who had died by suicide on his favourite dog walk in Keddington, just outside Louth. Following PTSD and counselling, he decided to use his love of photography to reclaim his joy in the natural environment and to rediscover the beauty in life. He started taking one a day – a photograph, not a tablet – and began sharing them on social media. In the exhibition are some of the images, all taken close to where the event happened. A short film will also accompany the images and help bring the project to life.
Award-winning photographic artist Richard Ansett supports Paul's landscapes with rural community portraiture to broaden and deepen the project. The people featured either work in and give their time to mental health support or are personally affected by some of the issues raised. They all kindly gave their time to have their pictures taken next to the path where Paul walked.
Also featured is the series MAN UP; portraits that came out of Richard's visit to a local support group run by Bro-Pro UK. A limited-edition zine goes alongside to tell the subjects' stories.
Suicide rates have risen in rural areas since 2016. Lincolnshire has a large farming community, responsible for £2 billion of the UK’s agricultural output, but mental health support is spread thinly.
This collaborative and wide-ranging project highlights the connection between people and their communities. The aim is that the positivity surrounding this exhibition - borne out of a tragic event - inspires mindfulness and creativity, or helps people to reach out.
Thank you to all the contributors who shared their stories.
PORTRAITS BY RICHARD ANSETT
MAN UP photography by richard ansett
London based photographic artist Richard Ansett is conscious of the responsibility to the communities he documents, recognising the potential for misrepresentation of an ‘outsider’s gaze’. His body of work has been influenced by his adoption with no knowledge of his biological parents and in this sense he defines himself as a rootless ‘existential outsider’. Ansett doesn’t allow himself to be affected by any sense of disadvantage however and his background has inspired a lifetime’s search for a better understanding of place supported by his camera. He sees any arrival to a new landscape as potential to bring a fresh perspective to a view ‘coloured by familiarity’. Instead of seeing difference, Ansett’s detachment is his superpower, inspiring a search for a shared experience. In this sense he does not consider himself an outsider at all.
On arrival in Lincolnshire Ansett began an engagement with the community through the investigation of mental health support networks in the area and discovered small self-help groups specifically for men. MAN UP introduces some of these men attending a local meeting organised by BroPro UK, an organisation that encourages peer to peer support dedicated to creating safe spaces for men to meet and talk and share life experiences or just be alongside others. These portraits are of just a few men who have had the courage to admit they need support, they have reached out and found men like themselves who, through their own experience, realised they could be of help and support to each other.
“These images and testimonies are a snap shot of a larger men’s mental health crisis throughout the UK. Some of the old legacies of masculinity are toxic to good mental health and are letting us all down. We are finding ourselves increasingly ill-equipped to cope alone with the pressures of modern life and without support we can experience depression and potentially suicidal ideation.” Richard Ansett
Click here for more about richard ansett
take one a day - PRevious exhibition: spout yard park, louth
