About Jenny Goodfellow
Jenny Goodfellow is a freelance photographer, youth mentor, volunteer, and currently a student at University of Sunderland where she is studying for a BA in Photography, Video, and Digital Imaging.
Jenny is heavily involved in university life, and works with the Student Union as the Schools Coordinator for the Faculty of Art and Design, has sat on the Board of Governors, and has worked with different University faculties and departments to document events. These include the annual SUPA Awards, Team Sunderland sports games, and events run by the North East Photography Network (NEPN) based at the university.
She also works with a Darlington-based band, The Floral Detectives, to photograph their gigs and publicity shots.
In addition to music, events and sports photography, Jenny’s main focus is using photography to convey information or explore ideas. These projects involve a lot of research and gathering information before creating images to tell stories about people, environments, and history.
“Chance Favours the Prepared”
Using studio portraits of current University of Sunderland students, and microscopic images of the most commonly reported infectious illnesses affecting students (such as mumps, colds, and sexually transmitted infections), this project seeks to reduce stigma around illness by showing that it can affect everybody.
“Chance Favours the Prepared” also informs people of how they can protect themselves, seek treatment from local healthcare providers, and reduce the risk of falling ill while at university.
The project was initially to be displayed at the University of Sunderland’s Murray Library, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic was displayed in Jenny’s halls of residence kitchen, with an online opening and Q&A session hosted on Facebook Live instead!
"Chance Favours the Prepared", by Photographer & Artist Jenny Goodfellow.
"Polonia", by Photographer & Artist Jenny Goodfellow.
“Polonia”
“Polonia” is the word used to describe people of Polish descent living outside of Poland.
Despite being a country that has some of the most widespread diaspora in the world due to civil wars, uprisings, prejudice and persecution, people living “in the west” often have very little awareness of Polish culture and history, and what has happened to the descendants of people leaving their home country in order to survive and seek out a better life for their families.
This project was put together using stories, expressions, and objects from Jenny’s partner Mietek (short for Mieczysław, meaning “mighty sword”), a Polish-Canadian living in the UK, who is descended from aristocracy and survivors of the Holocaust.
In My Father’s Footsteps
This project was an exploration of the “Turning the Tide” project carried out in the late 1990s at the East Durham Coast to clear away waste from industry and mining to reclaim the environment for wildlife and coastal communities.
Jenny’s father John had worked on the project as a Senior Project Officer for Durham County Council during its inception and delivery, and unfortunately died in 2004 before he could see the long-term impact of his work.
Over a period of 12 weeks, Jenny made repeated visits to the stretch of coastline between Seaham and Hartlepool, and walked down the Durham Coastal Path, capturing images and taking samples. Jenny produced 11 final images - one for each mile of the coastal path - and an installation using physical samples, original project documents, and sounds recorded during the walks.
Jenny later self-published a book of the project, which is available on Blurb.
"In My Father’s Footsteps", by Photographer & Artist Jenny Goodfellow.
Jenny Goodfellow on ArtyParti
In August 2019, Jenny and her partner Mietek joined Jay for an episode of the ArtyParti podcast.
“If you work freelance, especially as an artist or a creative, chances are you’ve been asked to do work for free before.
“We’ve all seen the meme - you wouldn’t ask a plumber to mend your sink for free, would you? You probably wouldn’t expect a taxi to give you a free ride tot the airport. So why should creatives - artists, content creators, photographers alike - be expected to work for “exposure”?
“We chat exposure, and other issues that freelance creatives face, on this episode of ArtyParti. Such as, but not limited to - how do you get yourself out there when you’re introverted? How do you manage difficult client expectations? And how do you structure your time across multiple projects?”
