Announcing our latest creative retreat in Dungeness, October 2025
The team at Peter Marlow Foundation are proud to announce our latest creative retreat in the beautiful surroundings of our home in Dungeness, Kent.
A group of 12 photography-based practitioners will have the opportunity to work together with their peers and socially engaged artist, writer and educator Anthony Luvera over a long weekend, October 10-13, 2025. Shannon Ghannam, Director of Development and Programming at PMF will host the retreat and also collaborate with the group on the programme. To help participants prepare for the retreat we will also offer a series of online workshops with socially engaged artists and academics about the history of socially engaged practice in the UK and contemporary practice.
Whilst this is a retreat focused on photographers we welcome applications from anyone working across photographic practice (academics and educators for example) who might benefit from this experience.
This unique event, spread across 4 days, would suit practitioners at varying stages of their careers and would be particularly useful for those with an interest in the following subjects:
- What is socially engaged photography? How does it differ from other photographic approaches?
- What interdisciplinary research and writing informs socially engaged practice?
- What can we learn from the history of socially engaged photography globally, and in the UK specifically?
- What do photographers need to consider when developing a socially engaged photographic practice?
- What are some of the limitations of socially engaged photographic practice?
- What are some things to consider, for ourselves and others, when working collectively on socially engaged photography projects?
- What impact is possible when using a socially engaged photographic practice? How do we measure impact?
- What further and higher education options are available in this area?
- Who can we partner with on socially engaged photographic projects?
- How can we fund our work?
- How can we promote our work?
- How can I be part of a network of other socially engaged artists?
- What professional networks exist for socially engaged artists?
Participants are invited to show previous or current projects and seek and give feedback. This retreat would also be ideal for someone developing a project and seeking critical input from other practitioners. Applicants will be asked to share their current challenges and ambitions for the retreat when applying and we will tailor our sessions to best address these for the group.
Nourishing vegetarian/vegan meals and drinks will be provided over the weekend and on the Saturday we will visit the famous Fish Hut in Dungeness for lunch (veggie options available).
As well as a programme of talks and group sessions, the aim of the retreat is to also give you time for meditation, wildlife watching, walks, star gazing, fire side chats and cold water swimming (available nearby for those with transport).
Participants will be able to hear about the work of Peter Marlow and PMF and use our extensive photobook library that was acquired from the Magnum Tokyo office as well as Peter Marlow and David Hurn’s personal collections.
Peaceful and luxurious accommodation is available on site for an additional, discounted fee ranging from £150-350 for the entire period (shared rooms, shared houses and private options). Please talk to the team about this on application. Staying on site is recommended as it will add to the experience of the retreat, please note that travel once in Dungeness is difficult without a car.
The PMF team will be happy to answer any questions you might have.
Below you will find a proposed schedule, we may adapt this to the needs of the group:
Series of three online evening lectures with Jaskirt Dhaliwal-Boora, Liz Wewiora and a third speaker to be announced, in the two week lead up to the retreat. Dates to be confirmed.
A group of 12 photography-based practitioners will have the opportunity to work together with their peers and socially engaged artist, writer and educator Anthony Luvera over a long weekend, October 10-13, 2025. Shannon Ghannam, Director of Development and Programming at PMF will host the retreat and also collaborate with the group on the programme. To help participants prepare for the retreat we will also offer a series of online workshops with socially engaged artists and academics about the history of socially engaged practice in the UK and contemporary practice.
Whilst this is a retreat focused on photographers we welcome applications from anyone working across photographic practice (academics and educators for example) who might benefit from this experience.
This unique event, spread across 4 days, would suit practitioners at varying stages of their careers and would be particularly useful for those with an interest in the following subjects:
- What is socially engaged photography? How does it differ from other photographic approaches?
- What interdisciplinary research and writing informs socially engaged practice?
- What can we learn from the history of socially engaged photography globally, and in the UK specifically?
- What do photographers need to consider when developing a socially engaged photographic practice?
- What are some of the limitations of socially engaged photographic practice?
- What are some things to consider, for ourselves and others, when working collectively on socially engaged photography projects?
- What impact is possible when using a socially engaged photographic practice? How do we measure impact?
- What further and higher education options are available in this area?
- Who can we partner with on socially engaged photographic projects?
- How can we fund our work?
- How can we promote our work?
- How can I be part of a network of other socially engaged artists?
- What professional networks exist for socially engaged artists?
Participants are invited to show previous or current projects and seek and give feedback. This retreat would also be ideal for someone developing a project and seeking critical input from other practitioners. Applicants will be asked to share their current challenges and ambitions for the retreat when applying and we will tailor our sessions to best address these for the group.
