Meet the Sisterhood Collective — a volunteer-led network giving women and women-identifying photographers in Nottingham a space to connect, create, and be seen. Run by photographer and arts programmer Susana de Dios and Alecia Barnes, co-owner of Sneinton Market’s film camera shop and film lab LensFayre, the Collective has grown into a supportive hub where photographers can share their practice, sharpen their skills, and build confidence together.
Born out of a need to challenge the systemic barriers that women in photography still face, from limited access to funding and equipment, to a lack of exhibition opportunities and mentorship, the Sisterhood Collective blends monthly meet-ups with hands-on workshops, peer critique sessions, themed projects, informative talks, and more.
Ahead of their collaborative exhibition at Nottingham Central Library, on 6 November, Susana and Alecia spoke about what it means to create a safe and educational space for Nottingham’s women photographers…
Tell us about the Sisterhood Collective...
Alecia: It's a grassroots, volunteer-led collective for women in photography based here in Nottingham. We're not a technical photography course, it's about using photography as a tool for exploring identity, building confidence and creating community.
Susana: We took over from the Sisterhood Creative, which began in around 2019, operating from what was then called The Photo Parlour in Nottingham city centre. It was a social group where members would meet once a month, show their photography work, network, find support and build confidence. It was a space where you didn't feel like there's any pressure or judgment. Sadly, it came to a halt during the pandemic and then it never re-started.
Dan Wheeler, who owned the Photo Parlour which later became Make It Easy, is now working on opening Sequence, a brand-new photography hub in Nottingham. So as part of this, earlier this year he suggested to myself and Alecia that we re-launch the Sisterhood under the umbrella of Sequence – where we would operate alongside each other. So, we did.
In March, we had a consultation with some women photographers at a social gathering run by Dan, we had a little bit of a discussion, and we did our first social as the Sisterhood Collective in April.
We’re currently working on having a permanent base for Sequence. But in the meantime, we've been very lucky in that lots of venues have helped us out. We had our last session at Broadway, they let us use one of their rooms downstairs for free; we did a sequencing workshop, with photographer and lecturer George Miles who also came for free, and we worked with the Pigeon Loft Studio in Beeston, who put on an ‘introduction to photography’ workshop, at a big discount. The community has been really welcoming and supportive of the Collective and what we’re doing.
It's not about technical mastery, but it's more of a holistic and organic approach to developing your creative practice, which is really important
What inspired you to re-launch the Collective – why do you think we need this kind of space in Nottingham?
Susana: I was feeling the need as a woman photographer with an on and off practice – I saw the value in having a group that would keep you accountable, where you could feel inspired and motivated to share ideas.
Alecia: Many of us felt it was something missing within the photography community. The conversation for me came about with one of our members, Rowena. We both used to go to the photo socials at Make It Easy in Nottingham quite a bit, and we noticed that women tended not to speak up in the groups or share work as much. I don't think it's intentional, but the males in the group were just more talkative, more forthcoming, and I think women can tend to feel a bit intimidated. And we had a few conversations about how it would be great to bring back the Sisterhood and have socials where women feel safer and more confident to speak up.
Since launching in April, it’s been going well, and we’ve had lots of positive feedback. Currently we've got about fifty members – that's including myself, Susanna and our two lovely facilitators, Linnette Birnie and Priscilla Maurer. We tend to have around fifteen people at each session, sometimes more which is great. Our Instagram has nearly 800 followers so far and it’s growing so quickly. All our ticketed events seem to sell out within two or three days too. It’s been amazing.
Why do you think people are drawn to the Collective?
Alecia: They want somewhere that's accessible, that feels safe and relaxed. We did ask people exactly what they wanted before we started it, so each session is catered to meeting the outputs and requests that they asked for. So, skill building, socialising, collaboration, working to creative prompts, things like that.
What makes you different from someone studying a photography course?
Alecia: There's no grades, there's no pressure, there's no assumptions of prior knowledge. It's not about technical mastery, but it's more of a holistic and organic approach to developing your creative practice, which is really important - I think that's really what makes us different. It's just essentially about creating a supportive space where women, women-identifying and femmes, of all ages and backgrounds can come together to experiment, grow and feel like they’re part of a community. There’s no hierarchy – it’s more like going for coffee with likeminded friends, but instead of coffee there’s cameras.
It's also very varied, all our photographers are at different levels of their journey- from beginners to people who have been practicing for years. Some members are shooting film, some are shooting digital, some are showing work on their phones, some are creating cyanotypes – they’re all expressing themselves with lots of different mediums.
Susana: Thanks to funding from East Midlands Railway as part of their Community Fund, which we were awarded in June, we’ve also been able to put on a programme of talks at Nottingham Central Library, led by the former senior curator at the Photographers’ Gallery: Camilla Brown, which have been hugely successful. The talks are culminating in our group exhibition next month.
Tell us about your upcoming exhibition. What can people expect when they walk into Central Library in November?
Susana: The Sisterhood Collective Exhibition will be at Nottingham Central Library from Thursday 6 November. We have 27 women photographers showcasing their work; it’s curated by our two facilitators, Alecia, and myself. The theme is ‘exploring identity through photography’, which they’ve been working on for several months now. It's very diverse, everyone's working on something different, using different mediums under one theme, it’s incredible to see.
For the opening evening, there’ll be complimentary drinks, a little introduction from me and Alecia, and talks from seven of our photographers. It’s free and anyone is welcome to attend!
Alecia: For many people in the Collective, it will be the first time they've ever exhibited work — it’s a really big deal and a massive confidence boost for them. The exhibition prints are being produced by LensFayre’s film lab, to ensure that member’s work is presented to a professional standard. It's an amazing opportunity to have our very first exhibition in partnership with the Central Library too. We're so grateful – it's kind of wild but I think that just speaks to how well supported the Collective is.
What’s next for the Sisterhood?
Susana: We’ll still be running our monthly socials and likely continuing with the theme of identity because there's a lot more to unpack for lots of people. We’d love to do a zine, and to create a network of women photographers offering real opportunities for getting work and being seen. We would love to put on more workshops, talks and events, too. Some of our longer-term goals would be larger exhibitions and opportunities to be published as well. We want to become a real resource and platform for women and women-identifying photography across Nottingham and beyond.
If someone's interested in joining the Collective, how might they go about it?
Alecia: You can visit us on Instagram and drop us a DM, or you can join our private WhatsApp group and mailing list, so just reach out and drop us a message. We’re always open for more members, so please do get in touch.
The Sisterhood Collective Exhibition will launch at Nottingham Central Library with an opening evening on Thursday 6 November from 7-9pm, and will run until 5 December, plus it’s free to explore
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