Other Peoples Photographs

Hundreds were moved to hunt high and low for personal photos to help us make this whole town public artwork.

Other People’s Photographs celebrates the networks that create our communities, and what it means to share public space emotionally and physically. Memory and context transform it from simply an open space to a shared place. 

Connected by similar memories and experiences, we are united by our childhood games, our rites of passage, our birthdays, weddings and funerals, and our celebration of national and international events.

Launched in February 2008 by Brett Rogers, Director of the Photographers’ Gallery in London, the artwork has won six major national and international awards. Other People's Photographs is an unusual and unique project that won awards specifically because it considered every one of Folkestone’s streets `public space’, not just the town centre and parks.

The most important aspect of Other People’s Photographs is the subject matter on which the metal signs are based. This is the key to project’s success. Each sign is a reproduction of an original photograph taken in that location at some time over the last century. The interesting aspect about all of the photographs is that every image was loaned to the project by a member of the public.  

Strange Cargo worked for many months in direct public consultation, and used a variety of approaches to inform the local population about the call for photographs. Over a period of two years 1650 photographs were loaned from personal photograph albums. The technical quality of the photographs was unimportant. The only stipulations were that the photographs belonged to the lender, were taken outside in a recognisable location, in any street in the town and included people as the main subject of the image. 

Once the photographs were collected, a single image was selected to represent each street. A team of sound technicians worked with the owners of the photographs to record the stories behind them and each photograph was digitally scanned. Amazing Interactives digital design company created an interactive digital map that takes visitors on a virtual journey through each and every street in the town. Following this rigorous endeavour, each precious image was handed back in person to its owner.