Fisherfolk

Newhaven Heritage is a charitable group that preserves and promotes Newhaven’s history, keeping it alive for the modern generation. The Heritage group also has a large archive of photos showing what the community and village used to look like.

When studying at university and just starting my Newhaven project, I decided to volunteer at Newhaven Heritage who were, at the time digitally conserving the photos. I had permission to use the photos for my university project and it was this archive that changed my outlook on Newhaven forever.

I discovered a whole different community that existed 60 years ago, a whole different village which has now disappeared.

This series brings together some of the photos from that archive, giving viewers an insight into Newhaven’s past. I want this project to show people that there is more to Newhaven history than the harbour. There was hope, determination, hard work and a thriving, independent community.

Through Newhaven Heritage I realised that archives can provide a whole new outlook on our past and present. This encouraged me to use archives as inspiration and for my own work because without the past, there is no future.