Twelve – A Participatory Project Highlighting the Experiences and Motiviations of Volunteers

‘The number twelve resonates. It’s the number of months in the solar calendar. The number of signs in the western and Chinese zodiac. The number of principal Gods of the Pantheon. The number of books in Milton’s Paradise Lost. The smallest abundant number. The number of pitches in an octave, and the number of steps to recovery. Across literature, music, nature, science, therapy, and religion, twelve implies completeness.’

Twelve is a participatory photography project, a collaboration between a local photography research team and volunteers from two organisations based in Blackburn (Lancashire, UK) that provide support for the community. Twelve explores the motivations behind, and the meanings of, volunteering.

Twelve is funded by BIMM University, The Duchy of Lancaster, The National Festival of Making, and The Trussell Trust, and launched in 2024 at The National Festival of Making (see News section for more information). The project has since been exhibited at OXO Towers (South Bank, London, UK) and Open Eye Gallery (Liverpool, UK), and included in The Trussell Trust’s The Hardship Times publication (2024).

In the context of the UK’s Cost of Living Crisis, photographers and educators John Harrison and Shaun McAllister devised an approach for exploring the contribution made by volunteers working in Blackburn (Lancashire, UK). This proposal led them to develop relationships with 2 local organisations that rely of the work of volunteers to deliver support for people in Blackburn. Following several months of engagement, formal proposals for on-site creative research activities were approved, and residencies at both organisations began in October 2023.

“It’s here. It’s home. It’s healing somebody…somewhere. And they are the community, aren’t they?”

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