Installations

The concept of presenting Heartstone photostories as installations on stations began with a pilot project featuring the story ‘Chandra’s London’ on Whitechapel Station and in 2016 was expanded to cover several stations on the London Underground network in partnership with Transport for London and DLR. This is an ongoing expanding programme and is providing an effective route through which to take Heartstone stories to a mass population. Similarly, Heartstone satellite ‘Faces of Kabul’ installations have been touring Highland Scotland thus ensuring a much wider population can be reached. 

Chandra’s London on the London Underground

This is one of Heartstone’s earliest photostories and is a documentary of the life of the city. Much is unplanned street photography, some work is based on special access. The title is taken from Chandra, the heroine of  ‘The Heartstone Odyssey’, a young woman whose experiences of London span the full range from great joy to real lows, just like life and the city itself.

The story began in the 1980’s and has been ongoing since that time. This means the exhibition has become a historical as well as current day record of the city and how it has changed over a period of 30 years.

The initiative is produced in collaboration and with the assistance of many partners who have extended an invitation to Heartstone to ‘tell their story’ through the visual medium. This includes for example, the Metropolitan Police Service through the Public Order Branch and other departments, Horse Guards, Notting Hill Carnival, Carnaval del Pueblo, Transport for London and many of the different communities resident in London.

Whilst the ultimate goal of building bridges between people and organisations, between cultures and communities, between different age groups and experiences runs through all Heartstone’s work there is a great range in the intentions and primary focus of different programmes. The installation programme with TFL and DLR features staff at and the communities surrounding specific stations. This includes Whitechapel Station, Hammersmith Station and Cutty Sark Station and expanding to new stations over 2017.

Faces of Kabul in Scottish Libraries

To ensure a wider and more rural population could be reached, a satellite version of ‘Faces of Kabul’ was created which could be put up within a library setting as an installation and accompanied by an online event. This programme which has been running since the start of 2022 has proved to be highly popular and is being replicated in other areas. It is currently running in both Highland and Glasgow with the support of High Life Highland and Glasgow Life.

Cura Guardian roadshow installation and event

A first Cura Guardian roadshow installation and performance was staged in September 2023 as part of the Climate Festival in Inverness. 

KFOR and Kosovo +25 – first installation

The full exhibition is still in development but the first installation took shape in St Andrews Fife in October 2023. Presenting a small number of images and stories, this installation will be added to with the ‘+25’ story narratives in early 2024 as those in images from the original photodocumentary in 2000-1 are being tracked down for this purpose.