Portrait Photography → Creative Interpretation → Digital Fine Art

One story.

Endless creative possibilities.

Photography That Preserves Stories.

Artwork That Leaves a Legacy.

Award-Winning Fine Art & Archival Portrait Photographer | Transdisciplinary Artist | Creative Technology Practitioner

Whether you're an individual, family, artist, business, researcher or heritage organisation,

I create powerful visual work that tells stories with authenticity, creativity and lasting impact.

From professional portraits and editorial commissions to community heritage, oral history and contemporary digital fine art, every project begins with people, their experiences and the stories they want remembered.

Using photography alongside ethical AI-assisted creative technologies, I can transform a single portrait into bespoke artwork, heritage resources, exhibitions and digital collections—creating work that is both visually striking and culturally meaningful.

If you're looking for more than photographs—if you're looking to preserve a legacy, communicate your story or create something truly distinctive—I'd love to work with you.

Specialisms

🖤 Black British History, Heritage & Cultural Identity

👩🏾 Black British Women, Families & Communities

🎨 Creative Health, Arts & Wellbeing

🏛️ Community Archives, Oral History & Cultural Heritage

🤖 Ethical AI, Digital Heritage & Creative Technology

🎭 Arts, Creative & Cultural Communities

📚 Community-led Research, Participation & Public Engagement

My Professional Approach:

Every project is underpinned by a human-led approach that brings together anthropology, photography, art, oral history, cultural heritage and ethical AI-assisted creative technologies. Whether documenting lived experiences, creating contemporary artwork, preserving community archives or supporting organisations through research and consultancy, my aim is always the same: to create meaningful, accessible and culturally respectful work that preserves the past, documents the present and inspires future generations.

Have a story, project or idea?

Get Started

How Can I Help You?

Services

Available for commissions, consultancy, guest speaking, research, training and collaborative projects across the UK and internationally.

Whether you're an individual, charity, school, university, museum, archive, business, public sector organisation or community group, I offer creative, research-led and heritage-focused services tailored to your project.

📷 Photography & Editorial
Portraits • Editorial • Corporate • Personal Branding • Heritage Photography • Events • Documentary Photography • Archival Portrait Photography

🎨 Fine Art & Creative Commissions
Bespoke Artwork • Digital Fine Art • AI-assisted Creative Practice • Public Art • Exhibitions • Creative Commissions

🎤 Oral History & Heritage
Oral Histories • Community Memory • Family History • Heritage Storytelling • Legacy Projects • Heritage Documentation • Life Story Interviews

🏛️ Archives & Cultural Heritage
Archive Development • Digital Preservation • Cataloguing • Metadata • Collections Management • Heritage Consultancy • Community Archives

🤖 AI, Digital Heritage & Creative Technology
Ethical AI • AI-assisted Cultural Heritage • Human-led AI Workflows • Digital Heritage • Creative Technology • AI Literacy • Responsible AI Practice

🎓 Community Learning, Schools & Prisons
Workshops • Community Learning • Schools • Colleges • Universities • Prisons • Curriculum Enrichment • Creative Learning • Heritage Education • Rehabilitation & Creative Engagement

🎙️ Guest Speaking, Presentations & Lectures
Keynote Speaking • Conference Presentations • Guest Lectures • Public Talks • Panel Discussions • Podcast Guest Appearances • Facilitation

✍🏾 Writing, Research & Publications
Academic Writing • Research • Journal Articles • Blog Writing • Editorial Features • Heritage Writing • Case Studies • Reports • Grant & Funding Content

🤝 Consultancy, Research & Training
Community Engagement • Research Design • Evaluation • Heritage Strategy • Project Development • Professional Training • Funding Support • Partnership Development

❤️ Community Projects & Partnerships
Co-created Projects • Creative Health & Wellbeing • Community Archives • Black History • Cultural Heritage • Public Engagement • Cross-sector Partnerships • Arts & Culture Projects

Current Project 2026

Twenty – Medway's Black Heritage

Share Your Story. Help preserve Black history in Medway.

I'm currently looking for Black British people with a connection to Medway to take part in this oral history and archival photography project, funded by Medway Heritage Place. Participants will be professionally interviewed and photographed, helping to preserve personal stories for future generations.

Applications close: 17 August 2026

Successful participants will receive:

A professionally recorded oral history interview
A professional archival portrait
An unframed A2 photographic portrait to keep
A Certificate of Participation
The opportunity to contribute to Medway's growing Black heritage archive (subject to consent)

Apply Now

Twenty

A new community-led archive honouring the voices, stories, and cultural legacy of Medway’s Black community.

Twenty is a creative oral history and portraiture project that invites 20 Black-identifying residents of Medway to share their lived experiences, memories, culture, and identity. Through gentle audio storytelling, guided conversation, and professional portrait photography, we are building a digital archive shaped with the community and for the community.

Your story becomes part of Medway’s heritage. Your voice becomes part of the record. Your presence becomes part of the Benjamin Zephaniah Archive & Library (Online), where it will be preserved for future generations.

This project forms part of the Medway Heritage Place programme — a ten-year partnership with the National Lottery Heritage Fund that supports Medway in unearthing new stories, strengthening local heritage, and celebrating the people who shape this place.

Twenty – Medway’s Black Heritage is made possible by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players, we have been able to document and preserve the lived experiences of Medway’s Black community through oral histories, portrait photography, and digital storytelling.

