The Flowers Still Grow brings together a series of projects that showcase long-term collaborations between photographers, creative writers, and local communities in Anfield and Garston. Each project celebrates the people who make up these communities whilst reflecting their concerns, experiences, and aspirations of the society around them.

People of Anfield and Childhood is a garden, co-created with communities in Anfield and Garston, are the result of two year creative residencies commissioned by Open Eye Gallery and Culture Liverpool. The show also includes Next Up…, our annual graduate showcase of work from the MA in Socially Engaged Photography course at the University of Salford, and Social Lens: Celebrating Creative Collaborations (exterior walls), a celebration of the collaborative projects we have produced over the past 8 years.

We live in uncertain times around the world today, and the exhibition represents how multiple voices have explored these concerns within their own local context. Some projects focus on the inevitability and concerns of redevelopment of suburban landscapes, and the impact of issues like austerity and the Covid pandemic have had on people living and working here in the UK. Others focus on the need for more opportunities and spaces for communities to come together to tackle issues of loneliness, poor mental health and something we all deserve: the right to be creative and play.