Abstract

NHS Darkroom is an ongoing participatory photography research project led by Johannah Churchill in collaboration with Newcastle Hospitals Charity and the University of Sunderland. This record documents the fourth in-darkroom workshop, held in 2026 as part of Newcastle Hospitals Charity's Arts Programme. Continuing the model established in the project's founding workshops, it brought members of Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust staff into the analogue darkrooms at the Northern Centre of Photography, St Peter's Campus, where work was later exhibited. Participants sat for portraits by Churchill and were given cameras to make their own black and white photographs on 35mm film, which they then hand-developed and printed in the darkroom. Churchill was supported by a team from the Northern Centre of Photography, including specialist technician Stephen Turner, who led the darkroom workshop and Michael Daglish, who led on printing, framing, and archiving. The resulting portraits were exhibited across Newcastle Hospitals'. sites.