Towards the end of 2011, we were commissioned to undertake an exhibition for the Stables Gallery in the town of Diss in Norfolk. (This is where Lucy's parents live which is why we have a connection to the town.) The brief was quite open - basically, something to do with the heritage of the town. We decided we wanted to combine some text alongside a set of portraits and also be able to show some photographs that were in our documentary style.
And we ended up with "Diss Past Present - A Photographic Portrait", an exhibition about some of the historic buildings in the town and the people who live and work in them now. So not simply a historical account, but a slice of the 'now', a look
at how people today interact with the buildings of yesterday. We focussed on 12 buildings, and conducted interviews with one or two people associated with each place, took a portrait of each person and a set of photos for each.
So, after months of planning and phone calls and emails to get people involved, various trips up to Norfolk to carry out interviews and photograph buildings, and weeks of typing, printing, mounting and tearing our hair out, it finally went up!
We received some wonderful feedback from both the Corn Hall Trustees (Who own and run the gallery) and people of the town too. So all that hard work paid off!
It was a great experience (although very fraught at times!) and I think we learnt a lot in the process. On the plus side, we also got to meet and interview Elizabeth Talbot (the auctioneer at TW Gaze auction rooms, who can often be seen on Bargain Hunt/Flog It), the Mayor of Diss, were interviewed by the local press, got to meet some very interesting people, and hear some amazing stories, and saw behind the scenes of some incredible old buildings!