Nourishing vegetarian/vegan meals and drinks will be provided over the weekend and on the Saturday we will visit the famous Fish Hut in Dungeness for lunch (veggie options available).
As well as a programme of talks and group sessions, the aim of the retreat is to also give you time for meditation, wildlife watching, walks, star gazing, fire side chats and cold water swimming (available nearby for those with transport).
Participants will be able to hear about the work of Peter Marlow and PMF and use our extensive photobook library that was acquired from the Magnum Tokyo office as well as Peter Marlow and David Hurn’s personal collections.
Peaceful and luxurious accommodation is available on site for an additional, discounted fee ranging from £150-350 for the entire period (shared rooms, shared houses and private options). Please talk to the team about this on application. Staying on site is recommended as it will add to the experience of the retreat, please note that travel once in Dungeness is difficult without a car.
The PMF team will be happy to answer any questions you might have.
Below you will find a proposed schedule, we may adapt this to the needs of the group:
Series of three online evening lectures with Jaskirt Dhaliwal-Boora, Liz Wewiora and a third speaker to be announced, in the two week lead up to the retreat. Dates to be confirmed.
Friday October 10th, 2025
3pm Arrival and settle into accommodation
4pm Welcome and Introductions to each other and our work
6:15pm Shannon Ghannam, Introduction to the work of the Peter Marlow Foundation
7pm Special Welcome Dinner
Star Gazing and Fireside Chats
Saturday October 11th, 2025
8:30am Breakfast
9:30am Group review of ambitions for the retreat, including current challenges and ambitions for our work
12:30pm Lunch (Group visit to Fish Hut)
1:30pm Anthony Luvera Lecture and Q&A
3pm Self Directed Time
4:30pm Group presentations of individual work
7:30pm Dinner
Free time and drinks
Sunday October 12th, 2025
9am Breakfast
10am Group presentations of individual work
1pm Lunch
2:30pm Group regroup - Reflections on time in Dungeness and intention setting based on feedback
4pm Sunset Walk/Self Directed Time
7pm Final Dinner and Drinks
(Some people may want to leave after dinner or depart in the morning)
Monday October 13th, 2025
8:30am Breakfast
Free time/Swim pending weather
Goodbyes and Departure!
We hope participants will leave feeling like they have expanded their network of peers and industry contacts and that they have answered some of the big questions they have about their work, navigating socially engaged practice and with a plan for next steps.
One scholarship place on this retreat will be offered free of charge and include accommodation. Equality, diversity, and inclusion are guiding principles at PMF and we actively encourage scholarship applications from communities including, but not limited to, Black, Asian and ethnically diverse, Traveller, disabled, neurodiverse, people with mental health issues, care experienced, LGBTQ+, NEETs, unemployed and/or the low waged. Travel is not included and applicants should be over 18 and from the UK.
You can apply for the scholarship place here until 11:59pm August 15th, 2025
To be considered for the paid places please apply here until 11:59pm Sunday August 24th, 2025
£850 + accommodation costs ranging from £150-350 for the entire period (shared rooms, shared houses and private options)
The retreat is subject to a minimum number of applicants and will be confirmed September 3rd at the latest, when the successful and scholarship places will also be announced.
Applicants will be charged when their place has been confirmed.
Speaker Biographies
Anthony Luvera
Anthony Luvera is an Australian socially engaged artist, writer, and educator based in London. The long-term collaborative work he creates with individuals and communities has been exhibited widely in galleries, public spaces, and festivals, including the UK House of Commons, Tate Liverpool, The Gallery at Foyles, the British Museum, London Underground’s Art on the Underground, National Portrait Gallery London, Four Corners, Belfast Exposed Photography, Australian Centre for Photography, PhotoIreland, Malmö Fotobiennal, Goa International Photography Festival, Les Rencontres D’Arles Photographie, Oslo Negative, and Landskrona Foto Festival. His writing has appeared in a range of publications including Trigger, Photography and Culture, Visual Studies, Photoworks, Source, and Photographies. Anthony is Associate Professor of Photography in the Centre for Arts, Memory and Communities at Coventry University, and editor of Photography For Whom?, a periodical about socially engaged photography. He has designed education and mentorship programmes, facilitated workshops, and given lectures for the public education departments of National Portrait Gallery, Tate, Magnum, Royal Academy of Arts, The Photographers’ Gallery, Barbican Art Gallery, and community photography projects across the UK.
