Photography exhibition explores faith in West London

A photography exhibition opening this week in Gunnersbury Park Museum in Ealing is the outcome of a remarkable collaboration between senior citizens from six different faith communities in West Ealing and Hanwell. Faith in Suburbia: a shared photographic journey records their exploration of each others' worship spaces through a photography project initiated by UCL geographer, Claire Dwyer and award-winning photographer Liz Hingley. The six volunteers, recruited from Our Lady and St Joseph Catholic Church, St Thomas the Apostle Church, West London Islamic Centre, London Sikh Centre, Ealing Liberal Synagogue and Shri Kanaga Thurkkai Amman Hindu Temple had no prior experience of photography and most had never visited other places of worship in their neighbourhood. Working under the guidance of Liz Hingley, whose portraits of some of the participants are also on show in the exhibition, the seniors took photographs to explore the different religious buildings. Participants then worked together to select images to produce six faith 'banners' representing each faith. As a result, photography became an effective medium for the participants to learn what they had in common and also provided opportunities to build interfaith understanding. When you're using a camera you see the details, the patterns, the similarities between different places - Angie, Our Lady and St Joseph's Catholic Church "When you're using a camera you see the details, the patterns, the similarities between different places," said Angie, a participant from Our Lady and St Joseph's Catholic Church in Hanwell.