CONSTRUCT by Anthony Luvera
Exhibition, Snow Hill Square, Birmingham, 14th September – 13th October 2022.
CONSTRUCT is a body of work by the socially engaged artist Anthony Luvera, created between 2018 and 2022 in collaboration with people who have experienced homelessness in Birmingham. Commissioned by GRAIN Projects and delivered in collaboration with SIFA Fireside.
Over four years, Luvera has been embedded within the support services of SIFA Fireside, Birmingham’s main day centre for homeless and vulnerably housed adults. The artist began by working in the kitchen, preparing and serving meals, before inviting participants to explore photography through regular meetings and workshops. Over 50 people took part, using disposable cameras to document their experiences and camera phones to share images. Throughout the lockdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic, Luvera continued working with participants by online platforms, post, telephone, and email.
Participants were also invited to make a self-portrait for the artist’s ongoing series, Assisted Self-Portraits. To create an Assisted Self-Portraits, Luvera meets each participant in locations that are important to them, to teach the individual how to use digital medium format camera equipment with a tripod, handheld flash, cable shutter release, and laptop. The final portrait is selected by the participant.
From the 14th September – 12th October 2022 the 21 Assisted Self-Portraits were exhibited in Snow Hill Square and a selection of photographs by participants were shown in Snow Hill Station. Presented in partnership with Colmore BID.
CONSTRUCT extends the artist’s ongoing work made with people experiencing homelessness in towns and cities across the United Kingdom over the past twenty years.
We would like to thank all the project partners for their support:
