Fiona Bailey is a photographer and freelance art buyer working in the advertising industry, commissioning photography and illustration. She co-founded the Shifting Perspectives exhibition. Her work, ‘I Don’t Care’ has been exhibited around the world, most recently in Tokyo, Japan and was the inspiration for the award-winning short film, of the same title, by Carolina Giammetta. 

At a recent Shutter Hub Meet Up Fiona told us about a project she’d been working on, a labour of love and passion, that she shared with writer Tamara Pollock. The project sounded inspiring, and joyful. We asked Fiona to share a few words and images with us here, so that we could share them with you.

And Then Came icandance is a project focusing on young people with disabilities who find self-expression through dance.  Their stories, highlighting the humour and hardships of living with disability, are revealed through images and quotes from interviews with participants and their mothers. We hope these narratives will draw the audience into their world and offer a view of their challenges and accomplishments.

icandance is a London-based charity founded by Juliet Diener, dedicated to bringing the power of dance to the wider community and encouraging the public to focus on the individual in the light of their abilities rather than their constraints.

We were inspired to create this work by our daughters, Billie-Jo and Georgia, who have been attending icandance for ten years and are featured in this project. Our goal is to shed light on the amazing work icandance does in enriching the lives of young people and their families and challenging the common perceptions of disability. We were touched by the generosity and hospitality of the families we visited in the course of this project – we have loved creating it.

Fiona and Tamara are currently working on their next project, to be launched in 2017.

All images: © Fiona Bailey

You can see more work by Fiona Bailey in her Shutter Hub portfolio, here.
Do you have a favourite photographer you would like to see featured in one of our Close Up features? Or maybe you have a series of work you’d like to share? Send us an email to submissions@shutterhub.org.uk