Threads, a new project for Kingsbury and Charing Cross stations draws inspiration from the common expression, ‘travel expands the mind’. Young people from Brent Youth Inclusion Programme set out from their local Underground station Neasden to join photographer Nadia Bettega on a week-long journey to explore portraiture and place through photography. Together they visited significant places in Brent, located along the Jubilee line, including Wembley Park station and Wembley Stadium.
Everyone kept a daily journal in which they developed their ideas about the different people who might work at or visit each location. Building upon this, each participant then ‘acted out’ their own imaginary character in front of the camera and Bettega recorded their reflections on the day.
The group also visited exhibitions by international artists and photographers at Camden Arts Centre near Finchley Road Underground station and The Photographers’ Gallery in central London, to develop their knowledge of portraiture.
Bettega has produced a series of photographic portraits that are being exhibited at Kingsbury and Charing Cross Underground stations. The photographs reflects the variety of responses within the group to a single place at a specific moment in time, and also chart each individual’s creative progress across the week.
