Walking, Archives and the City: My Month in York
In October 2019, I travelled from Kampala to York, United Kingdom, for a month-long residency with Development Alternatives and the University of York. The residency brought together artists, researchers and academics, creating an opportunity to explore how archives, artistic practice and alternative ways of seeing could open new conversations about history, place and society.
For me, the residency became an opportunity to continue something that has always been central to my photography: walking and looking.
I spent time at the National Railway Museum and its archive, exploring the histories held within its collections. The railway became an important thread through my experience of York—a way of thinking about movement, infrastructure, cities and the connections between places.
But I did not experience the UK only through archives and institutions. I wanted to encounter the cities themselves.
I meandered through York, Newcastle, Bristol and London, carrying my camera and photographing the architecture, streets and public spaces I encountered along the way. York Station, London Bridge, railway infrastructure and other architectural landmarks became part of a visual diary of the journey.
A Visual Journey
Photographs from York, Newcastle, Bristol and London, including architectural landmarks, railway spaces, streetscapes and everyday encounters.
The camera gave me a reason to slow down. Walking gave me a way to encounter the cities beyond their most obvious landmarks. I became interested in the relationship between monumental architecture and ordinary spaces—the buildings we photograph deliberately and the places we simply pass through.
York itself became a kind of laboratory. Its historic streets, railway heritage and layers of architecture encouraged me to think about how cities hold memory, and how much can be discovered simply by moving through them slowly.
The residency also became a space for collaboration. During York Design Week, we presented Archive Alive, bringing archival material and artistic practice into a public setting. I also participated in a Walkscapes workshop, exploring walking as a method of research, observation and collective enquiry.
Looking back, the month in York was more than an opportunity to travel and photograph. It changed the way I think about archives, architecture and walking as interconnected ways of understanding place.
I arrived with a camera and a curiosity about what I would find. I left with a deeper appreciation for the stories held in buildings, streets, railway stations and archives—and for the value of simply walking through a city and paying attention.
That experience continues to shape my practice today.
