GRAIN commissioned a new series of portraits by Arpita Shah that explore South Asian female identity.  The ‘Modern Muse’ portraits visually and conceptually explore the ever shifting identities and representations of South Asian women. Shah draws from and subverts Mughal and Indian miniature paintings from ancient and pre Colonial times as she examines the intersections of culture and identity, drawing on the women’s lived experiences and her own journey and life. 

The portraits give an insight into the perspectives of what it means to be a young British and Asian woman. Shah examines the intersections of culture and identity, drawing on the women’s lived experiences and her own journey and life.

Arpita Shah was born in Ahmedabad in India and spent an earlier part of her life living between India, Ireland and the Middle East before settling in the UK. This migratory experience is reflected in her practice, which often focuses on the notion of home, belonging and shifting cultural identities. In Modern Muse she does this in collaboration with women who are also artists, creatives and educators based in Birmingham and the West Midlands. The portraits were collaborative in nature and during their participation the women spoke of their own experiences.

Shah’s work often draws from Asian and Eastern mythology, using it both visually and conceptually to explore issues of cultural displacement in the South Asian diaspora. She states: “As a South Asian artist it was important to challenge representations of South Asian women in Mughal and Indian miniatures, but also comment on the visibility of women of colour as ‘Muses’ in Western art history. I made Modern Muse for South Asian girls and women, for them to feel represented.”

Modern Muse has been exhibited at the Centre for British Photography and a publication of the work can be purchased here.

GRAIN Projects, worked in partnership with Forestry England, on  a new Photographer In Residence opportunity at Cannock Chase, Staffordshire. This residency took place from July to October 2023 and was awarded to artist, writer and curator Louise Beer following a national open call.

Cannock Chase Forest (CCF) is a unique space that sprawls over 2,684 hectares, embracing a mosaic of coniferous and broadleaf woodlands along with expansive open spaces in Staffordshire, nestled within the West Midlands.  Its features include ancient geology as well as post industrial interventions, forest and moorland.

Cannock Chase is mainland England’s smallest AONB. Most of the forest is freehold as part of the public forest estate and is designated as Open Access land. Much of the woodland in the west and north eastern corner of the plan area is leased to Forestry England. The area lies within the Cannock Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and the majority of Forestry England land is made up of conifers planted for timber production. There are also areas of ancient woodland, wetland, wood pasture and open heathland within the forest.

Louise is an artist and curator, born in Aotearoa New Zealand. She now works between London, Margate and Aotearoa. Louise uses installation, moving image, photography, writing, participatory works and sound to explore humanity’s evolving understanding of Earth’s environments and the cosmos. Her experience of living under two types of night sky, the first in low level light polluted areas in Aotearoa, and the second in towns and cities in England with higher levels of light pollution, has deeply informed her practice. She explores how living under dark skies, or light polluted skies, can change our perception of grief, the climate crisis and Earth’s deep time history and future.

Recent awards, residencies and commissions include Delfina x Gaia Art Foundation Science Technology Society UK Associateship (2020), Arts Council England Developing Your Creative Practice Grant (2021), North York Moors Dark Skies Residency with solo exhibition (2021), Amant Siena Residency (2021), CreaTures Art/Tech/Nature/Culture Residency (2021), Art + Air Exhibition Commission (2022), the Jean Harrison Commission (2022), Photo Fringe 2022 OPEN Eco (2022), Vera C. Rubin Observatory Kickstarter Grant with the University of Canterbury Mount John Observatory, Aotearoa New Zealand (2022), Derby Cathedral and FORMAT23 Photography Festival (2023). Earlier this year, Louise was awarded her second Arts Council England Developing Your Creative Practice grant.

www.LouiseBeer.com

Ming de Nasty
12th January – 14th April
Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery & Theatre Severn

The exhibition features archive photographs collected from participants and new portraits by Ming de Nasty.  The photographs were curated from workshops that took place in Shropshire with LGBT+ older individuals during 2023. 

SEE ME is curated from a new heritage and photography project that explores and celebrates older LGBT+ identity.  Participants have shared photographs, from their own albums and collections, told stories and recalled memories which speak of identity and representation.  Workshops have taken place in the county led by artist Ming de Nasty and GRAIN Projects.

As an important legacy, work from the project will feature in a publication and will be included in a new LGBT+ archive at Shropshire Archive Service.   

Exhibitions as part of this project will also take place at Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury Library and The Hive, Shrewsbury (during the LGBT+ History Festival). 

 This project is a partnership with LGBTSAND and is generously supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and National Lottery players.

An international collaboration between Tasweerghar (Lahore, Pakistan) and GRAIN Projects (Birmingham, UK), as part of the British Council Pakistan Arts Residency Grants Programme.

Exhibitions due to take place at MAC, Birmingham, UK from 8th February and at the WOW Festival at Alhamra Art Gallery and Tasweerghar, Lahore, Pakistan from 2nd March 2024.

GRAIN Projects (UK) and Tasweerghar (Pakistan) have announced the dates for two exhibitions taking place in celebration of New Narratives in Photography, part of the British Council Pakistan Arts Residency Grants Programme 2023-2024.

Artists Asad Ali Zulfiqar, Hira Noor, Ume Laila and Waleed Zafar, will be showing new work, made during the residency at MAC, (The Midlands Arts Centre, Birmingham, UK) and at WOW Festival, at the Alhamra Gallery, followed by an exhibition at Tasweerghar.

The artists have taken part in an international mentoring programme, an exchange that included a visit to galleries and festivals in the UK, including the V&A Museum, London, The Photographers Gallery, London, BOP Festival, Bristol and IKON Gallery, Birmingham, all of which has contributed to the development of their practice and the inspiration for new work.

The four artists all have a unique and personal approach to photography, are ambitious in their work and have something to say about the world we live in. They come from a place of care, compassion and collaboration; their work is based on research and conversation and their artwork is of great relevance and interest, both as emerging practitioners in Pakistan, and to the photography scene internationally. The themes they explore include gender and identity, place making and diasporic and colonial heritage.

GRAIN and Tasweerghar are arts organisations that create new opportunities for diverse and emerging artists and photographers, supporting the development of skills and opportunities. In collaboration they will deliver a residency project that supports diverse and marginalised Pakistani artists curated in the context of prevalent themes including social justice, identity, gender, diaspora and home.

It is an enormous credit to the artists and the residency programme that the work will be shown at prestigious international venues, including the Women of the World Festival Pakistan, that celebrates women and their achievements in arts and culture.

Rabannia Shirjeel, Founder and CEO of Tasweerghar, said: “This year long art residency for photographers has been an exciting project for everyone involved. The British Council’s Arts Residency Grants offered a new level of exposure to the artists and collaborators. I am certain that this will open more local and international opportunities for artists and inspire them to take their practice forward. I look forward to presenting these projects to new audiences soon.”

Laila Jamil, Head of Arts at the British Council Pakistan, said: “Through our Arts Residency Grants Programme we have supported five projects which have engaged 32 artists in residencies across cities in the UK and Pakistan. This residency for photographers is one of the many exciting projects we have helped support and we look forward to the exhibitions in the UK and Pakistan.”

Image credit: Matti ka bertan hai, piyary, Matti ma mil jana hai, Friend, This Pot Made of Clay, Will Turn to Earth with its Final Play. Hira Noor, 2023

The State of Photography is our national photography symposium that is programmed in Birmingham as a biennial event. The symposium  provides  a platform to listen to those who are making new work, pioneering new discourse and critical perspectives while examining the contemporary world, delving into prevalent themes that affect our lives including the climate emergency, post Brexit politics, war, identity and community cohesion.

For each event we are joined by  acclaimed and outstanding photographers and guests to discuss what our world looks like, the rethinking that photography poses and the themes we consider during this  unsettling time.  Each have different approaches as we hear from those whose work is based on their own lived experience, who in a more closed and divided world have looked inside and at themselves as a starting point, putting their own experience and context front and central.
 
The role of photography is changing and caring, as experience, collaboration and social responsibility become the focus.  Photography can impart the greatest truth of our times and sheds light on injustices, inequality and other aspects of our lives and society.   It seems today –more essential than ever to explore the role that photography can play.

Those that have joined GRAIN for The State of Photography events include Anthony Luvera, Arpita Shah, Broomberg & Chanarin, Camilla Brown, Clare Hewitt, Jermaine Francis, Joanne Coates, Katy Barron, Lydia Goldblatt, Mark Neville, Maryam Wahid, Sam Laughlin, Daniel Meadows, Julian Germain, Clementine Schneidermann, John Hillman, Liz Wewiora, Anand Chhabra, Sam Ivin, Andrew Jackson, Edgar Martins, Kajal Nisha Patel, Michelle Sank, Peta Murphy (Arts Council England), Simon Constantine, David Birkitt, Tim Clark, Ángel Luis González, Louise Clements, Uncertain States Magazine, Lara Ratnaraja, Karen Newman, Faye Claridge.

GRAIN Projects regularly delivers days that are dedicated to portfolio reviews with industry professionals, experts and photographers.  The days are designed to advise and support the development of photographers’ portfolios and take place online and in person across the West Midlands region. 

Portfolio Review Days focus on providing advice and developing skills required to build and present portfolios, assisting participants in making submissions, securing commissions, and preparing for appointments and interviews. As part of the day, there are presentations by experienced individuals from the photography world and group and individual one-to-one advice and reviews.

For many photographers and artists, a portfolio serves as a primary way to secure work, commissions and exhibitions and to showcase your project.   A portfolio allows you to demonstrate your talent, your career and your ambition. Our aim with every Portfolio review is to emphasise the importance of the artist’s portfolio and offer advice and support about presentation and image selection.

Places must be booked in advance and admission prices are subsidised so that they remain affordable and practical.

Previous reviewers have included Niamh Treacy, Curator and Coordinator of FORMAT International Photography Festival, Raquel Villar-Pérez, academic and curator at Impressions Gallery, Kalpesh Lathigra, photographer, Bindi Vora, artist and curator, Jonny Briggs, artist, Tom Lovelace, artist, Malcolm Dickson, Director Street Level, Lucy Mounfield, Curator IKON Gallery, Liz Hingley, artist, Anthony Luvera, artist,Sebah Chaudhry, Producer and Curator, Nilupa Yasmin, artist and educator, Mario Popham, photographer and educator, David Severn, photographer, Edmund Clark, artist.

For information on future events please check the GRAIN website and social media platforms.

GRAIN Projects host a broad range of Photographers Talks in person and online that inspire us and create opportunities to showcase new and award-winning projects.  

The Photographers Talks are subsidised and are affordable and accessible to audiences. Places must be booked in advance. 

Photographers Talks that GRAIN have hosted include; Andrew Jackson, Arpita Shah, Anand Chhabra, Chloe Dewe-Mathews, Clare Hewitt, Daniel Meadows, David Hurn, Edgar Martins, Faye Claridge, Geoff Broadway, Helen Marshall, Jonny Briggs, Kate Peters, Kavi Pujara, Laia Abril, Liz Hingley, Lisa Barnard, Louise Beer, Lua Ribeira, Lottie Davies, Lydia Goldblatt, Mahtab Hussain, Mark Neville, Mark Power, Maryam Wahid, Nilupa Yasmin, Mat Collishaw, Matthew Murray, Polly Braden, Simon Roberts, Tim Mills, Tom Hunter, Trish Morrissey, Vanessa Whinship, Yan Wang Preston.

GRAIN will promote all future Photographers Talks via social media and this website.

EAST MEETS WEST is a national professional development programme for photographers devised and delivered by GRAIN Projects  and FORMAT International Photography Festival.   It is supported by Quad, Derby, Birmingham City University and Derby University. 

2022/23 was the last iteration.  Further news about the 2024/25 EAST MEETS WEST programme will follow soon.  .

The masterclass programme is  designed for UK-based emerging photographers, providing professional development, inspiration, guidance, and support in a collaborative learning environment to enable participants to develop their practice, networks, and new unique opportunities. The programme offers a platform for photographers to receive guidance and participate in focused discussions that contribute to their creative practice and career development.

EAST MEETS WEST operates an Open Call submission, is delivered online and in person and requires a small financial contribution from each participant.   Past participants have included; Anna Sellen, Amber Banks Brumby, Andy Fell, Chiara Zandona, Emily Ryalls, Ismail Khokon, James Cunliffe, Kat Young, Liliana Zaharia, Louise Taylor, Paul Railton, Ruby Nixon, Rebecca Davis, Ryan Gear, Shona Morgan, Zula Rabikowska, Clare Hewitt, Simona Ciocarlan, Maryam Wahid, Emma Case, Leah Band, Adam Bennett, Caitriona Dunnett, Cheryl Newman, Camille Relet, Ed Sykes, Susanne Hakuba, Pippa Healy, Phil Hill, Christian Jago, Phillipa Klaiber, Elena Kollatou and Leonidas Toumpanos, Nieves Mingueza, Zara Pears, Nat Wilkins, Mandy Williams, Sofia Yala, Wing Ka Ho Jimmi, Mitchell Moreno, Sammie Masters-Hopkins, Tamsin Green, Nicola Morley, Marley Starskey Butler, Mark Hobbs, Lucy Turner, Laura Dicken, Joseph Allen Keys, Jacqui Booth, Emily Jones, Andy Pilsbury, Fraser McGee, Susana de Dios, Anand Chhabra, Oliver Tooke, Tristan Poyser, Jonny Bark, Ilona Denton, Hazel Simcox, Thomas Wynne, Simon Burrows, Philip Singleton, Luke Williams, Luca Crawford-Bailey.

The masterclasses are  led by industry and artform experts  who share their knowledge and practical advice on developing a successful career. They have included; Amak Mahmoodian, Clare Hewitt, Alejandro Acin, Mariama Attah, Monica Allende, Revolv Collective, Simona Ciocarlan, Tom Lovelace, Anthony Luvera, Andrew Jackson, Vincent Hasselbach, Peta Murphy, Mahtab Hussain, Abbas Zahedi, Natasha Caruana, Colin Pantall, Louise Fedotov-Clements, Mathew Murray, Michael Sargeant, Kate Peters, Bindi Vora, Maryam Wahid, Emma Case.

GRAIN is dedicated to nurturing, supporting and enhancing emerging talent in photography. As part of its professional development programme GRAIN offers paid internships for up to six months. These are normally annual opportunities and are advertised across our platforms. 

Interns acquire practical experience by closely collaborating with accomplished photographers in various roles, refining their skills and deepening their comprehension of the artform. They have previously assumed a significant role in organising and executing the prestigious FORMAT International Photography Festival and The State of Photography Symposium, as well as going on to win awards and prizes for their work, take up further post graduate studies and work more widely within the visual arts sector.  

Previous interns include; Anu Gamanagari, Louis Painter, Emily Jones and Adam Neal.

As part of GRAIN’s commitment to professional development opportunities and investing in new talent mentoring sessions are provided to support emerging photographers, artists and curators. These sessions are often provided online and in collaboration with other arts organisations and partners including Birmingham City University.  Advice and feedback is provided on portfolios, creative direction, curation, new opportunities, publishing and other aspects of the sector and industry.

Re-Framing Culture was a six-week training programme designed for museum, gallery, library, and independent photography and arts professionals  to explore the potential value and impact of delivering socially engaged photography commissions.

Working with lead partner Open Eye, GRAIN devised and delivered the  programme in the Midlands.   Presenters and advisors on the programme included  Anand Chhabra, Anthony Luvera, Clare Hewitt, and Liz Wewiora. The call was open to photographers, artists, curators, and producers from diverse backgrounds and experiences, encompassing recent graduates, self-trained individuals, and seasoned culture professionals.   Participation was free and the programme was supported by the Art Fund.

Sessions covered both the theory and artistic practice of socially engaged lens-based media, along with presentations of case studies and discussions about logistical and ethical considerations.  Partners in this national programme were Open Eye Gallery, Heart of Glass, GRAIN Projects, NEPN (North East Photography Network), and Fotonow CIC, all of which are members of the Socially Engaged Photography Network (SEPN).

GENERATIONS is a ground breaking project by Julian Germain.    New work was commissioned for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games that saw 30 families taking part to mark a moment in time and celebrate the diversity and heritage of Birmingham and Black Country.

Julian Germain’s GENERATIONS use the family portrait format to create a fascinating commentary on time, past and future in people’s lives.  .

The photographs that were made with the  30 families  appeared in the public realm over the summer months. They were featured on billboards, banners, poster sites, hoardings and across the concourse of  Birmingham New Street Station. Besides exploring universal human themes, GENERATIONS offered an authentic portrayal of a diverse region, serving as both an invaluable historical record and a thought-provoking work of art.

Germain’s images reflect upon time itself – the past, present, and future – through their detailed representation of direct lines of genetic descent across four and five living generations. An ongoing exploration of the life cycle, the ageing process, human biology, and characteristics, the  project ponders on what individuals inherit through their genes versus as well as what comes from culture and surroundings.  .

For the commission, the artist  spent time with the families, delving into old family photographs, their history, and their lives, uncovering deeply personal and family histories.  GENERATIONS received generous support from Arts Council England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund and was displayed across the city and region via media partner, Jack Arts.  

(c) Thom Bartley for Jack Arts

(c) Thom Bartley for Jack Arts

GENERATIONS is generously supported by Arts Council England and National Heritage Lottery Fund.

Thanks to our Media Partner Jack Arts who have brought this to life for us across the city

New writing by Anneka French

Julian Germain’s book The Face of the Century (1999) was published to mark the turn of the millennium through portraits of 100 people arranged by the year of their birth, oldest to youngest. It begins with Lizzie Hutchinson born in 1899 and finishes with newborn baby Rhiannon Germain born in 1999. The captions that accompany each portrait consist of the sitter’s name and year of birth: no more, no less, and because of this, every detail of every portrait assume great importance. The texture of skin, choice of hairstyle or clothes and the expression assumed by each individual are magnified; as fascinating as they are ordinary. Some of the most significant details are those that resist the idea of ‘perfection’: the rain in the hair of Jodie Macdonald b. 1991; the tucked-in collar of Elizabeth Doble b. 1906; Oliver Cook’s runny nose b. 1996; Rhiannon’s calloused top lip, a detail I am especially drawn to since my eldest son had the same feature at the same age. The 100 lives of these people are bound together through the book’s pages; Germain connected them when he invited a random selection of individuals to sit for him. The Face of the Century was published twenty-three years ago, before the pervasiveness of the digital, and nevertheless retains enormous power, largely due to the quality of the portraits but also due to the unique timing and context of the project. There is a good chance that many of these individuals, certainly those who were in their eighties or nineties at the time, are no longer living; the youngest of those photographed will now be adults, part of the so called ‘millennial generation’. What became of each person? What lives they have they since lived and who else’s lives have they touched?

GENERATIONS is an extension and expansion of the research and ideas Germain began with The Face of the Century. Developed by GRAIN Projects in partnership with Multistory as part of Birmingham 2022 Festival, a large-scale cultural programme designed to coincide with the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, Germain’s focus is this time upon families based in Birmingham and the Black Country that have four or five direct lineage generations. While this is an idea he has been exploring for some fifteen years, this is the first time GENERATIONS has come to this area of the country. Beginning with an open call for families, extensive shoots taking place in people’s homes since November 2021 that centre upon these people as individuals and as integral parts of a complex family structure. Each photograph is shot within the home, with each of those four or five generations arranged in age order, skilfully framed and balanced against the clean lines of a mantelpiece or the softer curves of a sofa or dramatic pair of curtains. The composition of a family is a constellation and inevitably holds multiple tensions and joys within it. Germain is cautious of his work being used to propose an entirely romantic notion of family. He notes that families “have a tremendous hold over our feelings and the connections we make, but as well as being supportive and loving they can sometimes be stifling or dysfunctional too.” Families, are for many of us, relatable and this makes the long exposure photographs that Germain produces rich and compelling. Further, these are documents of this moment in history, cultural and social records of family samples from Birmingham and the Black Country, and the portraits are a recognition of the family unit as something that is greater and more layered than the sum of its parts. GENERATIONS is also an invitation to connect.

In Germain’s GENERATIONS portraits we can trace similarities in facial features, expressions, hairstyles, clothing choices and body language within photographs and across them, finding patterns that bind this group of images together for reasons other than simply circumstance. Jean Ann Perkins and her daughter, granddaughter and great-granddaughter all wear an item of yellow clothing or yellow accessory, for instance, while three of the four generations in Pauline Curtis’ shot wear leopard print clothing and three of the four generations of Herma Hansle’s wear white. Though these may be deliberate choices or serendipity, they reveal something of the connections and synchronicities of thought between these family members as well as something of the fashions and tastes of people within the period of the project. Taken altogether as a body of work, the portraits are indicative of wider global issues, the ubiquitousness of energy smart meters at a time of UK fuel crisis, for example, rooting the photographs in the time of their making. Events from the Beijing Winter Olympics appear on the television in the background of several photographs, with a calendar turned over to March 2022 in Wilbert Francis’ shot. Clocks feature in almost all of them. We understand that tiny details tell larger narratives.

