Interview: Stacey Dyer – South West Image Bank

Can you tell me a bit about yourself?

I’m a qualified Archivist having worked at Plymouth & West Devon Record Office, Cornwall Record Office and the Royal Cornwall Museum in Truro before taking up my post at SWiB in 2007. A keen amateur photographer and part-time poet with a keen interest in body-boarding, camping and
walking on Dartmoor.

What is the SWiB?

SWiB is a professional non-local authority community photographic archive set up in 2007 by the Plymouth Barbican Trust. We have a growing archive of photographic collections dating back to the 1870s deposited by local businesses, photographers, societies and members of the public. SWiB’s primary objectives are to preserve and make those collections accessible to traditional and non-traditional audiences and in doing so helping to promote the rich visual heritage of the region.
We have on board a team of volunteers and a full-time Outreach Officer whose work is to encourage community level engagement with the unique resources we have been entrusted to care for.

What is your role in the SWiB?

Initially my role was to set up, manage and develop a collection of over 2 million photographic negatives from the Herald and to establish the foundations for the digitisation of that archive with the support of our team of volunteers. With the unexpected though wholly welcome expansion of the collections, SWiB too has grown along with my role which now includes collection management, volunteer management, outreach and learning development, public enquiry management, web site design and administration and the acquisition of external funding to sustain the good work we are doing. I am now also project managing the relocation of SWiB to new and better premises as part of a two year Heritage Lottery Funded project. According to my volunteers I also make a mean cup of tea !

Can people volunteer to help?

Yes please ! Our existing team of 30 volunteers include many who have been with SWiB since the very beginning. Now that we have moved into bigger premises on the Barbican We are on the hunt to welcome in more volunteers to help with ongoing digitisation and cataloguing of the collections, research and preservation activity and to support the new gallery and exhibition display
areas within the new building. We also need help identifying some of the more vague image collections which have been deposited with us and with very little in the way of description. As a member of the Oral History Association, reminiscence and memory building is something we are looking to become more involved with; we’d be very interested in hearing from people who could volunteer their own memories and recollections to the SWiB project.

Do you have any favourite photographs from the SWiB?

I am often asked what is my favourite image but with over 160 individual collections it is impossible to select just one… I do have around 200 preferred images but I guess it would be easier to pick a favourite collection or two; the Roy Westlake archive is one of my favourites. Roy was very much a documentary photographer and captured the city in the immediate aftermath of World War Two when Plymouth was being reconstructed. I also love the William Gilhen and Ron Andrews collections since they contain some fascinatingly rare images of the region during the 1890s and 1920s. The Dingles archive is pretty special too ! Some of our volunteers are photographers in their own right and we’re encouraging them to create living archives to be deposited with SWiB; it’s such an honour for me to see their individual archives develop into living legacies for the future.

What are the SWiB’s plans for the future?

For the immediate future our plan is to expand SWiB’s public profile as the place for
preserving and accessing photographic images of the City and the region. We want to bring
archives in to the 21st Century and create new and innovative ways of seeing, participating with and learning from archives. We now have an Archive Outreach Officer on board thanks to the lottery funding we acquired who is working to support that objective. In the long-term, given that we rely solely on the good will of our volunteers, our charitable parent body (the PBT) and external funding, I would like to become more self-sustainable so that we can continue the good work we are doing which has proven benefits for so many people.

Where can people found out more about the SWiB?

We have a brand new website which has information about us and our work and links to some of the images via an online galleries page (very much a work in progress at the moment).

The website also provides details about the services we can provide and our products. We have an accessible shop and gallery at the new site which people of all ages and backgrounds are welcome to visit and enjoy. / Website: www,southwestimagebank.com / New SWiB: SWiB Archive and Gallery, 25 Parade, Barbican, Plymouth, PL1 2JN

What is your view on the Barbican today?

I consider myself extremely lucky to both work and live on the Barbican. I suppose that would
make me somewhat biased but when I’m asked what it is I love about the Barbican I can’t put my finger on exactly why. I guess I would attribute the appeal of the Barbican for me to the special vibe it has which is a credit to all those who work, live and visit the area and the tangible sense of community it seems to offer. A lot of the physical charm is down to my parent body, the PBT, who fought to preserve and maintain the many historic buildings in the area. I wonder whether it would still be quite as special if it wasn’t for the active presence of that physical heritage?

Is there anything you’d like to see changed on the Barbican?

I’ve always believed that change is good and that new innovation and development is a positive thing if undertaken with respect and sensitivity for whatever is already existing. I welcome development of the Barbican though I would like to see more done to promote and support smaller businesses alongside the more commercial trades and larger businesses. I’d also like to see more of a balance between the leisure industry and the culture and heritage of the area; perhaps the two working closer together for the mutual benefit of the collective community. Our launch exhibition for the new SWiB (scheduled for September) will be to use our images to celebrate the cultural heritage of the Barbican alongside images of all those who make the area what it is today.

Finally, what would you say about the Barbican to locals / tourists who have never visited it before?

A friend recently gave me a book on all the places in the world everyone must see in a lifetime, I actually checked to see whether the Barbican was mentioned. It wasn’t… but it definitely should be!

Be sure to read more interviews with local Businesses and the people who make the Barbican what it is today.