7 hours ago
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I took this image in Birmingham on 20 July 2014 – part of my first professional photography project. I had moved to the city in 2013 and I would pass this building every day on the bus on my way to the city centre. I remember looking at the facades and being impressed and intrigued by the three different entrances – what were once the first class, second class and women’s entrances.
One day I decided to get off the bus and find out what the building was. The door was open, and a nice lady welcomed me in and started to explain its history. It is the Moseley Road Baths, an Edwardian-era community building. In 2014 the second pool was still operating but the gala pool, where I took this image, was already empty. The building was in need of restoration and, without funding, the council planned to shut it down for good. The woman I met there told me lots of stories about the place – people who had come to learn to swim, how it had served as a casualty station during the second world war, and how it had even been used as a dance hall. It was a very charming place with an incredible history: as soon as I saw the gala pool, I knew I had to fill the majestic empty space.
A few months later, I managed to get a local community bursary through Some Cities, run by Andrew Jackson and Dan Burwood, to make a portrait project about the pool community, and the relationship between them and the building. It was collaborative, we created the story together. And in July 2014, I organised this shot – the last picture of the project. The Friends of Moseley Road Baths helped recruit swimmers, and I also handed out flyers in the neighbourhood to encourage people to take part. What’s fantastic about the image is that it reflects how diverse the community there is, and how many different generations swim there.
It still makes me smile that I decided to use a large format camera for the first time on a project like this. Looking back, it seems slightly crazy. It was an intense experience. We had 118 people in the pool, and everything depended on getting a single sheet of film right. There was a lot that could have gone wrong. Fortunately, many people helped make it possible. Ian Edwards from St Paul’s Community Trust coordinated everyone with a megaphone, while he and a team of volunteers helped people down into the empty pool using a temporary staircase they had built.
Then I had a problem with the light. I knew that at 11am, it came in from the right to the left through the windows, giving me exactly the angle I wanted, but on the day it was overcast. After waiting for about an hour, people were starting to get nervous, but in the last five minutes, the sun finally appeared and I got the shot.
In my work, I always reference architecture – that’s my background. In this image I was thinking of the Terracotta Army. What amazed me about the photograph was how it became an expression of solidarity and togetherness. In 2020 it won the Portrait of Humanity prize, and now it is getting new attention – I think because it reflects something about the time we’re living in. We need to get together, to show up and to take back power. I see this photograph as an act of resistance – these swimmers had never met me but they showed up to defend a place they cared deeply about.
Recently, Moseley Road Baths secured the final funding needed to complete its restoration, including a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The building is temporarily closed while the restoration works are completed, but it will soon reopen with renewed purpose and new public spaces. My contribution was only a very small part of that story, but I like to think it helped in some way. Looking back, I think it was a very generous thing for all those people to do. They stood together in their swimsuits, following the directions of a crazy Italian guy. To me, this photograph simply says: “We are here, together, standing up for something we believe in.”
Attilio Fiumarella is one of the selected photographers in the Royal Photographic Society’s 167th annual international exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery, London, from 7 August to 11 September
Attilio Fiumarella’s CV
Born: Naples, 1978
High point: Seeing long-term projects find their audience over time, from winning Portrait of Humanity 2020 to being commissioned by institutions whose work and values I respect
Top tip: Be persistent, and care deeply about the people you photograph. As photographers, we have a responsibility to help their stories reach a wider audience