Family dynamics are key throughout and pose and body language feed into this. Formally speaking, the portrait subjects are arranged sitting or standing, often creating a straight horizontal line across the image or in an arc or triangle formation, with central standing figures flanked by seated figures. The physical points of connection between hands, arms, knees, shoulders and laps give the portraits emotional and psychological depth. Many of the younger children of GENERATIONS are balanced on footstools or sofas, elevating them within the frame where adults are standing tall. Reece Sandhu (4) and Rafaella Pulisciano (3) are among those number, boosters a reminder of their physical smallness and hugely important role within their families. Raising children. Another infant who is elevated is one-week old Elliot Price who appears with his identical twin brother Harrison. Elliot’s blue-eyed gaze is at once soft and penetrating as he peers out of his car seat, balanced on a kitchen chair. There are evident links here to Rhiannon in The Face of the Century. A text by Martin Herron written for The Face of the Century notes itis “A book saturated with time … [the photographs] defy interpretation. They are fixed, yet illusive. Right in front of us, yet somewhere in the distance. We cannot see them because their faces are secondary to the gaze, and the gaze obscures our view … This book is a book of secrets … The last image is of a baby. Newborn, unformed – we don’t even know what colour her eyes will be.” GENERATIONS, however, offers us a pretty good guess. Elliot and Harrison’s future selves are foreshadowed; they seem already entirely formed, already the spitting image of not only each other but their father and grandfather, even if their great grandfather’s face is slightly different. Germain tells me that it was the twins’ mother’s birthday when the photograph was taken: it is her birthday cake on the right of the image. Their mother is outside the photograph’s frame, outside of Germain’s criteria of direct lineage, remaining nonetheless present in the portrait through the inclusion of the cake and through her obvious absence. I hope she is having a little lie down. One-week-old twins and a family photo shoot sound a challenge.

Other of the GENERATIONS photographs find ways to incorporate additional family members too. In the two versions of Adella Peterkin’s images, there are three female adults in shot although what might be an adult male coat and cap appear on wall hooks behind. There are many instances of family photographs (and a drawing or print) visible on walls, mantelpieces, shelves and in pride of place on pieces of furniture. Family photos are arguably the most precious items that many of us hold. Those included here may show those in the portrait itself at different or similar stages in their lives although as viewers we may equally be gaining insight into other members of the family who did not participate in the shoot. Arguably, speaking almost as loudly from each portrait are the voices of those that are not in the photograph’s frame – other siblings, family formed through marriage, civil partnership, friendships, stepfamilies, adopted families, foster families, those who were working or travelling at the time of Germain’s visit, those who have not yet been born those who did not meet Germain’s criteria, those unwell or those who have died. Objects –sometimes kept in their original position or moved to a new position in a room for the shoot – contain huge narrative and symbolic potential. A statue of an angel by the feet of the women in Jean Ann Perkins’ portrait, for instance, appears to refer to missing loved ones; a pair of discarded pink glittery shoes might belong to her great granddaughter Imogen or to another child entirely that we cannot see. A clock and the word ‘time’ appears over Prudence Whittingham’s family on the wall behind them; Germain has cropped the decal butterflies so that they drift out of the photograph’s frame. Both lend this image a sad poignance. The open door on the right is indicative of hope, loss, possibility. Striking different notes entirely, we see the strange anthropomorphism of cuddly toys in action, particularly the giraffe wearing a size 5+ nappy belonging to two-year old Lewis Burton. Elsewhere, Oprah Winfrey is the cover star of Platinum magazine, her face humorously prominent in a woven basket close to Maya Rai’s side.  

Making comparisons between ourselves and others is both a curse and a blessing, the blessing being that it helps us to make sense, to shape identity and to find the comfort of familiarity. We are social animals deeply rooted to and always searching for community. Indeed, collective memory and a sense of belonging is increasingly urgent in times of crisis, such as the political, climate and health emergencies we are currently experiencing, to name but a few. In Germain’s GENERATIONS portraits we find multiple everyday domestic objects that we can identify with. So too, these objects provide us as viewers with clues as to the interests of the sitters, even down to the specific television programme on in the background or the preference of newspaper tucked down the side of the sofa, as well as additional leisure pursuits suggested by a chess set, piano, collections of books, jigsaws and a hi-fi. There are clues to other members of the family through children’s toys and games, pet accessories, shoes, trophies, anniversary cards and fridge magnets: all objects that point to elsewhere and to other people.

Linda Haughton’s portrait is notable for several reasons. In addition to the four generations standing and the framed family photographs proudly hung on the wall, we find a very large mirror cut in the shape of Africa. Formally, it is dominant and eye-catching, culturally perhaps it infers clues to the family’s heritage, significant in the context of the Commonwealth Games and in the migration stories of Birmingham and the Black Country area. The mirror additionally offers a slightly distorted reflection of another man who is not part of the main portrait group. This almost-hidden reflection puts me in mind of historical paintings made by artists who excelled in making oils that would showcase the wealth or status of their patron’s family, often with explicit or sometimes more subtle symbolism, sometimes incorporating optical illusion. Another remarkable portrait that calls back to art history is that of Enrichietta Caizo and her daughter, grandson and great-granddaughter. I cannot shake the fact that there are so many threads of connection to The Ambassadors, a painting made in 1533 by Hans Holbein the Younger of two French ambassadors, produced in London at a politically turbulent time with Henry VIII on the throne. Both Caizo’s photographic portrait and Holbein’s painted portrait contain globes indicative of the importance of travel (noteworthy, again, in light of the Commonwealth context) and other instruments for measuring intangible phenomena such as time or celestial bodies – an hourglass and a hanging ornament of moon phases, in Caizo’s case. Surrounding Caizo are multiple other objects that feel loaded with symbolism – a doll’s house, toy till, camel statue, cocktail shaker, sports team photograph and a miniature neo-classical male sculpture high up on a shelf – things that might (or might not) be connected to socio-economic and cultural achievement and/or aspiration. Caizo’s imposing, confident pose, tiger-print dress and knee-high leather boots give an impression of power and confidence. She is depicted here as the head of the family. A glimpse of the blue sky and bare tree branches through the roof window of her portrait is again reminiscent of the Western Renaissance trope in which a fragment of landscape behind a portrait sitter(s) would lead the eye elsewhere and contextualise the figure(s), perhaps in an imagined, idealised or specific location.

During each of the thirty family shoots, Germain took time to learn about each family and their stories. He is full of anecdotes that evidence the bonds he has been quickly and adeptly able to make with those he photographs. Part of these conversations took place in front of family photo albums, a way of telling the history of each family tree and its multiple, entangled branches, with Germain uncovering joyful experiences while reflecting on difficulties and challenges in dialogue with those he photographed. Germain describes family album photographs as a way to stretch time. Curator and producer Liz Weiwora’s introduction to the first issue of A Spotlight On, an annual publication from the Socially Engaged Photography Network (SEPN) is titled ‘When to look means to listen’. This sentiment is true in the making of the GENERATIONS photographs, in all their prior logistical organisation and in their reception – in our looking. We must be mindful to try to steer clear of assumptions and to use our eyes to listen as well as look.

GENERATIONS is a present-day archive of family, place and time: a fitting commission by and for the Commonwealth Games. The stories, personalities and memories held within each frame are partial. They can be glimpsed or guessed at via expression, body language, the visibility and frequency of family snaps and other objects positioned in each room. The portraits remain private even as they are extremely public, shown at locations such as advertising billboards and poster sites at train stations around Birmingham and neighbouring Sandwell. The characteristics of the living room, kitchen or conservatory, the collections of objects, choices of décor and display are unique, even as we are invited to and indeed do seek points of connection and familiarity to them. Germain’s photographs are set within the intimacy of the family home, where one, two or more of these generations reside and this special space is one that has assumed far greater significance for many of us since the turmoil of the Covid-19 pandemic and social restrictions. Germain tells me that these portrait shoots were in some cases, the first time these families had gathered since before the pandemic, with older family members visiting from care homes or assisted living spaces. This makes, then, the physical points of connection – a hand clasp, an arm around a waist or shoulder or pairs of knees pressed together all the more valuable and all the more worth capturing for posterity.

Writing by Anneka French

GENERATIONS is generously supported by Arts Council England and National Heritage Lottery Fund.

Developed by GRAIN Projects in partnership with Multistory as part of Birmingham 2022 Festival, a large-scale cultural programme designed to coincide with the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, Julian Germain’s GENERATIONS (2022) project is focused upon families based in Birmingham and the Black Country that have four or five direct lineage generations. Anneka French speaks to one of the four generation families who took part: Marian Wallace, Melanie Flynn, Jason Wallace and Leo Walker-Wallace, all born and living in Birmingham.

Anneka: What prompted you to apply to take part in GENERATIONS?

Jason: It was Lucy, Leo’s Mom, who found out about it. She works for a company called Arts Connect and obviously knew that we have four generations; it’s something special in our family and in other people’s families. GENERATIONS sounded like a cool thing to be a part of.

Anneka: Absolutely. It’s special to your family but you’re also part of a wider network of other families in similar positions. And how about you, Marian? What did you think when Jason floated the idea?

Marian: I thought straightaway, yep. I like family history and social history so I was quite happy to go along with it.

Anneka: How important is photography to you as a family?

Marian: Yes, we’ve got lots of pictures. And now that pictures are taken on phones, we’ve got even more. Jason sends us loads of pictures of Leo all the time. I’ve always liked looking at photographs and talking about the family history, trying to make sure that the children know about our history and how they came about.

Melanie: And the photos make lovely memories to look back on later through the albums.

Anneka: Did Julian look through some of your own photographs when he came for the shoot?

Marian: Yes. I was really, really impressed with Julian and Stephen (Burke, Project Producer at GRAIN Projects), they were excellent. They didn’t just look at the photos. They were actually interested in the photos and asking, who’s this and who’s that and how did you come up to Birmingham? I thought that was great.

Anneka: It’s quite an unusual thing to have to have a photographer come to your home, especially people that you don’t know very well. What was it like inviting strangers into your home for the shoot?

Marian: When they came, they put a big light up and moved furniture around. It really was an experience but a good one. Julian and Stephen looked at the albums, they took photos out and marked all the correct places and put them all back again. It was like having a real photoshoot! I’ve never known anything like it.

Melanie: It was really professional but it was very relaxed as well. We couldn’t have asked for anyone nicer.

Marian: Mel said they’d be coming about 10.30am/11.00am and I thought they’d be here about an hour or so. But it was 1.40pm, I think, when they went. Our friend who comes to dinner every Sunday was waiting for his dinner and it wasn’t even in the oven! 

Anneka: Your friend was a bit perturbed then I guess?!

Marian: No, no, he’s seen all the photos. He’s looked at the ones in New Street Station and he’s interested in it all anyway.

Anneka: How was Leo during the shoot? Keeping a little one occupied is not always the easiest thing.

Melanie: He was really good. He was fascinated by all!

Marian: Leo’s Mom was here and she was sort of looking after him and Ted, my husband, was here as well. Leo was really good, just looking at the camera. We got told off for smiling, Mel and myself, by Leo was quite serious and really, really well behaved.

