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Schools' workshop for London Secondary schools
A creative workshop exploring how photographs can hold memory and meaning
Inspired by our current exhibition Nhu Xuan Hua: Of Walking on Fire, this workshop invites students to explore how photographs can hold memory and meaning. Led by artist Natalie Mitchell, the session introduces ways of working that centre interpretation and personal perspective.
Students will encounter works in the exhibition presented as altar-like displays. Through discussion and making, they will build small-scale “scenes” using colour, objects and personal references, creating spaces to photograph, rework and reinterpret that tell a story about who they are.
Working with ideas of staging, framing and abstraction, students will consider how images are constructed - what is included, what is left out, and how meaning can shift through perspective. Drawing on Hua’s approach to reconstructing memory, the workshop encourages students to think about how they would like to represent themselves.
This workshop takes place in our dedicated learning studio and includes a visit to the exhibition as part of the session.
Students will create an artwork that they can then take home or back to the classroom.
We aim for this workshop to help facilitate conversations around identity, memory and photography.
Students will meet an artist and learn about their art form.
Students will understand how framing and composition shape meaning and use photography as a tool for visual storytelling.
Students will explore alternative approaches to portraiture beyond direct representation.
Students will reflect on how identity, memory and emotion can be expressed through images while building confidence in creative experimentation.
Natalie Mitchell is a London-based artist and facilitator working across photography, moving image, sound and archival research.
Their practice explores how histories are held within bodies, landscapes and everyday stories, often through walking, image-making, field recording and the gathering of personal and collective memories.
Alongside their studio practice, Natalie develops participatory workshops with young people and communities that centre curiosity, play and collaborative learning. Using photography, archives and oral history, they support participants to explore how images, memory and place shape the way we understand ourselves and our histories.
Natalie has worked with organisations including Studio Voltaire, ACAVA, Turf Projects, Brighton Photo Fringe and the Museum of Croydon and has exhibited both in the UK and internationally.
You can book a workshop for your class on one of the dates below:
Thursday 25th June
Thursday 2nd July
Tuesday 7th July
Thursday 9th July
Each day, workshops are available at 10:30am - 12:00pm or 1:00 - 2:30pm
Those times don't work? Get in touch! You can request another time on the booking form or contact learning@autograph-abp.co.uk and we'll try to make it happen.
Book a slot for your class using the link below.
Book here
We're here to help if you have any questions, get in touch at learning@autograph-abp.co.uk
16 April - 19 September 2026
Reflecting on the fragility of how stories are communicated – or withheld – across generations.
This workshop takes place at Autograph's gallery in the heart of Shoreditch, East London. Have a look at our Visit Us page to find out more about getting to the gallery, accessibility and more.
Autograph
Rivington Place, London EC2A 3BA
Autograph welcomes people with all types of disabilities. Our building is step-free
Before or after your visit, your class can see our exhibition Nhu Xuan Hua: Of Walking on Fire
Banner image: Nhu Xuan Hua, We spend days inside tiny apartments and we enjoy a fake concrete canal [detail], 2020. Courtesy of the artist and Anne-Laure Buffard, France.
Images on page: 1) Natalie Mitchell. 2) Nhu Xuan Hua, The one who couldn’t talk [detail], 2021. Courtesy of the artist and Anne-Laure Buffard, France. 3) Autograph. Photograph by Kate Elliott.
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Autograph is a space to see things differently. Since 1988, we have championed photography that explores issues of race, identity, representation, human rights and social justice, sharing how photographs reflect lived experiences and shape our understanding of ourselves and others.
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