Portraits of Bedford’s community are showcased using photography from the past, present and future

Over the last 18 months, local photographers have sought out Bedford residents to feature as subjects in these portraits who wouldn’t normally get the chance to be in front of the camera in a gallery setting. The results show a diverse array of faces and personalities including families from local schools and home-educator groups, babies, carers, College students, people celebrating at Ukrainian Day and members of local cultural groups.

A programme of workshops enabled people to have their portraits taken and learn about different photographic techniques, whilst exploring the heritage of photography with Fujifilm UK, which has its UK headquarters based in Bedford. Fujifilm hosted some of these groups at their state-of-the-art studio facilities in its London FUJIFILM House of Photography. Fujifilm UK have also provided the prints for the exhibition, bringing the photos to life using their photographic papers, enhancing the colours and details captured in each image.

Duncan Edgar, Director of Corporate at Fujifilm UK Says, “As Fujifilm UK celebrates its 40th year in Bedford, we are proud to partner with Bedford Creative Arts on Community Portrait. With our heritage in photography, it’s been amazing to see how those involved with the project have chosen to capture their unique perspectives and stories, visually representing what being a Bedfordian means to them. We are incredibly passionate about our community here in Bedford and supporting the creativity within it; we are thrilled to have played a small part in bringing these stories to light through this inspiring exhibition.”

The exhibition also features an interactive Artificial Intelligence (AI) exhibit created by digital artists Fergus Laidlaw and Arnab Chakravarty which invites visitors to reflect on the possible future of photography in a world where AI has a growing impact. The exhibit uses a computer to re-draw some of the portraits featured and then invites visitors to say whether it has successfully interpreted the image or not. It highlights some of the potential opportunities, risks and challenges of working with AI in the future and is due to be featured at international conference, BEYOND 2024, in Manchester in November.

Ami Aubrey, Programme Producer for BCA says, “We’ve worked with a range of photographers both experienced and emerging to create these portraits which feature beautiful images of people from our local community and showcase the evolution of photographic technology at the same time. We had over 1,000 images to choose from for this exhibition and had to make some really tough choices about which to include.

We hope that visitors will be inspired to consider the role of the camera in capturing portraits – not just the mobile phone (as so many of us rely on today). It’s a reflection on photography’s value as an artform as we enter a future where anyone can take a photo but it is also open to manipulation through technology”.

Councillor Sarah Gallagher, Portfolio Holder for Customer Experience, Leisure and Culture at Bedford Borough Council, says, "I'm delighted to see this fantastic new exhibition showcasing the diverse faces and personalities of our Bedford community. The Community Portrait project is a wonderful collaboration between Bedford Creative Arts, The Higgins Bedford and Fujifilm UK, and it's a testament to the creativity and talent of our local photographers.”

The exhibition is open until 23rd February 2025 in the Sir William Harpur Gallery at The Higgins Bedford, Castle Lane, MK40 3XD.

The exhibition is made possible by support from Arts Council England, The Steel Charitable Trust, The Wixamtree Trust and generous sponsorship from our partner Fujifilm UK.