🎙️ What Taking Part Involves:

Each participant is invited to a relaxed, creative session that includes:

Audio recording of your personal story, reflections or memories
A guided question-and-answer conversation to help you share comfortably
A professional portrait photograph taken in a calm, friendly mini-shoot
Archiving of your story and portrait in the Benjamin Zephaniah Archive & Library (Online)
Inclusion in educational presentations delivered with Medway Archives and Medway Libraries

This is a safe, supported, culturally affirming space.

No experience needed — just your voice, your story, your presence.

🔗 Ready to take part?

We’re inviting 20 participants for this year’s archive.

Click the link to complete the short registration form.

It takes just a few minutes.

👉 Register for Twenty – Medway’s Black Heritage

🧠 Previous Community Heritage, Research & Creative Projects

Designed using my Neurodivergent-Friendly Communication Standard

Alongside my doctoral research, I have delivered and contributed to a wide range of community-led heritage, oral history, creative health, archival photography, cultural engagement, and ethical AI literacy projects across Medway, Kent, and London. My work brings together anthropology, creativity, research, and community collaboration to preserve, celebrate, and share diverse lived experiences.

📍 Selected Projects

Twenty: Medway's Black Heritage (2026)

Medway Heritage Place • Medway Council • National Lottery Heritage Fund

Project Lead, Oral Historian, Archival Portrait Photographer, and Archivist documenting Black lived experiences, oral histories, and cultural heritage across Medway.

Dementia & Community Heritage 2025

Canterbury Christ Church University, community organisations, and dementia researchers

Creative community practice exploring dementia, memory, well-being, and care in the community through arts-based engagement and community-centred research.

Medway Pride 2023-2025

In partnership with Medway Pride, Medway Council and Mandinga Arts

Community photography, creative engagement, and visual storytelling celebrating LGBTQ+ communities across Medway.

Women in STEM 2024

University of Kent (Medway Campus)

Photography and community engagement celebrating women working across science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, promoting visibility, representation, and aspiration.

AI, Disability & Inclusive AI Literacy. 2024

In collaboration with Tania Duarte and We and AI

Supporting conversations around responsible, accessible, and inclusive approaches to artificial intelligence for creatives, communities, and disabled people.

Black on the Square 2023-2024

Mayor of London

Creative and cultural participation in one of London's flagship celebrations of Black culture, heritage, and creativity.

Better Images of AI

Contributing to discussions around more inclusive and realistic representations of AI through engagement with the Better Images of AI initiative and its wider research network, which includes organisations such as the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence (University of Cambridge) and the Alan Turing Institute.

🧠 Professional Practice

Anthropology | Art | AI

Everything I create begins with people's lived experiences.

My practice combines anthropology, oral history, archival photography, visual art and ethical AI-assisted creative practice to preserve, interpret and celebrate Black British cultural heritage.

Anthropology provides the foundation through ethnographic and autoethnographic research. Art becomes the medium for storytelling, creativity and cultural expression. AI is used as a human-led, human-controlled and ethically assisted tool to support accessibility, creativity, organisation, digital heritage and community engagement—it is never used to replace human voices, lived experiences or cultural interpretation.

🧠 Neurodivergent-Friendly Practice

This project has been designed using Michi Masumi's Neurodivergent-Friendly Communication Standard, recognising that people process, communicate and engage in different ways.

Where possible, information is provided using:

🤍 White backgrounds for improved readability.
🧠 Clear structure and generous spacing.
📖 Plain English and accessible language.
🖼️ Adult, professional icons and visual signposting.
♿ Flexible participation and communication options.
🎤 Multiple ways to contribute, including spoken, written and creative responses.
🤝 Human support throughout the project where required.

Different Perspectives Drive Innovation, Creativity & Inclusion.

Have a story, project or idea?

Get Started

About Your Oral Historian

Michi Masumi, BA (Hons), MA

Doctoral Candidate (PhD), MPhil Passed & Final Review Passed

Integrated Cultural, Sociological & AI Anthropologist

Award-Winning Fine Art Photographer | Creative Technology Practitioner | Transdisciplinary Artist |

Oral Historian | Community Researcher & Senior Archivist

Founder & Managing Director — The Black Art Hub CIC

Founder & Senior Archivist — Benjamin Zephaniah Library & Archives

Doctoral Candidate (PhD Portfolio Route)
Canterbury Christ Church University

MPhil Progression Successfully Completed • Final Doctoral Review Successfully Completed

Researching community-led cultural heritage, oral history, anthropology, archives and ethical AI-assisted & AI-hybrid methodologies.

⚖️ Research Ethics

Approved by the Canterbury Christ Church University Research Ethics Committee. (Reference: ETH2324-0139)

This project follows recognised ethical standards for oral history, informed consent, data protection, participant wellbeing and community heritage practice

🎓 Professional Training

Oral History Society Professional Training
Advanced Oral History Interviewing
Oral History Archive Management
Specialist Training with Dr Angela Maye-Banbury
Specialist Training with Rib Davis

👥 Professional Memberships

Full Member – Oral History Society (OHS)
Member/Friend – The National Archives
Member – Archives and Records Association (ARA UK & Ireland)
Member – Community Archives & Heritage Group (CAHG)
Member – British Art Network
Member – National Union of Journalists (NUJ)
Member – Oral History Group

🛡️ Safeguarding & Professional Practice

Enhanced DBS Certificate (Current)
Safeguarding Children – Level 1
Safeguarding Children – Level 2
Safeguarding Children – Level 3
Safeguarding Children with Disabilities – Level 1
Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults – Level 1
Full UK Clean Automatic Driving Licence (20+ years)