Ben Harman, Director of Stills: Centre for Photography in Edinburgh, speaks to Kirsty Mackay.

Kirsty Mackay is a documentary photographer, activist and filmmaker.

Her research-led documentary practice highlights social issues surrounding gender, class and discrimination. She has an MA in Documentary photography from University of South Wales, Newport.

Her current book project The Fish That Never Swam, considers class and discrimination against working-class people. Combining first-person narratives with photographs, it takes Glasgow as a case study, looking at the root causes of the city’s poor health outcomes and lower life expectancy.

Examining the relationship between the environment, government policy, historical trauma, and public health. It shifts the emphasis from individual life style choices to the effects that political policies have on our bodies. It will be published as a book in 2021.

Her work has been exhibited internationally, most recently in the Facing Britain group show, an observation of British Documentary Photography since the 60’s alongside works by Martin Parr, Anna Fox & David Hurn, Museum Goch, Germany.

@kirstygmackay (Instagram)

www.kirstymackay.com

Episode music by Dom mino'