David J. Shaw on photographing community and a culture of care in Jaywick
I have been working in Jaywick, Essex for around a year and a half now. My project celebrates a community that displays creative and compassionate responses to societal challenges that are experienced by many in the UK and globally in similar marginalised communities. It also speaks about wider modern current affairs and links to climate change, alongside issues of representation.
As the project approaches the end, its finale will be the ‘Jaywick Youth Visual Storytelling Programme’, which will be a collaboration between the people of Jaywick, the Peter Marlow Foundation and myself. This phase of the project has been supported by public funding from the National Lottery through the Arts Council England, with camera equipment loaned by Fujifilm - thank you to all of them.
The programme will gather a group of young adults from or connected to the village of Jaywick, and facilitate the production of visual stories about the village and their relationship to it. The work as a whole will be co-authored into a newspaper-style book that tells Jaywick's story by those who experience it. We have amazing practitioners and industry professionals coming to lead sessions, as well as support from local artists and youth support workers.
The final work will also be displayed at a celebration event in Jaywick.
As the project approaches the end, its finale will be the ‘Jaywick Youth Visual Storytelling Programme’, which will be a collaboration between the people of Jaywick, the Peter Marlow Foundation and myself. This phase of the project has been supported by public funding from the National Lottery through the Arts Council England, with camera equipment loaned by Fujifilm - thank you to all of them.
The programme will gather a group of young adults from or connected to the village of Jaywick, and facilitate the production of visual stories about the village and their relationship to it. The work as a whole will be co-authored into a newspaper-style book that tells Jaywick's story by those who experience it. We have amazing practitioners and industry professionals coming to lead sessions, as well as support from local artists and youth support workers.
The final work will also be displayed at a celebration event in Jaywick.
I first arrived in Jaywick in the winter of 2025, after walking down from Clacton. I was in the area as I had been travelling to four out of the five constituencies that voted for Reform UK in the 2024 general election. They shared similar stories as they sit on the eastern coast of England, and have historic British seaside resort economies. Naively surprised at Reform’s gains, I had set out to learn why.
Jaywick sits in MP Nigel Farage’s constituency and in 2025 was named England’s most deprived neighbourhood for the fourth consecutive time by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). As I took bleak photos of fly-tipped furniture, Jaywick’s negative reputation echoed in my head, and photographs.
On this first walk through the town, I ran into Paul, a youth worker and karaoke DJ who claims to be retired but is one of the busiest people I have ever met.
He explained that I shouldn’t believe what I read online, and that Jaywick actually has an amazing community, which can be seen most at one of his karaoke parties, to which he invited me. A few days later, I took a deep breath and walked into the Broadway Club with a bag of camera gear. Paul pipes up over the speakers:
“You’ve just seen Dave walk in, he is a journalist, he is a Charlton fan, but don’t beat him up.”
The room erupted in laughter. By the end of the night I had a few hundred photos, had sung my first karaoke in Jaywick (Madness - Night Boat to Cairo), and had a list of names, numbers and appointments from people in the room who wanted to show me events or parts of their village.
I was struck by how proud people were of their home, and how different this was from my previous expectations of the area. There was also a sense of mistrust, not necessarily of me, but certainly of the media, due to how Jaywick’s story had been told before.
“Sure, you are welcome to take your pictures, but please don’t bash us.”
Jaywick sits in MP Nigel Farage’s constituency and in 2025 was named England’s most deprived neighbourhood for the fourth consecutive time by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). As I took bleak photos of fly-tipped furniture, Jaywick’s negative reputation echoed in my head, and photographs.
On this first walk through the town, I ran into Paul, a youth worker and karaoke DJ who claims to be retired but is one of the busiest people I have ever met.
He explained that I shouldn’t believe what I read online, and that Jaywick actually has an amazing community, which can be seen most at one of his karaoke parties, to which he invited me. A few days later, I took a deep breath and walked into the Broadway Club with a bag of camera gear. Paul pipes up over the speakers:
“You’ve just seen Dave walk in, he is a journalist, he is a Charlton fan, but don’t beat him up.”
The room erupted in laughter. By the end of the night I had a few hundred photos, had sung my first karaoke in Jaywick (Madness - Night Boat to Cairo), and had a list of names, numbers and appointments from people in the room who wanted to show me events or parts of their village.