Anneka: Have you been to see any of the photographs exhibited yet?

Melanie: Yes, we went to see the big billboards on the Coventry Road all together and then we’ve all been individually to New Street Station.

Marian: It was my birthday when we went to the Coventry Road and we went at eight o’clock in the morning, so that there wouldn’t be many people around to recognise us!

Anneka: Oh, why do you want people to recognise you?

Marian: Well, just feel a bit embarrassed, don’t you …

Anneka: All those all those autographs …

Melanie: Jason wasn’t embarrassed. He was telling everybody at New Steet Station, ‘that’s me on the photo!’

Anneka: What was it like when you saw the photograph on that huge billboard scale?

Melanie: It was amazing. You know, I didn’t really know what to expect and it was great to see the other photographs as well.

Marian: Yes, there were about five or six other families on the billboards. It was lovely to see them and read their ages and their relationships.

Anneka: Have you had a chance to meet with any of the other families so far?

Marian: No, not at the moment but there’s a get together in August, which Julian and Stephen said will be a chance for all the families to meet. So we hope to go to that.

Anneka: That will be really nice. Perhaps it might be an opportunity to talk about your experiences and families. Was GENERATIONS being part of the Commonwealth Games cultural programme and, as you say, the social history of the city and of the West Midlands, additional motivations for you?

Marian: Yes. It’s good to be part of that wider story. You feel proud to be part of the history of Birmingham really.

Jason: I think that’s sort of what Birmingham is. It’s one big community. Whether we’ve met other families or not, you feel a connection already.

Anneka: The programme is a big celebration of the city. Big sporting events don’t come around too often and that sense of pride and celebration of the city, again, is not something that happens enough. Birmingham is generally derided by people that are not from here or don’t live here.

Marian: Exactly. Yeah, people always seem to be glad to grumble about Birmingham but it’s a good place to live.

Anneka: I think one of the lovely things about looking at all of the portraits is thinking that without you and your husband, you wouldn’t subsequently have all the rest of your family here. There must be a huge sense of pride for what you’ve achieved?

Marian: I’m proud of them all.

Anneka: Did you find anything about the project challenging or surprising?

Melanie: None of us had any issues. The whole thing was all good from start to finish. The only unexpected thing was a good one as Julian and Stephen invited my Dad and Lucy, Leo’s Mom, to be in a lovely family photo after they had completed their pictures for the shoot. That was a really nice, unexpected gesture. They then sent us a copy of the photo and it’s become a firm family favourite since. We are glad the project has taken off so well and is getting so much interest

Anneka: What do you feel that you’ve all gained from the experience?

Jason: There’s definitely a sense of pride in there. I think you can see that from a lot of the other photos. Obviously, I’ve never met any of them but within the way people are standing and the way Julian’s captured them, there’s pride. I think a lot of people probably would say the same and you get that impression seeing the work. I had to ask a lady to move out of the way when I went to see the photographs in New Street so I could get a photo and I said, ‘yeah, that’s me up there’. She wasn’t bothered! But you do feel proud and happy.

Marian: I’m pleased to be able to tell my friends all about it and I think you do gain a lot from the experience.

Melanie: It’ll be something good to look back on when Leo’s older and hopefully, he can show his kids and say, ‘well, this was me when I was little and famous!’ 

FACES OF 2022 was a celebratory project that highlighted pride, place, identity, and heritage in Perry Barr, the district in Birmingham that hosted the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.  

The exhibition that included  31 portraits, created by acclaimed Birmingham-based artist and photographer, Maryam Wahid, was installed on a large scale outdoor photography system at the new Perry Barr Train Station and featured on banners throughout the district.  The artist worked closely with the people of Perry Barr and North Birmingham to capture their portraits as part of this project, photographing those who made extraordinary contributions to culture, community, and education.

The exhibition offered a unique opportunity to view these new portraits in the public realm, situated in the heart of the community where they were created. Perry Barr holds a special place in the city, and the portraits captured the energy, identity, and spirit of the local people while acknowledging their achievements.

As well as the remarkable portraits by Maryam Wahid, GRAIN also commissioned a series of workshops with different communities in the area. These were led by  Jaskirt Boora, Ayesha Jones, Nilupa Yasmin, and Stephen Burke.

FACES OF 2022 was a partnership between GRAIN Projects and the Black Arts Forum for Birmingham 2022 and received generous support from Arts Council England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund.  A Creative City Project supported by Birmingham City Council.   The exhibition at Perry Barr was supported by the West Midlands Combined Authority.

Image Credit: Vidya Patel, by Maryam Wahid

PhotoCafé, Birmingham was an initiative that took place over four years to provide a monthly meet-up and live space for conversations about photography.  Established by Andrew Jackson and Attilio Fiumarella, in collaboration with GRAIN, meetings took place at 1000 Trades in the Jewellery Quarter and were programmed monthly before moving online.  Speakers were booked to lead presentations and many conversations were had about exhibitions, publishing and photography careers.   PhotoCafe was timely and has inspired other meet-ups across the city that are photographer and artist-led.

Photo Café speakers include; Holly Revell, Laura Chen, Natalie Willatt, Tim Mills, Clare Hewitt, Laura Dicken, Elisa Moris Vai, Lesia Maruschak, Vera Hadzhiyska, Richard Mark Rawlins, Chris Hoare, Kirsty Mackay, Ania Ready, Gianluca Urdioz, Holly Houlton, Paul Romans, Tommy Sussex, Exposure Photography Festival, Emma Palm, Louie Villanueva, Angela Boehm, Dona Schwartz, The Other, Kelly O’Brien, Joanne Coates, Maryam Wahid, Camilla Brown, East Meets West, Multistory, Emma Chetcuti, Jaskirt Boora, Jagdish Patel, Liz Wewiora, Anthony Luvera, Rachel Barker, Sam Ivin, Mark Murphy, Andy Pilsbury, Nilupa Yasmin, Emma Case, Rob Hewitt, Living Memory Project, Geoff Broadway, Adam Neal, Emily Jones, Andrew Jackson, Atillio Fiumarella, Max Kandhola, Faye Claridge, Tom Hicks, Charisse Kenion, Gunhild Thomson, Marcus Thurman, James Abelson, Leanne O’Connor, Lucy Turner, Leah Hickey, Amanda Holdom, Tia Lloyd, Anand Chhabra, Beth Kane, Chris Neophytou, Jonny Bark, Fraser McGee, Peta Murphy, Red Eye, Duck Rabbit, Lilly Wales, Matthew Finn, Walter Rothwell, Richard Lambert, Anneka French, Caroline Molloy, Tarla Patel and Mark Wright.

In 2021 artist Exodus Crooks was awarded the GRAIN Bursary to explore, research and make new work about the public parts in Birmingham. Exodus looked at the municipal parks from their own experience, making work in north Birmingham in parks that spoke of civic pride, Victorian grandeur, gang culture and recent poverty and neglect. Their work captured the many layered histories and experiences of these public spaces that are used by the city population.

The artist made a small publication that was made available to those she had spoken to about their park experiences and others locally.

GRAIN offers a number of bursary opportunities to support emerging practitioners.  Details can be found on social media and on the website.

About Exodus Crooks:
Built on a foundation of traditional painting and drawing, much of Exodus’ practice considers the collaborative and collective experiences of others, making these recent times in isolation significantly more remarkable. Now engaging with various disciplines, Exodus’ practice involves themes of intimacy, identity, and culture, much of which is heavily discovered through play. Exodus uses Blackness as a lens in which to investigate all things through, an approach also seen in their recent academic research entitled ‘I hope you write back xxx’. Alongside Exodus’s current role as a Black Hole Club artist, Exodus has used their recent commissions for the Film and Video Umbrella, Vivid Projects, and The Barber Institute of Fine Arts as opportunities to refine and exhibit their film making, performance and digital skills.

Having lectured at various spaces across the UK, and recently concluding a collaboration with Iniva on the Contemporary Art Space Project, Exodus is insistent on confronting western ways of teaching and learning. Sitting at the intersection of both student and teacher, Exodus is enthused to offer alternative spaces and methods that challenge current schooling and ways of seeing. Facilitating discussions around politicized identities within schools, colleges, and universities, Exodus uses art to engage their community in conversations of critical race theory and amplify marginalised voices.

GRAIN, in partnership with Appetite, Creative People and Places in North Staffordshire, conducted online photography workshops for Veteran service men and women, as part of the Appetite at Home programme. The workshops took place during lockdown and were an important way of continuing to engage with communities at risk of isolation during challenging times.

During the workshops, the participants shared photographs, stories, and experiences from their time in the armed services. They also engaged in creating new photographic work that explored themes around journeys, life development, and their joy of the outdoors.  Developing new skills and friendships some of the veterans went on to participate in other photography projects developed in the area that saw them have images exhibited and published.

Photograph by Teri Elder

GRAIN worked  with young people from across Shropshire, including Telford Young Carers, Shropshire Young Carers, Whitchurch Youth Club, XYZ, and Steps Forward youth groups, to create a series of photographs documenting young people’s lives. The project has been a long term collaboration with The Hive youth arts organisation in Shrewsbury..

The young participants engaged in both online and in-person workshops, developing their own photography projects to illustrate their daily lives, the experiences of growing up in a rural area, and their encounters with Covid-19 and life during lockdown. 

The resulting photographs provide a record of young people growing up in the county before, during and after the Covid pandemic, and the type of issues and experiences that affect young people’s lives.  .

Stephen Burke led the project in partnership with The Hive, Shrewsbury, with support from Frosts Photo Centre and Arts Council England.

GRAIN originated Celebrating Age as a project to work with older residents of Birmingham, to think about ageing and its representation.  Working alongside residents of three Lench’s Trust housing schemes in Birmingham, engaging with older individuals and utilising photography to commemorate and narrate stories of families, childhood, professions, war years, special occasions, and memorable events, the project took place over 18 months. In meetings and workshops, residents shared photographs from their personal collections and family albums, recollecting the time and place depicted in the images. The project effectively, through participation, explored and told the history of the city.

Following the workshops, which were led by Stephen Burke, a pop-up studio was created in each of the housing schemes.  Here, Kate Peters made new portraits of the residents, using their stories and old photographs as inspiration.

The project succeeded in evoking memories, fostering conversations, and strengthening connections, demonstrating that the older generation holds significant tales about enduring and enjoying life despite adversity and challenging times of crisis.

A selection of the residents’ photographs, snapshots of their memories, and the portraits made by Kate Peters have been curated and published in a small photobook.   ‘We Went Mackerel Fishing One Day.’, was designed by Mark Murphy as a keepsake and documentation of the project.  The images within the book are personal, compelling, and enigmatic, offering insights into communities, individuals, and their lives.

GRAIN gifted portraits to each of the participants and a collection of the portraits to the three housing schemes.