3pm Arrival and settle into accommodation
4pm Welcome and Introductions to each other and our work
6:15pm Shannon Ghannam, Introduction to the work of the Peter Marlow Foundation
7pm Special Welcome Dinner
Star Gazing and Fireside Chats
Saturday October 11th, 2025
8:30am Breakfast
9:30am Group review of ambitions for the retreat, including current challenges and ambitions for our work
12:30pm Lunch (Group visit to Fish Hut)
1:30pm Anthony Luvera Lecture and Q&A
3pm Self Directed Time
4:30pm Group presentations of individual work
7:30pm Dinner
Free time and drinks
Sunday October 12th, 2025
9am Breakfast
10am Group presentations of individual work
1pm Lunch
2:30pm Group regroup - Reflections on time in Dungeness and intention setting based on feedback
4pm Sunset Walk/Self Directed Time
7pm Final Dinner and Drinks
(Some people may want to leave after dinner or depart in the morning)
Monday October 13th, 2025
8:30am Breakfast
Free time/Swim pending weather
Goodbyes and Departure!
We hope participants will leave feeling like they have expanded their network of peers and industry contacts and that they have answered some of the big questions they have about their work, navigating socially engaged practice and with a plan for next steps.
One scholarship place on this retreat will be offered free of charge and include accommodation. Equality, diversity, and inclusion are guiding principles at PMF and we actively encourage scholarship applications from communities including, but not limited to, Black, Asian and ethnically diverse, Traveller, disabled, neurodiverse, people with mental health issues, care experienced, LGBTQ+, NEETs, unemployed and/or the low waged. Travel is not included and applicants should be over 18 and from the UK.
You can apply for the scholarship place here until 11:59pm August 15th, 2025
To be considered for the paid places please apply here until 11:59pm Sunday August 24th, 2025
£850 + accommodation costs ranging from £150-350 for the entire period (shared rooms, shared houses and private options)
The retreat is subject to a minimum number of applicants and will be confirmed September 3rd at the latest, when the successful and scholarship places will also be announced.
Applicants will be charged when their place has been confirmed.
Speaker Biographies
Anthony Luvera
Anthony Luvera is an Australian socially engaged artist, writer, and educator based in London. The long-term collaborative work he creates with individuals and communities has been exhibited widely in galleries, public spaces, and festivals, including the UK House of Commons, Tate Liverpool, The Gallery at Foyles, the British Museum, London Underground’s Art on the Underground, National Portrait Gallery London, Four Corners, Belfast Exposed Photography, Australian Centre for Photography, PhotoIreland, Malmö Fotobiennal, Goa International Photography Festival, Les Rencontres D’Arles Photographie, Oslo Negative, and Landskrona Foto Festival. His writing has appeared in a range of publications including Trigger, Photography and Culture, Visual Studies, Photoworks, Source, and Photographies. Anthony is Associate Professor of Photography in the Centre for Arts, Memory and Communities at Coventry University, and editor of Photography For Whom?, a periodical about socially engaged photography. He has designed education and mentorship programmes, facilitated workshops, and given lectures for the public education departments of National Portrait Gallery, Tate, Magnum, Royal Academy of Arts, The Photographers’ Gallery, Barbican Art Gallery, and community photography projects across the UK.
Shannon Ghannam
Shannon has been working since 2023 to develop the Peter Marlow Foundation based in Dungeness, Kent. During this time she was also seconded to the Magnum Photos Foundation, developing and fundraising for their educational programming. Prior to these roles, Shannon was the Global Education Director at Magnum Photos for six years, working with the team responsible for the agency’s educational programming globally, including the online learning platform Magnum Learn learn.magnumphotos.com and the Beyond Magnum series of lectures with curator Pauline Vermare. Previously she managed Content Strategy and Development at Reuters, working to showcase on multiple platforms the agency’s multimedia content. Shannon has collaborated on numerous photographic books, international exhibitions and multimedia journalism projects including the Emmy award winning photojournalism app and website Reuters The Wider Image. Shannon has worked in various roles during a 20 year career including Screen Labs, Night Contact photography and multimedia festival, Australian Associated Press (AAP), The Australian Photojournalist Journal (APJ), The National Archives of Australia as well as developing a year-long socially engaged photography project with refugee communities for the Australian Red Cross. Shannon has participated in mentoring programmes and lectured at various universities and organisations internationally. Shannon sits on the Royal Photographic Society’s Education Committee. She was part of the Barbican's first Community Impact Collective, a group of artists and organisations local to the Barbican collaborating with their Communities and Neighbourhoods team on how to better reflect and serve the community. She studied at the Queensland College of Art in Brisbane, Australia where she graduated with First Class Honours in Photography.
