Community Portrait

BCA and Fujifilm have provided participants, through artist led workshops, the opportunity to produce individual portraits to produce a Community Portrait exhibition. We have worked with local photographers and The Higgins Bedford to take portraits of people within our local community not often seen in portraiture. We’ve run workshops in schools, community setting, Bedford College and The Higgins using the latest FujiFilm cameras as well as traditional and historic photography techniques like Cyanotype and glass-plate photography. We produced over 1,000 photographs to choose from for the exhibition.

The exhibition features over 200 portraits of Bedford locals taken by local school-age children, Bedford College students, community groups and professional photographers, creating a ‘Community Portrait’ of the town. It explores the history of photography from 1840s glass-plate techniques, through to current digital techniques, and onwards towards to a potential future involving AI. It showcases the Bedford community through their own portraits, whilst inviting the viewer to reflect on the art of image-making through the decades and beyond.

Participants were inspired by visits to state-of-the-art facilities, the latest technologies provided by Fujifilm House and their own relationships and connections in the community.  They learnt about the local heritage of photography and the links with Fujifilm who have be present in Bedford and a key employer over the last 40 years.  

To complement the exhibition, we will also be holding a symposium event, Community Portrait: Reprint Revolution, on Tuesday 14 January 2025, to explore AI and community image creation: questioning the reimagining and reinterpretation of community images and the dramatic shift from traditional methods of photography.

This project is sponsored by Fujifilm Bedford and is supported by Wixamtree Trust and The Steel Charitable Trust.