Fancy Pictures brings together six of photographer Mark Neville's (born 1966) socially engaged and intensely immersive projects from the last decade. He often pictures tight working communities through a collaborative process intended to be of direct, practical benefit to his subjects. One 2011 project focused on an English town with a strong post-industrial identity that has suffered serious industrial pollution. Assembling photos and scientific data, Neville produced a book to be given free to the environmental health services department of each of the 433 local councils in the UK. For another project in Helmand, Afghanistan, the artist created stills using multiple flash systems and 16mm movies to depict a military occupancy by young people. Spanning continents and cultures, each of Neville's projects involves the artist living among his subjects. Fancy Pictures is a testament to the power of photography—not just to capture a community, but to effect change in it.