Jaskirt Dhaliwal-Boora
Jaskirt Dhaliwal-Boora (panjabi, brummie, artist, mother, educator) is a multi- disciplinary artist with a socially engaged practice, working with local communities on global issues. She is interested in celebrating untold stories while exploring visual representations of gender, ethnicity and place. Jaskirt creates work with the aim to empower and give voice to marginalised communities. She is a multiple award winning artist, including winning the British Journal of Photography's Portrait of Britain award for three consecutive years, and the LensCulture Photo Art award. Recent Highlights include a place called home being exhibited at Peckham24 in 2025, in the theme Come Together and currently Jaskirt is working on Fractured Landscapes and how
we heal which will be a major solo exhibition at The New Art Gallery Walsall, before touring to Open Eye Gallery in 2026. This work has been made possible through a 2.5 year Arts Council England Project Grant. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including at Wembley Stadium, UN Headquarters New York, Peckham24, New Art Exchange Nottingham and Manchester’s People Museum. Her work Birmingham Lockdown Stories (2020) is held in the permanent archive and collection of the Birmingham Museums Trust. Jaskirt is also the founder of @womeninphotobham, a bi-monthly social event for women photographers in the W.Midlands and a Senior Lecturer at Birmingham City University.
Shannon has been working since 2023 to develop the Peter Marlow Foundation based in Dungeness, Kent. During this time she was also seconded to the Magnum Photos Foundation, developing and fundraising for their educational programming. Prior to these roles, Shannon was the Global Education Director at Magnum Photos for six years, working with the team responsible for the agency’s educational programming globally, including the online learning platform Magnum Learn learn.magnumphotos.com and the Beyond Magnum series of lectures with curator Pauline Vermare. Previously she managed Content Strategy and Development at Reuters, working to showcase on multiple platforms the agency’s multimedia content. Shannon has collaborated on numerous photographic books, international exhibitions and multimedia journalism projects including the Emmy award winning photojournalism app and website Reuters The Wider Image. Shannon has worked in various roles during a 20 year career including Screen Labs, Night Contact photography and multimedia festival, Australian Associated Press (AAP), The Australian Photojournalist Journal (APJ), The National Archives of Australia as well as developing a year-long socially engaged photography project with refugee communities for the Australian Red Cross. Shannon has participated in mentoring programmes and lectured at various universities and organisations internationally. Shannon sits on the Royal Photographic Society’s Education Committee. She was part of the Barbican's first Community Impact Collective, a group of artists and organisations local to the Barbican collaborating with their Communities and Neighbourhoods team on how to better reflect and serve the community. She studied at the Queensland College of Art in Brisbane, Australia where she graduated with First Class Honours in Photography.
Jaskirt Dhaliwal-Boora
Jaskirt Dhaliwal-Boora (panjabi, brummie, artist, mother, educator) is a multi- disciplinary artist with a socially engaged practice, working with local communities on global issues. She is interested in celebrating untold stories while exploring visual representations of gender, ethnicity and place. Jaskirt creates work with the aim to empower and give voice to marginalised communities. She is a multiple award winning artist, including winning the British Journal of Photography's Portrait of Britain award for three consecutive years, and the LensCulture Photo Art award. Recent Highlights include a place called home being exhibited at Peckham24 in 2025, in the theme Come Together and currently Jaskirt is working on Fractured Landscapes and how
we heal which will be a major solo exhibition at The New Art Gallery Walsall, before touring to Open Eye Gallery in 2026. This work has been made possible through a 2.5 year Arts Council England Project Grant. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including at Wembley Stadium, UN Headquarters New York, Peckham24, New Art Exchange Nottingham and Manchester’s People Museum. Her work Birmingham Lockdown Stories (2020) is held in the permanent archive and collection of the Birmingham Museums Trust. Jaskirt is also the founder of @womeninphotobham, a bi-monthly social event for women photographers in the W.Midlands and a Senior Lecturer at Birmingham City University.
