The Verbatim Formula: The Project and My Involvement
I’m incredibly proud to have worked with The Verbatim Formula (TVF) on and off since mid-2017.
TVF began as a research project between Queen Mary University of London and the The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London. But it has become much more than that.
As it transcended the boundaries of the university campus, it evolved into a powerful performance project co-created by young people in care — the very same people who, in the past, would often have been treated as little more than research subjects.
TVF combines academic research and artistic practice as tools for social change, while also using its academic findings and artistic tools to promote social change, and at the same time creating an incredibly warm and welcoming environment for everyone involved. It's one of those brilliant projects where form and content are in perfect sync.
The verbatim formula Photographs
Below, I’ll be sharing a little more about their work alongside photographs I’ve been lucky enough to take over the years, documenting both their moving performances and the steps they’ve taken towards a better UK care system.
The photographs have been used across a wide range of publications, from book chapters and toolkits to websites, newsletters and booklets, all aiming to ensure young people’s voices are heard beyond the care system.
Battersea Arts Centre, 2019
"TVF has developed a long-term relationship with CLICK (Children in Care Kouncil) Wandsworth, codelivering with them major creative projects at Battersea Arts Centre, inspired by care-experienced young people’s desire to be represented positively and creatively. Verbatim Promenade Performance with CLICK Wandsworth at the Battersea Arts Centre" (formerly Elm’s House Children’s Home), 2019 *
The Verbatim Formula: How the Performances Work
At the core of TVF’s performances are interviews with young people who have experienced the UK care system.
Here’s how the process works, in their own words:
"In The Verbatim Formula we use headphone performance to make audio testimonies that can be shared safely and anonymously. To make the testimonies, participants record interviews with each other, and with facilitators. The content of the recordings is chosen by participants, edited, and loaded up onto MP3 players or iPods.
A performer then listens back to the testimonies through personal headphones, and relays the original recording to an audience by paying minute attention to the words on the audio, and repeating them accurately and respectfully.
The identity of the original speaker remains anonymous, and this often means that their words can be heard with special attention. Our performances intend to create spaces for reflection and dialogue, not defensiveness or blame."
Battersea Arts Centre
Making Places: Photographing the Launch and Contributing to the Toolkit
Below are photographs from the launch of the Making Places document at the Senior Common Room of Queen Mary University in 2019.
Making Places is a toolkit published by TVF "following a series of residential programmes delivered with Care-Experienced young people since 2015". In essence, it is "a guide on running TVF residentials at Universities and how to support Care Experienced young people into accessing Higher Education". *
As part of the series of residentials delivered with care-experienced young people at universities across the UK, I was commissioned by TVF to lead a workshop titled Documenting Arts Projects. The workshop aimed to introduce creative photography techniques for telling powerful stories and bringing a more artistic layer to documentary photography.
The event took place at the University of East London and was promoted publicly on Eventbrite, with the workshop open to anyone who wished to take part.
A summary of the techniques explored during the workshop was later included in the Making Places toolkit (see photo), with the aim of helping residential organisers kick-start their own journey into photographic documentation.
The Verbatim Formula at the Department for Education: Listening to Care-Experienced Young People
Below are photographs I took at the event where The Verbatim Formula was invited to the Department for Education (DfE) to share its testimonies with an audience of around 60 people, including DfE civil servants and the Minister for Children and Families.
The Verbatim Formula Presents Can You See Me? at The City Hall
"TVF subsequently supported a cohort of care-experienced young people in gaining funding from the Wandsworth Youth Opportunity Fund, which funded their production of the audio-exhibition ‘Can You See Me?’ which was exhibited at the City Hall | Greater London Authority in Southwark for 93 participants, including social workers, DfE staff and youth workers."
The Verbatim Formula Performances at the Foundling Museum
Below are photographs from two beautiful performances by The Verbatim Formula (TVF) at the Foundling Museum. The first was part of the Being Human Festival and was titled Lost and Foundlings: Exploring Complex Stories of Care.
The Verbatim Formula Performance at Battersea Arts Centre: More than Skin Deep | Video & Photography
Below, you’ll find a short video I filmed on my iPhone to complement the photographs from the TVF performance More than Skin Deep: What Is Your Dream of Care?
The performance was developed in partnership with Battersea Arts Centre in London and Contact Theatre in Manchester, and was the result of 10 workshops held with care-experienced young adults.
"Using dance, music, verbatim, storytelling and beatboxing, they share uplifting and challenging reflections on the care system. This participatory process culminated in performances followed by reflective discussion on how we change the stigma and negativity attached to being in care." **
Here's a list of the publications where the photos I've taken for TVF were featured:
Article written by Inchley M, Dar S, Baker S, Pujara M, Siqueira P ( 2023 ) . ‘Performing Aural and Temporal Architecture: Re-framing the University through The Verbatim Formula’ . Performing Institutions: Contested Sites and Structures of Care, Editors: Lindelof, A, Jannsen, S , Intellect
Book Chapter written by Sylvan Baker and Maggie Inchley. 2020. ‘Verbatim practice as research with care-experienced young people: An “aesthetics of care” through aural attention’, in Performing Care: New Perspectives on Socially Engaged Performance, ed. by James Thompson and Amanda Stuart Fisher (Manchester: Manchester University Press), pp. 171–186
Making Place Guide, a toolkit on running TVF residentials at Universities and how to support Care Experienced young people into accessing Higher Education". *
Many websites and newsletters including:
I'm available for commissions and collaborations. Just drop me a line, I'd love to hear from you!