Coventry; Visual Stories is by Charlotte, Ellie, Jamie, Janson, Prash and Thomas who are all members of Teenvine Plus, a development programme run by Grapevine for young people with autism or learning disabilities.

The photographs were created as part of a series of online photography workshops that took place during lockdown in 2021. The participants learnt about different photographic techniques, used different types of cameras and it was also a space for conversation & friendship where their thoughts, feelings and life experiences of Coventry were shared and discussed.

The young people have created a photographic response to their lives in the city, revealing a snapshot of the place and their relationship to it.

About Grapevine:
Grapevine is an organisation that helps all kinds of people experiencing isolation, poverty and disadvantage in Coventry and Warwickshire. They are a pioneering example of how to help people work together to solve their problems for good. They strengthen people, spark action and shift power across services. They empower local citizens with the skills and confidence to act on what they care about; connecting through their shared humanity, taking power into their own hands and regenerating their communities.

One of their many projects working towards this is Teenvine Plus, an intensive development programme for teens with autism or learning disabilities in Coventry. They help learning disabled youngsters to get the friendships, confidence and skills they need in order to mature into independent young adults able to achieve their ambitions.  They strengthen people by uncovering their talents and passions, then use these to create natural networks of community support. Networks that strengthen, bring opportunity and help them take charge of their lives.

The workshops were led Ayesha Jones, Jaskirt Boora and Stephen Burke.