Photoworks

In 2024, Kate Astbury was awarded a British Academy SHAPE Involve and Engage pilot project to "seek imaginative new ways to engage with the public in partnership with a gallery, archive, library or museum (GLAM organisation)". She and Abigail Coppins worked with Portchester Castle and the charity Photoworks to increase awareness of the history of the Black and mixed-race Caribbean prisoners of war held at Portchester Castle during the French Revolution and do justice to the multi-layered history of the site through photography.

In thinking about decolonisation and placemaking at Portchester, the project allowed participants to explore fundamental questions about human rights, discrimination, identity and power, moving beyond traditional narratives of the enslaved as victims while also celebrating the role of women in the Revolution in the Caribbean. English Heritage’s youth engagement team Shout out Loud helped Photoworks to run workshops on site to address issues of slavery, race, and revolution in its unique and haunting setting, drawing on Portchester’s unexpected history as a prisoner-of-war camp to give space to unheard voices from the past demanding creative expression through photography.

The workshops gave local secondary school pupils and young adults an opportunity to take ownership of history. They significantly enhanced the value and wider benefits of my team’s research and offered a sustainable legacy for the project by creating a model for the partners going forward. Two exhibitions of work were held, one at Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth (Captive Identities, 22 May – 16 June 2024, Led by artist India Jaggon, artwork by young people aged 18-24) and one at Portchester Castle (Speaking to Maps, October-December 2024, artwork by pupils from Priory School and Portsmouth Grammar School working with artists Eva Jonas and Maya Brasington).A showcase of the pupils' work can be found here:

Freedom & Photography | Photoworks

Co-curated learning resources for schools wishing to explore the approaches taken can be found here:

Gathering and Unravelling: Recording Untold Histories - Photoworks