‘Celebrating Age’ is a partnership with the Lench’s Trust, generously supported by The National
Lottery Heritage Fund.

Image Credit: Olive Hall, (c) Kate Peters

This online event was a continuation of GRAIN and The New Art Gallery Walsall’s co-curated exhibition, ‘Too Rich A Soil,’ which was exhibited at the NAGW gallery during November 2019.

The exhibition showcased new works dealing with themes of identity and representation from three British artists of South Asian descent: Arpita Shah, Maryam Wahid, and Nilupa Yasmin. Originally planned as an in-person symposium, this session was rescheduled as an online event due to the Covid pandemic. Each artist presented their work and participated in  significant discussions concerning the politics of representation. The symposium was moderated and chaired by artist, writer and academic Dr. Caroline Molloy. 

Clare Hewitt was awarded a GRAIN Bursary in 2019 to support the development of Everything In The Forest Is The Forest, with particular focus upon the making of work in the woodland and developing the work as a collaborative project.   Clare began to look at the affects of isolation through working with a community of individuals and a woodland of oak trees.

As well as developing 24 pinhole cameras, supported by STEAMHouse, which were located high in the oak trees in the form of bird boxes, Clare also developed methodologies to make work utilising the forest floor and the roots of trees.

The pinhole cameras and the other various approaches were ongoing for more than 12 months.

Although trees appear to be individual organisms above ground, scientific research shows that their complex communication methods facilitate survival, nurture and pass on wisdom, and send warnings when they are under attack. In a time when loneliness is increasing, segregation is being encouraged politically, and isolation driven through technology, there is much that can be learnt from the unity of the forest.

Clare is now working towards a major show of the work that will tour nationally.

Clare Hewitt is a photographer based in Birmingham.   In 2011 she was selected for Fresh Faced and Wild Eyed at The Photographers’ Gallery, and has since been exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery as part of the Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize, 2013. In 2016 and 2017 she was included in the Magenta Foundation’s Flash Forward emerging photographer selection for Eugenie and Kamera, and the British Journal of Photography’s nationwide Portrait of Britain exhibition. Clare has been shortlisted for the Royal Photographic Society’s IPE #161, and selected for 209 Women, a photographic portrait project that marks the centenary of women achieving the vote in the UK in 1918.

www.clarehewitt.co.uk

Picturing High Streets was a national programme, led by Historic England. Projects unravel the narratives of the nation’s high streets and engage with local communities.  GRAIN led a distinct programme in Walsall, West Midlands to accompany the national touring exhibition. The activities took place with the town’s storefronts as the backdrop, celebrating the unsung champions of the high street, encapsulating the familiar scenery, and inviting viewers to consider the worth and significance of their local high street.

In Walsall the outdoor exhibition ran until October 2023 and showcased 65 photographs celebrating high street life. These photographs were contributed by members of the public through a national call-out and via photowalks in the town centre led by GRAIN with Anand Chhabra, Black Country Type and Stephen Burke.

Three winning photographs of contemporary Walsall high street life were selected from over 400 entries in Historic England’s recent Picturing Walsall competition and were displayed in the exhibition. The winning entries and seven runner-up photographs all became part of the Historic England Archive.

The winning photographs were chosen by a panel of judges including Annabel Clarke,
Senior Communications & Marketing Executive at The New Art Gallery Walsall, Stephen Burke, Project Producer at GRAIN Projects, and Tamsin Silvey, Cultural Programme Curator at Historic England.

Winners:
Alishah Iqbal 
Anu Gamangari 
Jay Mason Burns 

Runners up:
Sherrie Edgar
Joanne Kendrick
Julia Holding
Jack Babington
Sylwia Ciszewska-Peciak
Marlene Little
Harriet McDevitt-Smith

Picturing Walsall is part of the national Picturing High Streets project commissioned by Historic England and delivered by Photoworks, as as part of the High Streets Heritage Action Zones Cultural Programme produced in partnership with Heritage Fund UK and Arts Council England.

GRAIN are delighted to be working with older residents of Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin and SAND, on a heritage and photography project that explores and celebrates older LGBT+ identity.

Participants will share photographs, from their own albums and collections, and tell stories that illustrate lived experiences and which speak of identity and representation. Workshops are taking place in Shropshire led by artist Ming de Nasty and GRAIN Projects.

The project will add a new and important dimension to Shropshire’s archive and enable people to talk about their lives in a meaningful and open way.

The outcomes of the project will include new digital archive materials, an exhibition and a publication. SAND is based in Shrewsbury and take a targeted approach to increasing LGBT+ inclusion, challenging discrimination, promoting accessibility and equality of opportunity for LGBT+ people ageing in Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin. They work with the LGBT+ community and service providers to develop inclusive practice in general, while focussing on the particular experiences and needs of LGBT+ people.  SAND is a community organisation whose goal is to improve the experiences and increase the expectations of LGBT+ people as they age.  They believe that if they can identify and address the barriers that impact on LGBT+  wellbeing in later life, bring about change in organisations’ working practice, tap into influential policy making channels –  then they can fundamentally influence the way in which LGBT+ people and those who care for them experience – and expect to experience – ageing.

This project is a partnership with LGBTSAND and is generously supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and National Lottery players.

GRAIN Projects (UK) and Tasweerghar (Pakistan) announce the four artists who will be taking part in the New Narratives in Photography project as part of the British Council Pakistan Arts Residency Grants Programme 2023-2024.

Artists Asad Ali, Hira Noor, Ume Laila and Waleed Zafar, all of whom use photography in new and innovative ways to comment on our lives today, have been awarded the four residency places.

GRAIN and Tasweerghar are arts organisations that create new opportunities for diverse and emerging artists and photographers, supporting the development of skills and opportunities. In collaboration they will deliver a residency project that supports diverse and marginalised Pakistani artists curated in the context of prevalent themes including social justice, identity, gender, diaspora and home.

The four successful artists will have the opportunity to collaborate and network in Pakistan and the UK, take part in a bespoke mentoring programme, make and exhibit new work in Pakistan and the UK and have their artwork and practice amplified within the visual arts sector and more broadly. The opportunity will include a research and networking visit to the UK. At the end of the project the artists will exhibit their work at the Tasweerghar gallery space and in Birmingham, UK.

The artists that are taking part all have a unique and personal approach to photography, are ambitious in their work and have something to say about the world we live in. They come from a place of care, compassion and collaboration; their work is based on research and conversation and their artwork is of great relevance and interest, both as emerging practitioners in Pakistan, and to the photography scene internationally.

Image credit: Waleed Zafar

GRAIN Projects have worked in collaboration with Centrala and with young people from Ukraine, who had settled in Birmingham, shortly after the outbreak of the war. Over a span of six months the young people worked with internationally acclaimed and Ukraine based artist Mark Neville, and alongside Stephen Burke, attending workshops, making images and reflecting on their  experiences of leaving their homes in search of safety.

The resulting photographs, projections, and text were curated into an installation that was open to audiences in July 2023 at  Centrala’s gallery in Birmingham.  The young participants were present to discuss their artwork.

The young people taking part developed their photography and creative skills and were able to participate together in a safe space to discuss and make work on sensitive and personal topics. The themes explored encompassed home, place, identity, hope, pride, and separation.

GRAIN Projects, working in partnership with Forestry England, are delighted to be hosting a new Photographer In Residence opportunity at Cannock Chase, Staffordshire.

The opportunity will be awarded to a photographer or lens based artist.  The applicant must be based in England and must submit their application by 2nd July 2023 (midnight).  The Residency will take place from July – September 2023 and offers an Artist Fee of £2,500.

For this opportunity we are seeking proposals from those who are interested in responding to the environment of Cannock Chase and/or working with the communities of Cannock Chase. The new work must be made before the end of September 2023. This opportunity is part of a broader series of continued professional development opportunities conceived and developed by GRAIN, supported by Arts Council England and Birmingham City University.

Cannock Chase and the West Midlands Region The West Midlands region is one of nine regions in England. Geographically diverse, the region has the urban central areas of the conurbation surrounding Birmingham to the rural western counties of Shropshire and Herefordshire which border Wales.  The region encompasses five Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty including Cannock Chase. Cannock Chase Forest (CCF) covers 2684 hectares of coniferous and broadleaf woodlands and open land in Staffordshire in the West Midlands, between the towns of Stafford to the northwest, Cannock to the south and Rugeley to the east – Birmingham city centre is 20 miles to the south. Cannock Chase is mainland England’s, smallest AONB. Most of the forest is freehold as part of the public forest estate and is designated as Open Access land. Much of the woodland in the west and north eastern corner of the plan area is leased to Forestry England however, and access in these areas is restricted to Public Rights of Way. The area lies within the Cannock Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and the majority of Forestry England land is made up of conifers planted for timber production. There are also areas of ancient woodland, wetland, wood pasture and open heathland within the forest.

We would like to see applications from photographers and artists who are interested in issues affecting the forest and themes that can be explored through the forest and its communities. Ideas that applicants may like to focus on could include; forest eco systems, ancient woodland and wetland, forest industry, forest community, place-making, AONB contexts, health and wellbeing, the relationship with the urban. We are open to innovative approaches that push the boundaries of photography practice including socially engaged practice.

The Residency has been designed to support excellence in photography and is intended to provide artists with time to think, research, reflect and/or experiment with new ideas, to enable the research and development of new work in the context of Cannock Chase. Applicants must demonstrate that they have a professional practice and a track record of working at a professional level. They must also evidence a high level of quality, imagination and ambition in their work. The Residency can support practitioners at different stages in their career.

For more information and how to apply please click here.

Image Credit:  Cannock Chase, courtesy of Forestry England

We are delighted to announce the exhibition of new work by artist Jonny Briggs at the V&A Wedgwood Collection, the museum of Wedgwood’s design history and creative future located in the Potteries.

In 2021 GRAIN commissioned Jonny to create new work in response to the Wedgwood collection.   The two new diptychs go on display at Wedgwood, Barlaston, from Wednesday 7^th June 2023.  

The works are made up of multiple photographs masquerading as single, fractured artworks.  The artist is interacting with images of stripes, within the mouth and along the fault lines of the fractures.  The shape of the cracks are symmetrical and yet the fragments are not.  Mirroring, splitting and the blurred boundary between self and other frequently reoccur in the artist’s practice. 

In his research and collaboration Jonny connected with the black and white stripes of Wedgwood, thinking of the dazzle as a form of hiding and referencing his queer experience of sometimes feeling safe to show his identity and other times needing to hide.   The fractures in the artwork introduce ambiguity and disorder, they celebrate imperfection, and are staged accidents to disrupt the precision and perfection of Wedgwood.  They were inspired by the large bags of misshapes disgarded in production and seen in the factory.   

