Our Neighbours, Our Stories

 In this debut episode, I am introducing my first-ever solo photography exhibition, Our Neighbours, Our Stories. 

Tucked away inside Bedwyn Baristas, formerly the Old Bowls Club off Farm Lane, the exhibition is a space for cross-generational reconnection.

I share my personal journey as a gay, British-Gujarati Indian man born and raised in Leicester. I dive into why I chose analogue film and how independent coffee shop owners are helping steer a new era of village connection.

Step inside Bedwyn Baristas on a Friday morning, and you’ll see exactly what I mean. The digital world likes to keep us segregated into boxes. Algorithms feed us what people our own age like. But at the Bedwyn Baristas counter, the algorithm breaks down completely.

You see a young person sitting with an iced latte, sitting right next to a lifelong resident with a cup of tea reading their morning paper. Generations that usually walk past each other on the street are suddenly sharing a table, sharing a laugh, and navigating a conversation. It’s a reminder that community isn’t something we look at on a screen. It’s simply meeting in the same room.

In a world of smartphone cameras and filters on social media, film forces you to slow down. 

You get thirty-six frames on a roll. You have to wait. Film has a unique texture—a grain. 

To a younger eye, that grain looks artistic. But to the older generation, that grain is just the texture of memory. It’s how their wedding photos looked. It’s how their childhood was documented. 

By displaying these portraits in this space, I wanted to use a visual language that the twenty-somethings and the eighty-somethings understand equally. Pictures of the North Wessex Downs, our local faces, captured on a medium that spans generations.

So, this is my invitation to you. 

Whether you are an art lover, curious to discover some untold stories or just someone who really appreciates the taste of a good flat white or cup of tea with a sweet treat. 

Take a walk down Farm Lane. Turn left at the sign for Bedwyn Baristas

Look up from your phone. Look at the people and maybe start a conversation with the person sitting next to you.

The exhibition will officially open at Bedwyn Baristas on Friday 28 August at 8am. 

Thanks for listening to this first episode. I’ll see you in two weeks.