"Our lives" Black and White photography exhibition Sunday 14th to Thursday 25th Nairn Community and Arts Centre

Our Lives

A celebration of people with learning disabilities living in the Highlands.

For Learning Disabilities Week this year People First Highland have commissioned a series of black and white photographs to celebrate the lives and achievements of people with learning disabilities living in the Highlands.

The photographs illustrate people at work; at home; at leisure and in relationships.

Many of these ordinary daily pursuits would have been impossible for many of these people and others like them a couple of decades ago, when many with learning disabilities lived in residential hospital settings and had little contact with the wider community.

As these images show, thankfully things are changing – although there is still a way to go for people with a learning disability to be fully integrated and valued by society.

All the photographs except the one of the photographer were taken by Nairn resident John Gallon who has a learning disability himself. John, who is a member of Nairn Camera Club, is delighted with his first solo exhibition. “I feel so proud – it means a lot to me and it shows what people with a learning disability can achieve. Taking the photographs was challenging but it was a great experience and I found seeing them displayed very moving.”

John was supported by local photographer Carrie Bates, who assisted him to develop his camera and photo editing skills, and who took the photograph of John, entitled ‘Fully focused’.

The exhibition, entitled Our Lives, is on display until Thursday 25th May upstairs at Nairn Community and Arts Centre.