Josiah Wedgwood utilised ceramics to amplify his voice and to achieve social change.   Terms used for the physical form of a vase include neck, ‘the neck of a vase’ and mouth, ‘the mouth of a vase’.  The artist explores the oral significance of the objects in the collection and the mouth as a site for both eating and the voice.   He highlights the importance of having a voice within Wedgwood’s work.  

The frames are made of photographic prints, mounted on to aluminium, within wooden frame, masquerading as fractured ceramic. These materials are ambiguous. 

The artist worked with the students of Portland School & Specialist College, Stoke on Trent, during the latter stages of the project to share his ideas and inspire creativity.  

Commissioned by GRAIN Projects and supported by Arts Council England.  

Jonny Briggs is a multidisciplinary artist best known for his idiosyncratic brand of highly autobiographical, self-psychoanalytical and yet universally relatable photography, whose arresting, hybridised, multi-media creations operate in the interstices between fact and fiction.  Jonny has been awarded numerous significant prizes and opportunities, has exhibited nationally and internationally and his work is in numerous international private and public collections.

Please visit www.worldofwedgwood.com for opening times and details.

www.jonnybriggs.com

Image Credit: Gag 1 (artist’s mouth gripping stripes), 2023, Jonny Briggs

GRAIN Projects are working in collaboration with SAND and artist Ming de Nasty to make a collection of empowering portraits of older LGBT+ residents in Shropshire.

The project will focus on expression and celebration and will highlight lived experiences of those taking part. There will be 12 participants from across Shropshire who will make the portraits with Ming and speak of the story behind the picture.

The project will provide an opportunity for individuals to tell their story and control their image.  Ming de Nasty’s photography offers a different perspective, with individuals expressing a confidence and sense of identity in their gaze and position.  Her portraits are acclaimed and award-winning and speak of diversity and challenging stereotypes.

Ming de Nasty has been a professional photographer for 35 years and has worked on projects locally and nationally, exhibiting widely throughout the UK.  Her most recent projects include ‘Queer Country’ a photographic project looking at queer-identifying individuals in Wales and what it means to be living in a rural environment; ‘Tagmasc’, for Birmingham’s SHOUT! Festival 2020, where she worked with queer identifying men in Birmingham to make a series of photographic portraits and audio monologues; and in 2018 a Residency with IKON Gallery, Birmingham to undertake a commission on The Slow Boat, working with asylum seeking women to create a photographic installation along the Birmingham Canal of their portraits which were printed and displayed 3 metres high on buildings along the waterway. 

The project is a partnership between SAND and GRAIN Projects, supported by Arts Council England.  

Image credit; Mike Southern by Ming de Nasty

National Symposium

*Fully Booked* Email stephen.burke@GRAINPhotographyHub.co.uk to be added to the waiting list

21st April | 9:30 am – 17:30 pm
Birmingham City University
£25 – £30 | Book here

The State of Photography will consider, explore, debate and review how photographers and photography practice responds and develops in this time of uncertainty and injustice.  For the first time in four years we meet in person at this national symposium to hear from those who are creating new discourse and criticality as they look at the world today exploring life, love, home, land, and identity.  We consider how the current volatile and more accelerated circumstances impact on photographer’s projects, on how we care and change, and how we are presented with an opportunity to grow and be inspired.

We invite acclaimed and outstanding photographers and guests to join us to discuss what this rethinking looks like during this unsettling time.  What does the world look like to photographers?  Each have different approaches as we hear from those whose work is based on their own lived experience, who in a more closed and divided world have looked inside and at themselves as a starting point, putting their own experience and context front and central.
 
The role of photography is changing and caring, as experience, collaboration and social responsibility become the focus.  Photography can impart the greatest truth of our times and sheds light on injustices, inequality and other aspects of our lives and society.   It seems today –more essential than ever to explore the role that photography can play.

During the national symposium we will hear from the perspective of those who share our concerns about the present and offer a diverse range of practices, experiences and stories that shed light on our unsettling world. 

Speakers Include:

• Arpita Shah
• Camilla Brown
• Clare Hewitt
• Jermaine Francis
• Joanne Coates
• Katy Barron
• Lydia Goldblatt
• Mark Neville
• Maryam Wahid
• Sam Laughlin

Prices:

• Concession: £25
• Standard: £30
  *Please note prices include tea/coffee at registration but do not include lunch.
  
  Book your tickets here.
  
  *Fully Booked* Email stephen.burke@GRAINPhotographyHub.co.uk to be added to the waiting list

GRAIN are delighted to be working with artist Mark Neville to make a unique photography project with young people from the Ukraine who are new residents in Birmingham.  The project is delivered in partnership with Centrala.

In this new project commissioned by GRAIN, Neville will be engaging with the young people to think about their experiences over the last 12 months, to explore their lives before the conflict juxtaposed with their recent arrival in Birmingham and attempts to settle and feel part of the city and its communities.  Mark’s home is in Kyiv, Ukraine. 

“Mark Neville has re-imagined what documentary photography could be, should be. Instead of the bland ‘deconstructions’ that pass so lazily as ‘critical’ in contemporary art, he makes extraordinary pictures and finds extraordinary ways to get them back to those he has photographed.” – David Campany

Mark Neville works at the intersection of art and documentary, investigating the social function of photography. He makes lens-based works which have been realised and disseminated in a large array of contexts, as both still and moving image pieces, slideshows, films, and giveaway books. His work has consistently looked to subvert the traditional role of social documentary practice. Often working with closely knit communities, in a collaborative process intended to be of direct, practical benefit to the subject, his photographic projects to date have frequently made the towns he portrays the primary audience for the work.

In 2016 Neville began work on a book project called ‘Stop Tanks With Books’. The concept was to weaponise the medium to effect change. He aimed to garner international support for Ukraine in its’ continuing fight for independence, help end Russian aggression in Donbas, and call for the withdrawal of Russia from Crimea. The second aim was to counteract the wealth of fake news and racist disinformation the Kremlin was generating – material that Western media was often perpetuating and reproducing unchallenged and unchecked – by presenting real portraits of Ukrainians. The book has been sent out for free to a target audience of diplomats, politicians, peace negotiators, celebrities, NATO and EU members – everyone, in short, who had it in their power to help Ukraine. By 2019, and after several intense editing sessions with David Campany, the book was ready in embryonic form.   The book was published by  Nazraeli Press in California, who immediately recognized the urgency of the book and the threat from Russia.

In 2012 The New York Times Magazine commissioned Neville to make the acclaimed photo essay ‘Here is London’, which examined wealth inequality in the capital, and which they subsequently nominated for The Pulitzer Prize. This was quickly followed by a commission from the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, America, which also looked at social inequalities. These two bodies of work were brought together in the touring solo exhibition ‘London/Pittsburgh’.

In 2011 Neville spent three months working on the front line in Helmand, Afghanistan, with the British Army as an official war artist. The films and photographs he made there featured in a major solo show at The Imperial War Museum London in 2014. More recently this war experience has resulted in The Battle Against Stigma Book Project, the overall aim of which is to challenge the stigma of mental health problems in the military. Neville’s book combines written testimonies about PTSD and adjustment disorder from serving and ex serving soldiers with the photographs he took of troops in Helmand, as a means to give some insight into the issue of adjustment disorder which he found he had fallen victim to on his return from the war zone. Throughout 2016 Neville personally disseminated 1,000 copies free to prison libraries, probation services, homeless shelters, and veteran mental health charities, in order to encourage more troops to come forward and seek treatment for adjustment disorder.

Neville’s work exists in different forms in many public and private collections, including those of the Arts Council of England, Kunstmuseum Bern, National Galleries of Scotland, Imperial War Museum, and Scottish Parliament. He has had major solo shows at venues which include The Photographers’ Gallery, London, Multimedia Art Museum of Moscow, Foundling Museum, London, QUAD in Derby, and the Imperial War Museum, and participated in group shows at Tate Britain, Jeu de Paume, Paris, and Haus Der Kunst, Munich. ‘Fancy Pictures’, the monograph published by Steidl, is the first commercially available book about Neville’s work and was one of Time Magazine’s best photo books of 2017, and also nominated for Aperture Photo Book of the Year 2017. Neville’s last book, ‘Parade’, was nominated for the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize 2020.

Image Credit: ‘Masha, 17 years old, with her mother Nina, just after de-occupation of Termakhivka in Kyiv Region’ by Mark Neville 2022.

www.markneville.com

GRAIN commissioned photographer Lydia Goldblatt, for her project ‘Fugue.  The work focuses on the family, private and close public spaces and intimacy as she looks at questions of mothering, community, love, loss and time. The work is made in the family home, the community of nearby streets and is shot on film.   In this body of work texts by the artist play an equally important role as the photographs.

The collaboration began in 2020, as part of a series of bursaries and commissions that were awarded in response to Covid 19, for more information please click here.

Lydia Goldblatt considers themes of origins, transience and emotional experience through a lyrical harnessing of photography’s primary characteristics of light, time and surface. Her quietly powerful and beautifully crafted prints creatively fuse the approaches of both documentary and constructed photography. Tenderly observed portraits and details of the human form are combined with enigmatic still lifes and abstract constructions suggestive of elemental forces. Together, the images examine the impulse for existence paralleled with the act of artistic creation. While complete in themselves, each photograph can be understood as part of a larger whole: an absorbing puzzle reflecting upon the capacity of photography as poetic expression and simultaneously exploring emblems of the cycle of life.

Goldblatt’s series Still Here was published as an artist monograph by Hatje Cantz, and is held in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum National Art Library. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at the Felix Nussbaum Museum, Germany, Somerset House, London, the GoEun Museum of Photography, South Korea and the National Museum, Gdansk. She was awarded the Grand Prix at 2014’s Tokyo International Photography Festival, and in 2016 undertook a year’s artist residency at the Florence Trust in London, where she developed her series Instar.

£20.00 + Postage, order via Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery Shop 

GRAIN commissioned a new series of portraits by Arpita Shah that explore South Asian female identity and have launched a new publication to accompany the work.  The ‘Modern Muse’ portraits visually and conceptually explore the ever shifting identities and representations of South Asian women.   Shah draws from and subverts  Mughal and Indian miniature paintings from ancient and pre Colonial times as she examines the intersections of culture and identity, drawing on the women’s lived experiences and her own journey and life. 

In her practice Shah focuses on the notion of home, diaspora, belonging and shifting cultural identities.  Here she does this in collaboration with women who are also artists, creatives and educators based in Birmingham and the West Midlands.  The portraits were collaborative in nature and during their participation the women spoke of their own experiences.   Sections of their texts can be found in the new publication alongside the portraits. 

As part of the publication GRAIN commissioned new writing by Alina Khakoo.  ‘Modern Muse & South Asian Feminism’ explores these portraits as a collective and community within a social genre.  A further legacy for the series is the acquisition of the portraits by Birmingham Museums Trust. 

