One Year One Face is an intimate, documentary-style visual storytelling project by Visions by Design, following one man — Paul — over the course of twelve months.

At its heart, this project is about change, humanity, dignity, and visibility.

Through a series of carefully composed monthly portraits, One Year One Face will document Paul’s personal journey while he engages with the support and services of Refocus and Rise CIC. Each image will serve as a visual checkpoint — capturing not just Paul’s physical presence, but also the emotional and psychological shifts that occur over time.

This is not simply a portrait series.

It is a living record of healing, struggle, resilience, identity, and transformation.

The Concept

A face can tell a story that words often cannot.

Month by month, One Year One Face will create a visual archive of one individual’s lived experience — reflecting subtle and significant changes in:

• mood
• mental health
• self-perception
• confidence
• stability
• general wellbeing

By photographing the same subject in the same long-form documentary spirit across a full year, the project invites viewers to slow down and truly observe the human condition.

We often speak about progress in abstract terms. This project asks a simple but powerful question: What does progress actually look like on a human face over time?

The answer may be visible in posture, gaze, expression, clothing, energy, body language, or the quiet confidence that develops from one month to the next.

• Some months may show strength.
• Some may show exhaustion.
• Some may show hope.
• Others may reveal uncertainty.
• All of them will be honest.

At the centre of this project is Paul — the sole subject of One Year One Face.

Over twelve months, Paul’s portraits will become a deeply personal visual narrative that documents his experience while receiving support from Refocus and Rise CIC.

Rather than reducing Paul to a “case study” or social issue, this project positions him as a person first — someone with individuality, complexity, emotion, and a story worth witnessing with care and respect.

• The aim is not to sensationalise hardship.
• The aim is to humanise the process.

Paul’s journey will be presented with dignity, authenticity, and compassion, allowing audiences to connect not with a stereotype, but with a real human being moving through real life.

One Year One Face exists to explore how creative documentary photography can be used as a tool for:

1. Human Connection

The project encourages viewers to engage emotionally and empathetically with one person’s lived experience over time.

2. Mental Health Awareness

By visually reflecting emotional and psychological shifts, the work opens up conversations around mental health, vulnerability, support systems, and recovery.

3. Social Impact Storytelling

This project highlights the importance of organisations like Refocus and Rise CIC, and the role community-based services play in supporting personal growth and wellbeing.

4. Challenging Assumptions

Audiences are often quick to judge people based on a single moment or image. This series challenges that by showing that no person can be understood from one frame alone.

5. Long-Term Documentary Practice

Rather than relying on one-off imagery, the project embraces time as a storytelling tool — allowing nuance, contradiction, and progression to emerge naturally.

The photographic style of One Year One Face will be rooted in documentary portraiture — honest, restrained, and emotionally observant.

Each monthly portrait will be created with intention, allowing space for Paul’s emotional state and lived reality to shape the image.

Depending on the progression of the project, portraits may subtly reflect changing environments, routines, or emotional atmospheres, while still maintaining a recognisable visual thread throughout the series.

What the Audience Will Experience

Visitors to the webpage will be invited to move through the project month by month, experiencing Paul’s journey as it unfolds.

Each stage of the project can be presented as:

• a monthly portrait
• a short written reflection
• a caption or visual note
• optional context about that month’s emotional or personal landscape
• insight into how support from Refocus and Rise CIC may be shaping the journey

Together, these elements will create an evolving timeline of human change.

The experience should feel intimate and reflective — almost as if the viewer is being asked not just to look at Paul, but to see him.

In a world saturated with fast content and fleeting attention, One Year One Face offers something slower, deeper, and more meaningful.

It reminds us that:

• healing is rarely linear
• growth is often quiet
• support services matter
• Every face carries a story

By following one individual over a sustained period of time, this project becomes more than a visual study — it becomes a statement about care, consistency, community, and the power of being witnessed.

This work has the potential to resonate with:, mental health organisations, arts and culture audiences, documentary photography communities, community support initiatives and anyone interested in real human stories

By the end of the year, One Year One Face will stand as a complete visual record of one chapter in one person’s life.

• Twelve portraits.
• Twelve moments.
• One face.
• One year.

Together, they will form a powerful archive of what it means to be supported, seen, and documented with intention.