Elizabeth Wewiora
I am a visual artist, curator-producer and educator, specialising over the past fifteen years on socially engaged approaches to practice. I create art projects in this way, as I am interested in work which explores ethics of care and how collective creative experiences can promote positive social change. Regardless of which creative hat I am wearing, I employ participatory and collaborative methods of making with local communities, to ensure multiple voices are represented within the work. I work mostly in photography but am interested in the expanded notions of what the medium can be, often playing with alternative processes, such as lumen printing, cyanotypes or photo-collage. Often photography is the starting point as I find the medium particularly accessible for others to engage in. Depending on how the collaborative process of making develops, however, works may develop into textiles, installations, text works, moving image or publications. Often my work takes place outside of the gallery context, working on short and long term residency across a range of settings from health and social care to youth, justice, social housing, learning and environmental settings. Commissions have included projects with organisations such as Allotment Society UK, NHS England, Centre Point, CCA Glasgow, AA2A residency, Open Eye Gallery, Museum of Liverpool, Age UK and Manchester Histories. For example I helped establish and have been working in collaboration with the Many Hands Craft Collective (an over60s group based at Victoria Square, Northwards Housing Association building) for the past seven years. Together we have explored arts and craft as an activist tool for the creative agency of older communities. Between 2016-2018 the group collaborated with me on a Masters by Research project exploring the role of photography as a socially engaged arts practice resulting in a exhibition at Manchester Craft and Design centre and later a photographic publication launched at the Bound Book Fair in 2020. I am currently developing more sustainable and regenerative approaches to my photographic arts practice, motivated not only by the climate emergency we find ourselves within, but also since becoming a mother and being hyper aware of what we are leaving behind for the next generation. To support this transition, I have undertaken both the Redeye Photography Network’s Climate Aware Course and Permaculture and Participatory Design Accredited Course but am actively looking to develop this area of my work further. I am also studying a part time PHD at the University of Salford, exploring the potential of socially engaged approaches to engagement between cultural sectors and higher education where I hope to bring all aspects of my practice together.
You can find out more about our first retreat here and one of our scholars Anna Maria Nabirye had this to say about the experience, "Being awarded a scholarship place on this creative retreat was a massive boost to my creative photography practice. It came at the perfect time when as I have been in preparation of a photography project- but was lacking in confidence and support. The time away afforded me professional nourishment, moments of joy, creative expansion and community- I couldn't have asked for more. Having specific ring-fenced time to concentrate on my practice was so expanding- this was the first time I experienced this as non formally educated photographer. It allowed me to see and understand my work in a greater context. To find language for what i am doing and how I am working. It supported me to value the idiosyncrasies of my practice and help me set goals and ambitions moving forward. It has left a strong mark on how I work and my ambitions for my work. "
I am a visual artist, curator-producer and educator, specialising over the past fifteen years on socially engaged approaches to practice. I create art projects in this way, as I am interested in work which explores ethics of care and how collective creative experiences can promote positive social change. Regardless of which creative hat I am wearing, I employ participatory and collaborative methods of making with local communities, to ensure multiple voices are represented within the work. I work mostly in photography but am interested in the expanded notions of what the medium can be, often playing with alternative processes, such as lumen printing, cyanotypes or photo-collage. Often photography is the starting point as I find the medium particularly accessible for others to engage in. Depending on how the collaborative process of making develops, however, works may develop into textiles, installations, text works, moving image or publications. Often my work takes place outside of the gallery context, working on short and long term residency across a range of settings from health and social care to youth, justice, social housing, learning and environmental settings. Commissions have included projects with organisations such as Allotment Society UK, NHS England, Centre Point, CCA Glasgow, AA2A residency, Open Eye Gallery, Museum of Liverpool, Age UK and Manchester Histories. For example I helped establish and have been working in collaboration with the Many Hands Craft Collective (an over60s group based at Victoria Square, Northwards Housing Association building) for the past seven years. Together we have explored arts and craft as an activist tool for the creative agency of older communities. Between 2016-2018 the group collaborated with me on a Masters by Research project exploring the role of photography as a socially engaged arts practice resulting in a exhibition at Manchester Craft and Design centre and later a photographic publication launched at the Bound Book Fair in 2020. I am currently developing more sustainable and regenerative approaches to my photographic arts practice, motivated not only by the climate emergency we find ourselves within, but also since becoming a mother and being hyper aware of what we are leaving behind for the next generation. To support this transition, I have undertaken both the Redeye Photography Network’s Climate Aware Course and Permaculture and Participatory Design Accredited Course but am actively looking to develop this area of my work further. I am also studying a part time PHD at the University of Salford, exploring the potential of socially engaged approaches to engagement between cultural sectors and higher education where I hope to bring all aspects of my practice together.
You can find out more about our first retreat here and one of our scholars Anna Maria Nabirye had this to say about the experience, "Being awarded a scholarship place on this creative retreat was a massive boost to my creative photography practice. It came at the perfect time when as I have been in preparation of a photography project- but was lacking in confidence and support. The time away afforded me professional nourishment, moments of joy, creative expansion and community- I couldn't have asked for more. Having specific ring-fenced time to concentrate on my practice was so expanding- this was the first time I experienced this as non formally educated photographer. It allowed me to see and understand my work in a greater context. To find language for what i am doing and how I am working. It supported me to value the idiosyncrasies of my practice and help me set goals and ambitions moving forward. It has left a strong mark on how I work and my ambitions for my work. "
