A showcase of new projects by commission-winning photographers/filmmakers Bella Denise, Karolina Raczynski and Jade Sweeting, exploring work, labour and care in modern Britain.

Exhibition Opening Party | 10 April | 6.30pm - 8pm
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Free admission | Open Wednesday - Saturday 11.00am - 6.00pm 

NOTICE: Four Corners will be closed over the Bank Holiday
Friday 18 - Monday 21 April. 

• Gallery Access Guide
• Getting Here

Bella Denise, Jade Sweeting and Karolina Raczynski are the recipients of Four Corners 2024/25 Working Lives Photography Commission. Selected from an open call, each photographer/filmmaker was awarded a grant to produce a project on the theme of working lives in Britain. 

Exhibited here for the first time, these projects are resistant to the precarious, performance-driven and increasingly automated practices that define much of modern work. Drawing on analogue techniques and developed across five months, they show us another side of working lives, centered on craft, community and care. 

Through richly textured prints and field recordings, Jade Sweeting builds a portrait of Lydia Noble, a traditional drystone waller whose work comes with a ‘hundred  year guarantee’. Against the backdrop of rapid gentrification, Bella Denise uses techniques of ‘slow looking’ to consider the small local businesses at the heart of her community. Created with volunteers at the nearby Bethnal Green Nature Reserve, Karolina Raczynski’s multi-layered, plant-based film project broadens definitions of labour and rest.

ABOUT THE COMMISSION
 
Each photographer/filmmaker was awarded £3000 by Four Corners to complete their projects.

These commissions form an exciting part of our 2024/2025 programme Working Lives, which is exploring the role of film and photography in documenting working lives in Britain from the 1930s to the present.   

The selection panel consisted of photographers Daniel Meadows, Judy Harrison and Seema Khalique. Their combined experience in long-term documentary projects, socially engaged and community practice was invaluable in the decision process.  
 

COMMISSION WINNERS

Bella Denise
Shooting an Elephant

Set against a backdrop of rapid gentrification, Shooting an Elephant reflects on the decline of small businesses in Elephant and Castle, South East London. In opposition to the fast-paced redevelopment of her local area, Bella’s films and photographs were created through ‘slow looking’  - a process of observing details carefully, over time. Working with three businesses at the heart of the community  - Arments Pie and Mash Shop, G Baldwins & Co and Ossie's Jerk Chicken - the project offers a moment to pause and reflect on the importance of these spaces for communal care and cultural ownership.

 belladenise.com 

Jade Sweeting
A Hundred Years Guarantee 

A Hundred Years Guarantee documents the daily working life of Lydia Noble, who lives and works as a Drystone Waller in West Yorkshire. Born into a long line of stonemasons, Lydia’s family have constructed much of the area’s buildings since 1840. Shot between December and February in natural light on film, the richly textured prints underline the strength and skill required for this laborious work. Focusing on the hands, tools, and objects she finds in these walls, Jade builds an alternative and intimate portrait of a woman upholding a traditional craft (that was and still is male-dominated), whilst celebrating intergenerational knowledge and sustainable local traditions.
instagram.com/jadesweeting 

Karolina Raczynski 
The Reserve 

Karolina is carrying out a film project with volunteers and support from staff at the nearby Bethnal Green Nature Reserve. Filmed over the winter period and beginning of spring, the piece explores the benefits of volunteering and the broader meanings of work (and rest), focusing on the working life of what lives and grows in the Reserve.

The multi-layered film brings together video documentation of the winter volunteering sessions, the recorded voices of volunteers and community gardener-in-residence, a Renku (linked verse) poem created collaboratively by volunteers, as well as tracked camera footage contributed by Reserve and Rangers Forest School staff. Alongside, Karolina led a 16mm film workshop with the volunteers, using the technique of Phytography, - learnt from artist and filmmaker Karel Doing - which uses the chemistry of plants to create images on film.
cargocollective.com/karolinaraczynski 

Alongside their £3000 grant, our commission winners will receive 1-2-1 support throughout the project, access to Four Corners’ darkroom, photography studio and filmmaking facilities, the opportunity to take part in a work in progress event and receive feedback from established photographers, and a final group exhibition.   
 

FUNDING PARTNERS 

This commission opportunity is made possible through the support of The Foyle Foundation, The Ampersand Foundation and the Garfield Weston Foundation.