Ruth Millington was commissioned to interview Arpita Shah about ‘Modern Muse’.  The writing can be found here.

Modern Muse, £20 + Postage
Order via Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery online shop here.

About Arpita Shah:
Arpita Shah is a photographic artist and educator based in Eastbourne, UK. She works between photography and film, exploring the intersections of culture and identity. As an India-born artist, Shah spent the earlier part of her life living between India, Ireland and the Middle East before settling in the UK. This migratory experience is reflected in her practice, which often focuses on the notion of home, belonging and shifting cultural identities. Shah’s work tends to draw from Asian and Eastern mythology, using it both visually and conceptually to explore issues of cultural displacement in the South Asian diaspora.

Arpita’s work has been exhibited across the UK and internationally, including at the Detroit Center of Contemporary Photography (2013); Tramway in Glasgow (2014); Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, India (2015); Chobi Mela IX in Dhaka, Bangladesh (2017); Autograph APB in London (2018) Street Level Photoworks in Glasgow (2019) Harbour Front Centre in Toronto (2019) and Impressions Gallery in Bradford (2020). She is the recipient of the 2019 Light Work + Autograph ABP Artist-in-Residence programme in Syracuse New York and her work is held in the collections at the National Galleries of Scotland.

www.arpitashah.com

Image Credit – ‘Haseebah’ Modern Muse © Arpita Shah

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 14^th September – 12^th 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:

Birmingham 2022 Festival presents FACES OF 2022, a celebratory project about pride, place, identity and heritage. A Creative City Project generously supported by Birmingham City Council.

The photography project, in collaboration with the people of Perry Barr, will see artists working with groups and individuals in the area to capture stories, share family photographs and take part in workshops. Perry Barr is at the heart of the Commonwealth Games and at the heart of the city, the people of this distinct place are proud Birmingham residents with amazing stories to tell and contributions to be celebrated.

Artists will be working in the area to lead workshops and to create artwork that will be exhibited in public spaces during Birmingham 2022. A series of new portraits, by renowned and acclaimed photographer Maryam Wahid, will be made of individuals who have contributed to culture and community in Perry Barr. In addition, workshops with local people will take place where participants will be invited to illustrate and to share their unique histories, experiences and stories of their lives.

Further information on the public exhibitions can be found here and on social media over the next few months.

FACES OF 2022 is a partnership between GRAIN Projects and the Black Arts Forum for Birmingham 2022, and is generously supported by Arts Council England and National Heritage Lottery Fund.

In association with GENERATIONS by Julian Germain, part of Birmingham 2022 Festival, a cultural
festival for the Commonwealth Games, we are delivering a Professional Development
Programme that offers 3 new and unique opportunities to emerging artists;

Bursary for an Emerging Artist based in Birmingham £2500
Bursary for an Emerging Artist based in the Black Country £2500
Bursary for an Emerging Artist based in England £2500

GENERATIONS by artist Julian Germain is a celebration of families and people from across Birmingham and the Black Country. The exhibition will take place as part of the Birmingham 2022 Festival – a six month celebration of culture in the West Midlands which will surround the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

GENERATIONS is presented by Birmingham 2022 Festival, with GRAIN Projects and Multistory, and is generously supported by Arts Council England and National Heritage Lottery Fund.

BURSARY OPPORTUNITIES
The Bursary Opportunities are awards made to a photographer or artist, writer or curator working in photography to make new work in response to the theme GENERATIONS.

Deadline for applications; 31 st March 2022 at 5pm (GMT)
Each bursary offers an award of £2,500 to support the making of new work and a public engagement outcome. The making of the work and the outcome should take place in Birmingham or/and the Black Country, UK. The work must be made and the public engagement outcome delivered before the 30 th September 2022.

The bursary supports artistic development and experimentation and the production of new work. We are interested in interesting and innovative approaches to engaging with the theme GENERATIONS, including working with vernacular imagery or socially engaged photography, and to delivering a public engagement outcome.

Download full details here.

£35.00, UK shipping, order here
£40.00, EU shipping, order here
£45.00, rest of the world shipping, order here

In January 2020 GRAIN Projects commissioned 11 new bodies of work by photographers who collaborated with rural communities, making work in response to rural locations in the English Midlands. The diversity of approaches are significant and provide a new voice in the rural aesthetic.

This book contains eleven new bodies of work that draw our attention to some of these issues and themes. Writers Camilla Brown and Mark Durden have contributed essays to this publication that explore the themes of the work by commissioned artists and photographers Alannah Cooper, Emily Graham, Guy Martin, Leah Gordon, Marco Kesseler, Matthew Broadhead, Murray Ballard, Navi Kaur, Oliver Udy and Colin Robins, Polly Braden and Sam Laughlin.

In the work the artists and photographers explore issues of rural life, environments, economics, politics, land use, community, young people and cultural identity against a backdrop of crises of post Brexit agriculture, the climate emergency and Covid 19 pandemic. In England the rural accounts for 80% of the land area and around 20% of the population (source DEFRA). These are communities that are the minority, are often not heard as loudly as the urban, who face many societal issues including deprivation, isolation, health and wellbeing concerns and are often misaligned and misunderstood.

The projects range from the poetic, documentary, conceptual and archival and demonstrate a range of different approaches to photography about the rural that is not dominated by the picturesque, pastoral or romantic but by the complexities, connections and diversity of the rural landscape. The work responds to people and places in a state of significant change and decline and our essential and integral relationship with the rural.

The projects show a disappearing way of life, disconnected communities and habitat loss, brought on by a lack of understanding of the rural, our extraction from the natural world and consumerism. At this time rural communities have lost faith in our politics, government and systems, not for the first time in our history, Brexit has so far failed the countryside and rural habitats and communities are vanishing.

£35.00, UK shipping, order here
£40.00, EU shipping, order here
£45.00, rest of the world shipping, order here

*This publication is now sold out.

The Our People, Our Places publication is part of a project led by Appetite and GRAIN Projects who invited people to take part in a collaborative photography project about life in Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle-under-Lyme.

Some of the participants were new to photography, some returning to photography and some wanted to explore photography in new ways.

Within the publication there are a wide range of projects that tackle subjects such as family life, history and memories of places and people, landscape, wellbeing, access rights for disabled people and portraiture.

Each of the participants provides a new view and imaginative reflection on the community, people and places that are important to them in their lives. The multiple views shown are a collective vision revealing the broad life experienced within North Staffordshire.

Participating Photographers; Abi Winkle / Andie Dale / Ashley Pretorius / Carol Gallagher / Deb Shenton / Donna Aubrey / Ellie Comber-Davies / Francesca Wheeler / Jo Wade / Judith Pearce / Kaz Hare / Sophia Khalid / Stephen Malkin / Tony Smith.

The publication includes an interview by artist, writer, and academic Anthony Luvera with GRAIN Project Producer Stephen Burke and two of the project participants Andie Dale and Carol Gallagher.

Participants took part in online and in person workshops that took place during 2021 – 2022, led by artists and photographers; Anneka French, Clare Hewitt, Nilupa Yasmin, Dan Burwood, Chris Neophytou, David Bethell, Niall McDiarmid, Stephen Burke and facilitated by Sammy Bishop, Appetite’s Community Participation Co-ordinator, the participants explored a variety of techniques and approaches to photography.

They experimented and made creative work on themes and subjects that were new, meaningful and personal to them, trying out Lumen Printing, Photo Weaving, Landscape, Portraiture, Still Life and Tableau, 5×4 film cameras and printing in the Dark Room.

Key to the project was the participants developing their own photographic and artistic voice, implementing the various techniques learnt, to tell stories that were important to them.

The publication includes an interview by artist, writer, and academic Anthony Luvera with GRAIN Project Producer Stephen Burke and two of the project participants Andie Dale and Carol Gallagher.

Desgin by Chris Neophytou, Out of Place Books.

The project was funded by Appetite as part of Arts Council England’s Creative People and Places National Programme.

*This publication is now sold out.

Photo Play is a book of pictures and photography activities for children and young people focusing on play.

In the summer of 2021 GRAIN and Appetite led a series of workshops with children, young people and families in Chesterton, Cobridge, Cross Heath, Kidsgrove and Middleport, in Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle-under-Lyme.

The images that feature in this book were made by the children and young people who took part in the workshops using disposable cameras, undertaking tasks like the ones you will find in this zine.

We would like to say an enormous thank you to everyone that made photographs with us and took part across the five locations and to thank the artists who led the workshops -Natalie Willatt, David Bethel and Stephen Burke.

The publication will be distributed for free to young people in Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle-under-Lyme.

Design by Chris Neophytou

Agency is a new body of work commissioned for Coventry UK City of Culture which extends Anthony Luvera’s ongoing work made with people experiencing homelessness in towns and cities across the United Kingdom over the past 20 years. Throughout 2021, Luvera invited participants to use disposable cameras to document their experiences and places in the city that are significant to them. Participants were also invited to use digital medium format camera equipment in order to work on the production of a self portrait for the artist’s ongoing series Assisted Self-Portraits. The final images will be exhibited along Warwick Row, a road containing many estate agents that leads into the city centre from Coventry Train Station, throughout the duration of the HOME festival and featured in a community newspaper distributed freely across the city.

Supported by GRAIN Projects

The exhibition will take place from Fri 08 Oct – Thu 28 Oct 2021 on Warwick Row, Coventry

Image Credit: Ruby Nixon

Coventry; Visual Stories is by Asia, Aya, Daleen and Mohsin who are service users of the Coventry Refugee and Migrant Centre.

The photographs were created as part of a series of online photography workshops that took place during lockdown 2021. the participants learnt about creativity and expression through photography, about technique, photographic history, and they created photographs in response to their new lives in Coventry.

The participants have created a photographic response to their lives in the city, revealing a snap shot of the place and their relationship to it.

About the Coventry Refugee and Migrant Centre (CRMC):
Coventry Refugee and Migrant Centre (CRMC) welcomes and empowers asylum seekers, refugees and other migrants in Coventry to rebuild their lives and achieve their potential.

Forming from humble beginnings in the back of a local laundrette, the charity has grown exponentially during the past two decades and now assists over 4,000 people each year. This includes destitute families, victims of trafficking, modern slavery, unaccompanied children and those escaping conflict zones from around the world.

This project is part of a Coventry partnership which assists and empowers newly arrived individuals and families so that they can rebuild their lives in their new home. Set up in Coventry in 2014, it started out by supporting Afghan interpreters and their families who used to work with the British Army in Afghanistan.

The UK government then launched the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme (VPRS) and Vulnerable Children’s Resettlement Scheme (RVC), which resettle vulnerable families and children from countries such as Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt and Turkey.

It is formed of local organisations Coventry City Council, Coventry Refugee and Migrant Centre, Coventry Law Centre, Coventry Citizens Advice, Positive Youth Foundation, Foleshill Women’s Training and St Francis Church of Assisi.

