Scattered Lives is a documentary about the work of Catch 22, an organisation in the UK that works with people on the margins of the Criminal Justice System. This work explores the shifting identities of individuals who define themselves in part through the language of the Criminal Justice System, and the tensions that revolve around the professional relationships that Catch 22 has with its client base. This work has come out of our backgrounds in a Documentary Photography practice that is auto/biographically informed, and by an Oral & Life History approach to Narrative and Identity.

The individuals we interviewed articulate their experiences within their own notions of borders and boundaries, both real and imagined, that they negotiate in their daily lives. The conflicts, emotions and experiences that inform their attitudes towards those boundaries and borders, both emotional and physical, are often spoken about in the language of the Criminal Justice System. As Eakin (1999) argues, the sense of self that we sustain draws upon, “models of identity provided by the cultures we inhabit,” that can be life enhancing or not. This individual sense of identity is embedded within concrete social experiences, (Vigotsky in Burkitt, 1991) and is reflected in the discursive construction of their narratives through movement between the life worlds of client, agency, and criminal justice system.

SCATTERED LIVES-Final copy

The fourth in an ongoing series exploring the relationships between Catch 22, its client base, and other agencies.
The film highlights the initial impact of the 1st. round of cuts in Public Sector in the UK. These cuts, imposed by the Coalition government, are ideologically driven and are having a disproportionate impact on the most vulnerable sections of our society.

Resettling is the third of three short films exploring the tensions that revolve around the professional relationships between Catch 22, its client base, and those agencies who intervene in their clients’ lives.
Catch 22 is a local charity with a national reach (in the UK) working with young people on the margins of the Criminal Justice System.
Although the Charity’s main concern remains with young people at risk, their work also engages with the resettlement needs of older, long term offenders.
Resettling explores these issues.

Still Unsettled deals with the relationship Catch 22 has with older teenagers caught in the Criminal Justice System.
This is the 2nd of four short films exploring the tensions that revolve around the professional relationships between Catch 22, its client base, and those agencies who intervene in their clients’ lives.
Catch 22 is a local charity with a national reach (in the UK) working with people on the margins of the Criminal justice System.

Scattered Lives: Jamie’s Story is the first of four short films we made for Catch 22 in Northampton, UK.
Catch 22 is a local charity, with a national reach, working with people on the margins of the Criminal justice System. Jamie’s story engages with one family’s experiences. Through these, the film explores the tensions that revolve around the professional relationships Catch 22 have with its client base, and those agencies who intervene in their clients’ lives.