Oskar Edgren

I chose The Trading Circle because it resonated with my views of what a charity should be. I believe that the view they take towards the preservation of dignity and skill is one that sets it apart from most other charities, and suggests that their goal is to help the women it works with throughout their lives, not just in one lump sum. I think that the work I did for them will help them in their brand and their success as a shop, but I hope it will also give people a good idea of their history and what they are about as an organisation.

It is difficult to prescribe an argument to a project like mine, but I put the gallery together with the mindset that this charity is a very good one, and one that takes a long-term, thoughtful and holistic attitude to its beneficiaries. I found that the use of photography was the best medium to get this point across, especially in the “before and after” theme of some of the producer group photographs. Ideally I would like everyone who shops at The Trading Circle to at least browse through the photographs or read over the short history that I wrote to give them a concrete idea of where the produce comes from, where their money is going and what the purpose of the whole organisation is.

I have never worked historically with photography before, and while I was initially apprehensive I found that the medium was perfect for the project at hand. I found that they communicated the purpose and importance of the organisation better than anything else, and I am glad I chose to work with them rather than just writing an extended history like I had initially planned. The photograph gallery is a fantastic medium for communicating the recent history of an organisation such as The Trading Circle, especially with the importance of the overseas contacts.

Regarding the history that I did write for them, I was extremely limited in the amount that I could put together. Since it was for the purpose of a history section on a website, I was limited in both length and depth in a way I have never been before for a university project. On top of this, I wrote it primarily with a recorded interview as a source – also something I had never done. While this interview was interesting, I decided not to include it in the gallery, as I did not think it worked with the medium presented. I designed the gallery to be something very readable, that a viewer could study in depth or scroll through quickly, and audio snippets would have broken up the flow. I will, however, send the recording to The Good Shepherd Sisters archive, and hopefully they will find it useful.

I intend to continue some work with The Trading Circle in future, both in the upkeep of this gallery (perhaps expanding it as more photographs are taken) and in general retail volunteer work. I hope that they find my work to be useful for their updated website, and that I can continue to be of service to them.

— OSKAR EDGREN

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