The Meaning of Being Different
By Debbie Todd
Monday 16 February to Saturday 16 May
Debbie Todd is a socially engaged portrait photographer based in County Durham. Her practise concentrates on telling stories of marginalised people mainly from working class backgrounds in a fine art style. Inspired by old master painters and contemporary photographers, she creates images that tell the sitters story and encourage empathy and inclusion, for some marginalised groups and communities.
As a working class artist, Debbie started her degree at the age of 38 and graduated from the northern school of art with a first class honours degree in photographic practise during the summer of 2022. She then went on to gain a distinction in her Masters in Arts Practise in 2023 before opening her studio within Ushaw College. Prior to her graduation, Debbie won the Anjool Malde Award and was shortlisted for the AOP student awards and to end the year she won the judges choice for the student section of the Bar-Tur Photo awards which will she attended the exhibition in Berlin in 2023.
More recently Debbie has created work which has been displayed in the Metrocentre and produced a book. She has created work that has been commission by MIMA for a 2025 exhibit, been part of the Late Shows in Newcastle and has been shortlisted for the Portrait of Britain Award.
Debbie is currently working on many new socially aware projects and offers personal portraits within her studio. To support her work financially, she also works within the community, at her social care job.
This particular series of images is based around proverbs and idioms that affect/surround people with various differences and lifestyles. The images have been created to allow people to engage with the subject and consider the use of language and how it affects others, especially those affected by the sayings.
The images represent a diverse range of people who are often misunderstood and excluded from mainstream media because of prejudices about how they look/act or their lifestyle. The idioms and sayings are connected to that person’s condition which will help to raise awareness and promote inclusiveness and equality and make others feel more represented. They make more sense when accompanied by the sayings and their conditions which is detailed in their title but it is interesting to see what people think the images convey before they read the title.
