You can’t argue with 118 Brummies in their swimwear: Attilio Fiumarella’s best photo | Drawing

Me took this picture Birmingham on 20 July 2014 – part of my first photography project. I moved to the city in 2013 and used to pass this house every day on the bus to the city center. I remember looking around the inner courtyard and being impressed by the three different entrances – what used to be first class, second class and the women’s entrance.

One day I decided to get off the bus to see what the building was. The door was open, and a nice lady welcomed me and started telling me her story. That’s it Moseley Road Baths, an Edwardian-era public house. In 2014 the second pool was still working but the gala pool, where I took this photo, was already empty. The house was in need of renovation and, with no money, the house was a necessity the council decided to suspend it of the good. The woman I met there told me many stories about the place—people who came to learn to swim, how it treated wounded people during World War II, and how it was used as a dance hall. It was a beautiful place with an amazing history: as soon as I saw the gala pool, I knew I had to fill the void.

A few months later, I managed to get a community bursary through Some Cities, run by Andrew Jackson and Dan Burwood, to do a project about the pool area, and the relationship between it and the building. It was mutual, we made this story together. And in July 2014, I organized this shoot – the final photo of the project. Our friends at Moseley Road Baths helped to recruit swimmers, and I also distributed leaflets in our area to encourage people to take part. What’s really interesting about this picture is that it shows the diversity of the people in the area, and how many different generations swim there.

It still makes me smile that I decided to use a large camera for the first time on a project like this. In retrospect, it seems a little crazy. It was very painful. We had 118 people in the pool, and everything depended on getting one sheet of film right. There was so much that could go wrong. Fortunately, many people helped make this possible. Ian Edwards from St Paul’s Community Trust connected everyone with a megaphone, while he and a group of volunteers helped people get into the empty pool using a makeshift ladder they had built.

So I had a problem with the light. I knew that at 11am, it came from right to left through the windows, giving me exactly what I wanted, but it was a rainy day. After waiting for about an hour, people started to panic, but in the last five minutes, the sun came out and I shot.

In my work, I always refer to architecture – that is my foundation. In this picture I was thinking about Terracotta Army. What struck me about the photo was how it became an expression of unity and solidarity. In 2020 he won Portrait of Humanity Awardand now it’s starting to get attention again – I think because it shows something about the times we’re living in. We need to come together, show up and take back the power. I see this photo as a denial – these divers had never met me before but they showed up to protect their favorite spot.

Recently, Moseley Road Pages he got the last coin required to complete the renovation, including support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The building was temporarily closed while renovation work was completed, but it will soon reopen with new goals and a new public space. My contribution was only a small part of the 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 bathing suits, following the instructions of the mad Italian. To me, this picture just says: “We are here, together, standing for something we believe in.”

Attilio Fiumarella is one of the selected photographers for the Royal Photographic Society’s 167th annual exhibition at the event. Saatchi Gallery, Londonfrom 7 August to 11 September

CV of Attilio Fiumarella

Born: Naples, 1978
Above: Seeing long-term projects find an audience over time, from the success of Portrait of Humanity 2020 to being commissioned by organizations whose work and values ​​I respect.
Top tips: Be proactive, and be very careful with the people you photograph. As artists, we have a responsibility to help their stories reach more people