Looking back at 2025 and forward to 2026
2025 has been a significant year for me professionally - rewarding and challenging in roughly equal measure. This is a brief look back at some of what happened, and a look forward to what’s coming in 2026.
My year
Ghost Train
Work on my documentary film Ghost Train continued. This project began in late 2024 through Seed funding via Cultivate Commissions. Having filmed the majority of contributions in 2024, I put together a first draft edit to gather feedback, and a screening for contributors and other stakeholders was held at the 1950s cinema at Beamish in February (here’s a short article in the Northern Echo about it).
Me in front of the Grand Cinema at Beamish, just before the test screening of Ghost Train. Photo credit: Jude Murphy
That was a lovely event and gave me some invaluable insights, which I’ve been chipping away at incorporating into the next edit throughout 2025. Though the Cultivate Commission Seed funding phase came to an end in February, I’ve continued filming (a couple of additional interviews and a lot more landscape footage) with a view to shaping it into a feature-length documentary. I’m aiming to complete it before the end of 2026.
Point North
In early 2025 I began working with Point North (formerly County Durham Community Foundation), making short films showcasing their work fighting poverty in the region. This has been some of the most rewarding client work I’ve ever done.
One of the things I love about making video is that even in the age of AI, it’s still pretty hard to make it lie. Viewers know when they’re moved in an authentic way by what they’re watching, and as a filmmaker this means what I create can only ever be as meaningful as the stuff I capture. The work of Point North and the organisations they support (for example Creative Youth Opportunities, Building Self Belief) is everything the troubled world we live in needs right now: actual grassroots community work. It’s easy to make that kind of work sing, and the bonus for me is I get to witness first hand what these brilliant people are doing.
Below are two of the videos I’ve made with Point North this year.
Durham Creative Community Fellowship
I intend to write more here about my time as part of the Durham Creative Community Fellowship 2025 cohort, but the highlight was undoubtedly the week spent at Spicer Manor with the other fellows and faculty. Spending quality time with brilliant fellow Durham cultural workers was the most valuable aspect, but the team at NAS, alongside Bowes Museum staff and the other Into the Light partners, mentors and faculty, made it a space to reflect and learn daily.
While at Spicer Manor we enjoyed a trip to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park as a group.
The Peer Exchange Group I was part of (a smaller group within the cohort) was another invaluable aspect that continued beyond the residential.
Durham Miners’ Gala
Filming Durham Miners’ Gala with Shut Out The Light for the Durham Miners Association’s official film is always a highlight of my year.
On the day itself I was assigned to follow the first Pride Bloc as they marched their banners through Durham to the main field. In the afternoon I filmed the blessing of the banners from high up in the rafters of Durham Cathedral’s main tower. Luckily I’m not given to vertigo.
No More Nowt
Towards the end of the year I started to work more consistently with No More Nowt, County Durham’s Creative People & Places organisation, documenting their work. This included their Digital Residencies and SCRAN.
Click an image above to watch the Digital Residency video I made with No More Nowt No More Nowt are a fantastic organisation and I’ve been lucky enough to both work for them as a freelancer and be supported by them as an artist. The impact they’ve had on the cultural scene in County Durham really cannot be understated. I say that as someone who has been part of that community since childhood. I hope they’re able to continue doing this necessary work long into the future.
Durham Peace Mural
One project I’ve been incubating behind the scenes relates to the historic Durham Peace Mural.
The 60ft × 10ft mural began life in 1986 and was unveiled at the 1987 Miners’ Gala, after which it was installed in Durham Market Place where it remained for 14 years. 2026 marks 40 years since the project began.
I was six years old in 1986 and my mum was central to the project, alongside lead artist Barrie Ormsby (her future co-artist at Bearpark Artists’ Co-operative). I’m depicted in the mural, alongside some of my oldest friends, and over 50 County Durham artists were involved in painting it. The mural was removed at the start of the millennium to make way for the Prince Bishops’ Shopping Centre and never found a new home, though some panels survive in various houses around Durham.
The Durham Peace Mural on stage at the 1987 Miners’ Gala
Suffice to say, it means a lot to me and talking about it over the past year, I’ve found it means a lot to many other people in Durham too.
Barrie has loaned me a lot of fascinating archive material (photos, drawings, letters) which I’ve been documenting. I don’t yet know what form a 40-year revival or celebration might take. I’ve talked to young mural artists interested in a potential remake, which would be interesting to navigate in the current political climate given the mural’s explicit political content and formerly central public location. There’s been discussion of a book, a documentary film, fine prints, a digital archive. These are questions I’ll be asking people involved in the original mural, and Durham’s current creative community, over the coming months.
I’ll be writing more about the Peace Mural’s history and the questions around its revival soon.
Plans for 2026
A few milestones I want to hit in 2026. I’m writing them down publicly here as a small act of accountability.
Ghost Train: Aiming to complete this film before the end of the year.
Durham Peace Mural: Finalise what form the revival might take and get it well underway, for completion in 2027 (marking 40 years since the mural was unveiled).
Other self initiated projects: I have two other ongoing documentary projects that I am aiming to finish by 2027 and 2028 respectively, so will be chipping away at them as well.
Client work continues into 2026, with projects for Point North and No More Nowt already lined up.
