Take One A Day

Take One a Day is a mental health project focusing on the healing power of photography. By paying attention to our everyday surroundings, being mindful, and purposefully looking for beauty in order to 'Take One a Day' (a photo not a pill) these photographs tell a personal mental health story. Originally shown at Louth's Spout Yard Gallery for World Mental Health Day in 2023 the successful Take One a Day photo exhibition is back, bigger and at Lincoln’s stunning Usher Gallery this summer.

13 July-15 September 2024

Usher Gallery, Lindum Rd, Lincoln LN2 1NN

10am-4pm, Thursday to Monday

Last year, after being featured in local newspapers, and on radio and television, nearly 250 people came to the inaugural exhibition at Spout Yard Park Gallery in Louth in just six days.

From 13 July 2024, an expanded collection of images by Louth photographer Paul Gutherson will be shown at Lincoln Museum’s Usher Gallery, alongside six-foot-high portraits by award-winning photographic artist Richard Ansett. The exhibition also includes paintings, sculptures and poems by creatives inspired by the initial Take One a Day project.

Paul Gutherson began taking one photo a day as part of his healing process after discovering a person who had died by suicide along Louth canal in 2020.

It was on a stretch of the River Lud that Paul knew very well and had loved since childhood. The spot was intrinsically linked to the surrounding landscape he had grown up in, which had shaped him and his relationship with the world.

With the help of counselling, Paul realised he needed to reclaim his natural environment from a place of trauma and shock and use creativity to restore his joy in life. That's when he began to take one a day; one photograph every day to help him rediscover the beauty of the Lincolnshire landscape. He searched for the positive in the huge skies above the expansive flat fields, on the beaches, along the dykes, and finally, back at the canal. He put these images out on social media every day, and began his healing journey.

Suicide rates have risen in rural areas since 2016. Lincolnshire has a large farming community, responsible for £2 billion of the UK’s agricultural output, but mental health support is spread thinly. Lincolnshire has the 12th highest suicide rate in the UK with between 70-80 deaths a year. Three quarters of these deaths are men.

A longtime Samaritans volunteer, photographic artist Richard Ansett, whose portraits have been acquired by the National Portrait Gallery in London, was inspired to respond to Paul’s project. In the same landscape, Richard captured local mental health advocates and other people suffering from mental health challenges. A further collection of Richard’s portraits, taken at a Bro Pro UK meeting in Spilsby, feature in a zine called Man Up and will be printed six feet high in an adjacent room.

During its time at the Usher Gallery, Take One a Day will include a residency with Richard Ansett, mindfulness classes, photography walks, and more. Please follow The Take One a Day Instagram account (@takeoneaday_photography) to be kept updated.

The exhibition will also feature work by other local creatives moved by the Spout Yard Park exhibition, including a painting, a sculpture, and poems by two different writers. Alongside these, visitors to Take One a Day are invited to share any creative work the project inspires in them by tagging @takeoneaday_photography on Instagram. These will be printed and hung in the exhibition for the final week, which includes Suicide Prevention Day on 10 September.

Take One a Day is curated by Jason Baron. Born and raised in Louth, Jason is former Head of Photography at Comic Relief and former Creative Head of Photography at the BBC.

Our thanks to Arts Council England which part-funded this event.

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