Northumbria Social Sciences students showcase their views

A photography exhibition showcasing what sociology, criminology, and politics means to Northumbria students has taken place at the University.

The exhibition featured photographs either taken or created by the students that enabled them to express their own personal views on each topic through imagery. The idea behind this was to engage students away from lectures and to use their imagination and creativity in a unique way.

In total, there were six  images from sociology, three from politics, and two about criminology. The winners of the competition were first year politics student Rachael Gorse, sociology student Dionne Smith, and first year Criminology winner Tom Millett.

Andrew Mullen, Senior Lecturer in Politics at Northumbria and judge at the exhibition, said: “The 2015 Seeing Politics entries were fantastic and they really set the bar high. The three entries for the 2016 competition were excellent and the students had clearly put in a lot of thought and effort into their contributions.

“The winning picture and caption, by the first year History and Politics student Rachel Gorse, nicely captures the uphill struggle for women’s equality in Britain and elsewhere, and she is a deserving winner of this year’s competition.”

Karen Ross, Professor of Media at Northumbria, was also on the judging panel. She said: “What I liked about Dionne’s entry was that it was a very personal statement, where she talks about her own environment where she lives, and thinking and talking about it in very passionate terms. We really liked it.”

Dionne Smith explains why she feels her entry became the winning image.

She said: “The ideas I had when trying to capture an image were born of a Marxist interpretation of what I consider, in part, to be ‘my world’ and ‘my society’. I was trying to show the brute force the current austerity measures are having on working class people, but more in fact what I think capitalism has a habit of historically doing to estates and places in which the working-class reside.

“The beauty in the picture, I think, is in the people, and I wanted to portray the dark side to the austerity and capitalist exploitation of the so called ‘under-class’.”

Also on the judging panel was sociologist Abbi Schoneboom, who said: “I think that the students have taken that brief and really ran with it.

“We’ve had some impressive entries and I think students have done a good job in capturing what it means to them personally.”

For more information on our Sociology, Politics and Criminology courses, register for Northumbria’s Open Days at www.northumbria.ac.uk/openday