I was struck by how proud people were of their home, and how different this was from my previous expectations of the area. There was also a sense of mistrust, not necessarily of me, but certainly of the media, due to how Jaywick’s story had been told before.
“Sure, you are welcome to take your pictures, but please don’t bash us.”
I bought a van with a bed in it and moved in for a few days a week, dedicating much of my time to making pictures of the characters and events that make up this village. Most of my pictures have come from invitations and ideas from the community, and I feel that, in part, the project was led by them.
Much of what I was being shown was inspiring examples of a DIY culture of care, where local people and groups were supporting each other. Examples include country dancing, table top markets, a children’s Christmas grotto in a back garden, a monthly free men’s breakfast club and of course the ‘Happy Club’. Amongst supposedly Britain’s most deprived place, was a society rich and thriving in all the benefits that a strong community brings.
Much of what I was being shown was inspiring examples of a DIY culture of care, where local people and groups were supporting each other. Examples include country dancing, table top markets, a children’s Christmas grotto in a back garden, a monthly free men’s breakfast club and of course the ‘Happy Club’. Amongst supposedly Britain’s most deprived place, was a society rich and thriving in all the benefits that a strong community brings.
My preconceptions of this story have been constantly challenged in Jaywick in the best way possible. So much so that I have interrogated why my narrative of this place was as it was. Typing Jaywick into Google provides many stories about its deprivation, and a long list of YouTube videos show influencers exploring the surface of ‘Britain’s most deprived town’.
"I hate the word deprived”.
Jaywickians are well aware of media presentation issues, and many that I have met are pretty sick of these outsiders making negative stories about them. “We’ve all fallen for it at least once”. Says Davina, the landlord of the Never Say Die pub, regarding locals being featured in negative videos that were promised to be positive. In response to this, I put on a work-in-progress exhibition at the Broadway club, allowing those in the project to tell me what they think and offer ideas for how the project should progress.
Jaywickians are well aware of media presentation issues, and many that I have met are pretty sick of these outsiders making negative stories about them. “We’ve all fallen for it at least once”. Says Davina, the landlord of the Never Say Die pub, regarding locals being featured in negative videos that were promised to be positive. In response to this, I put on a work-in-progress exhibition at the Broadway club, allowing those in the project to tell me what they think and offer ideas for how the project should progress.
In my original meetings with Paul, he explained his activities as a youth worker in Jaywick. He told me that many young people in Jaywick are aware of the negative way their community is portrayed, and this, at times, can lead to people from outside looking down on the village. Even a teacher from a nearby town recently dismissed a child as “just a Jaywick kid” to him. A local young woman also explained to me that she had been bullied for being from Jaywick growing up, and the area has a stigma attached to it for young people.
However, I have found that many of the young people I have met whilst making this work have shown the same spirit and DIY mentality as the rest of the village.
However, I have found that many of the young people I have met whilst making this work have shown the same spirit and DIY mentality as the rest of the village.
In the summer of 2025, I was lucky enough to work on a project with Shannon Ghannam and the PMF on a collaborative arts residency with the Young Creatives’ Collective at Flatlands in Bexhill, East Sussex. During this time, we co-created artists’ work around the theme of ‘Community as a Superpower’, which accumulated into multiple exhibitions. On the project, I saw the real and tangible benefits to everyone involved, but especially the young people. This ranged from the sharing and learning of skills and experience, extending their community in an inclusive way and the improvement of confidence and mental health.
Shannon and I connected the dots, and through conversation with youth and community workers in Jaywick, have put together this programme that will bring these benefits to local young people.
The story we co-author together on this programme will counter the outsiders’ narrative of the village by building a platform made by the people who experience life there. It’s going to be great fun, and I’m looking forward to seeing how the programme influences the final output of my work.
Watch this space for the results coming in August 2026 - visit Jaywick Youth Visual Storytelling Programme for more information and to register to take part, or email me at davidjshawphoto@gmail.com for any questions. Thanks.
Shannon and I connected the dots, and through conversation with youth and community workers in Jaywick, have put together this programme that will bring these benefits to local young people.
The story we co-author together on this programme will counter the outsiders’ narrative of the village by building a platform made by the people who experience life there. It’s going to be great fun, and I’m looking forward to seeing how the programme influences the final output of my work.
Watch this space for the results coming in August 2026 - visit Jaywick Youth Visual Storytelling Programme for more information and to register to take part, or email me at davidjshawphoto@gmail.com for any questions. Thanks.