Currently, Coventry has welcomed over 600 refugees on the programme, one of the best responses of any local authority in the country.

The workshops were led Sam Ivin, Jaskirt Boora, Liz Hingley and Stephen Burke.

Coventry; Visual Stories is by Charlotte, Ellie, Jamie, Janson, Prash and Thomas who are all members of Teenvine Plus, a development programme run by Grapevine for young people with autism or learning disabilities.

The photographs were created as part of a series of online photography workshops that took place during lockdown in 2021. The participants learnt about different photographic techniques, used different types of cameras and it was also a space for conversation & friendship where their thoughts, feelings and life experiences of Coventry were shared and discussed.

The young people have created a photographic response to their lives in the city, revealing a snapshot of the place and their relationship to it.

About Grapevine:
Grapevine is an organisation that helps all kinds of people experiencing isolation, poverty and disadvantage in Coventry and Warwickshire. They are a pioneering example of how to help people work together to solve their problems for good. They strengthen people, spark action and shift power across services. They empower local citizens with the skills and confidence to act on what they care about; connecting through their shared humanity, taking power into their own hands and regenerating their communities.

One of their many projects working towards this is Teenvine Plus, an intensive development programme for teens with autism or learning disabilities in Coventry. They help learning disabled youngsters to get the friendships, confidence and skills they need in order to mature into independent young adults able to achieve their ambitions.  They strengthen people by uncovering their talents and passions, then use these to create natural networks of community support. Networks that strengthen, bring opportunity and help them take charge of their lives.

The workshops were led Ayesha Jones, Jaskirt Boora and Stephen Burke.

Thank You for your Payment.

You can view & download the recording from here.

Image Credit: Polly Braden

In 2019 GRAIN awarded eleven new commissions to photographers to make new work in rural communities across the Midlands.  Using a range of approaches the photographers and artists explored aspects of rural life, culture and community at a time of emergency.  Post Brexit agriculture, migration, climate emergency, land ownership and rights, identity and health and wellbeing were amongst the themes explored through documentary and conceptual photography.   

Alannah Cooper, Emily Graham, Guy Martin, Leah Gordon, Marco Kesseler, Matthew Broadhead, Murray Ballard, Navi Kaur, Oliver Udy and Colin Robins, Polly Braden and Sam Laughlin.

The projects culminated in a publication and a symposium which disseminate the poetic, documentary, conceptual and archival approaches to photography about the rural that is not dominated by the picturesque, pastoral or romantic but by important new voices that show the complexities, connections and diversity of the rural landscape.  

The symposium took place online, hosted by GRAIN and facilitated by academics Camilla Brown and Mark Durden

The Rural Gaze publication is available here.

The Rural Gaze Symposium, Recording – £5.00 , purchase via the Paypal button below:

Image Credit: Around the Stump (c) Murray Ballard

How To Apply?
The residency is a major new opportunity for a Photographer as part of the national Photographer-in-Residence Programme ‘Picturing England’s High Streets’. The opportunity in Coventry is developed by GRAIN Projects in collaboration with the Coventry High Street Heritage Action Zone Board and in the context of a wider programme of High Streets Heritage Action Zone activities.

The residency will contribute to the key local High Street Heritage Action Zone aims including, restoring and regenerating a forgotten part of Coventry’s historic townscape, boosting the local economy and celebrating the city’s rich heritage. The Burges area is the focus and forms a key element of Coventry’s surviving historic townscape.  The Coventry High Street Heritage Action Zone project will help reverse decline by enhancing the special character of the conservation area, attracting more business and visitors and raising awareness of the area’s heritage within the local community.

The Photographer-in-Residence will connect with the communities in this distinct area and contribute to the cultural activities that are planned in the lead up to the development of a new heritage square and public space.

Coventry;   The Burges, Coventry High Street Heritage Action Zone | Historic England

About the national photographer-in-residence programme  
Picturing England’s High Street is a three-year project which includes six photographer-in-residence programmes at six high street locations across England. For more information see Open Call: Historic England, Picturing England’s High Streets – Photoworks.

England’s high streets have a long history and have always been at the heart of our communities. They are our landmarks, points of reference and meeting places. Across centuries people have gathered together on high streets, from market days to turning on the Christmas lights; coffee dates to national jubilees.

Every high street in England, whether it is in a medieval market town or a post-war city centre, has a unique and distinctive history that creates identity and a sense of place. Despite this, high streets are struggling, and need to adapt to survive. This commission will help people reconnect with their high streets, seeing them as places that can thrive and are of relevance to them and their lives.

The photographer-in-residence programmes are a key part of this Picturing England’s High Streets. The six photographers-in residence will work with local communities to reimagine the high street, producing images which will become part of the Historic England archive.

High street users and the community are at the heart of this project and we are looking for photographers whose practice is socially engaged. We are proposing a way of working rather than a thematic or visual approach.

The project starts with a simple provocation; ‘Your high street: Investigate before, picture now and imagine the future……’

We will use this provocation as a creative springboard for a socially engaged, diverse, community led commissioning for the 6 photographer-in-residence programmes.

What are we expecting?
We are looking for a photographer who has an interest in Coventry HSHAZ and whose practice embraces the opportunity to collaborate with the local community. We would welcome applications from socially engaged photographers with a connection to Coventry  – although this is not essential.

The Socially Engaged Photographers role will include working closely with local partners to develop relationships with communities to develop visual narratives that are meaningful to them. The photographer will support participants to create photographic stories themselves, through a process of dialogue and collaboration.

Artist Fee – £4,000 over 1 year.

Key dates and timeline
Open call deadline: May 26th 2021
Short list contacted: June 4th 2021
Interviews: June 10th 2021 (TBC)
Start date: Summer 2021  HSHAZ residency begins
End date: End Summer 2023

How to apply   
For more information and to apply download the Brief here.
Download Equal Opportunities Form here. 

During 2020 GRAIN Projects awarded commissions and bursaries to 22 new bodies of work responding to Covid 19 as part of a national programme. Photographers, artists and writers created series, text and imagery responding to and documenting unprecedented times.

Work by eight artists from this programme feature in the exhibition for FORMAT21. They show us the impact on the individual, family and communities, on our health and wellbeing, the inequalities of the pandemic, new ways of working and new closer connections with nature and each other.

Their work focuses on the private, the overlooked and the unfamiliar tropes and imagery of Covid. This is a significant record of life during Covid and the major changes to our way of living and working. Reflecting on and responding to these times as the familiar became unfamiliar the work is an important document of a year lived as never before.

See the online exhibition here.

Andrea G Artz: Pandemia to Pandemia. Artz’s commissioned work features sculptural forms made from her photographs, created as moving image works. The artist travelled on public transport throughout the pandemic to make photographs and interview people capturing their emotions and vulnerabilities.

Barnaby Kent: All People Are Like Grass. Kent’s work looks at the experience of Covid and the onset of lockdown coincided with the start of spring. Throughout the pandemic we witness the annual seasonal cycle and become aware of the essential need for access to nature.

Chris Hoare: Street Cleaners. Hoare photographed the undervalued workforce that helped keep our society going, choosing to photograph street cleaners who kept our environments, cities and streets clean during the pandemic.

Chris Neophytou: The Planting of a Fig Tree. Neophytou made work with the Greek Cypriot community in north Birmingham focusing on how the challenges of Covid-19 affected this community as people adapted to the challenges of practicing their faiths and at the distance felt between the UK and family and heritage in Cyprus.

Jaskirt Boora: Birmingham Lockdown Stories. Boora is a British Indian photographer, her work documents the community around her focusing on how people have come together to offer support and care for each other. Her motivation was to extend the feeling of good will and togetherness she experienced.

Jemima Yong: Field. Yong’s work was made in lockdown in London as she photographed the view from her bedroom window, witnessing how the same public space was being used and shared throughout 2020. Social distancing, face covering, exercise, team sports and family events feature in a typology of 76 black and white photographs exhibited as a performative work.

Lydia Goldblatt: Fugue. In Goldblatt’s series Fugue, intimacy and distance are key. The works meander, moving back and forth through the signs of routine, love and care that bear witness to family life. Chronological time, normally linear and clear, is suspended merging with emotional duration.

Shaista Chishty: Playing Their Part. Chishty looks at mainstream representations of people of colour during Covid, exploring the visual culture and tropes and the racialised press and media coverage, drawing comparisons with the propaganda of the British Empire and World War II.

In 2016 GRAIN commissioned artist Edgar Martins to respond to HMP Birmingham, the site and community.  Over a number of years Martins created a significant, multifaceted body of work developed from many visits with prisoners, staff and their families.

HMP Birmingham, on starting the project, was the largest privately run, category B prison in the UK.  During the duration of the project, and in response to various crises, the government took back control of the prison.  Using the social context of incarceration as a starting point, Martins explored the philosophical concept of absence and addressed a broader consideration of the status of the photograph when questions of visibility, ethics, aesthetics and documentation intersect.

From a humanist perspective the work seeks to reflect on how one deals with the absence of a loved one, brought on by enforced separation.  From an ontological perspective it seeks answers to the following questions: how does one represent a subject that eludes visualisation, that is absent or hidden from view? And what does it mean for photography, in an epistemological, ontological, aesthetic and ethical sense, if it does not identify with the photographic subject but the absence of it’s subject?

The work shifts between image and information, between fiction and evidence, strategically deploying visual and textual details in tandem so that the viewer becomes aware of what exists outside the confines of the frame.

Across this complex and radical body of work, Martins worked with archives from renowned European institutions, leading Portuguese physicist João Seixas, inmates and their families connected to HMP Birmingham as well as a variety of other individual and organisations such as colleges, community centres, charities, fire departments and young people’s groups.

The work was exhibited during Covid at The Herbert Museum & Art Gallery, during UK City of Culture, at FORMAT International Photography Festival and has toured to numerous major galleries in Europe as well as being shown in the context of art fairs, including Photo London and Paris Photo.

The work has featured in numerous events and symposia hosted by GRAIN, Birmingham City University and the University of South Wales.

The project was published as a photobook by The Moth House and is available here.

Artist exhibition tour:

See the online version of the exhibition here .

Photograph by Garry Jones

Picturing England’s High Street is a three year project which will deliver six photographer-in-residence programmes at six high street locations across England, as well as artist mentoring and a digital nationwide mass participation project.

The photographer-in-residence programmes are a key part of this project. The six photographers-in-residence will work with local communities to reimagine the high street, producing images which will become part of the Historic England archive. High street users and the community are at the heart of this project and we are looking for photographers whose practice is socially engaged.

The six photographers-in-residence will be selected via open calls beginning in March 2021. Working closely with Photoworks, Open Eye Gallery, Photofusion and QUAD/Format we will select six photographers via an open call to be part of the six photographer-in-residence programmes working closely with local communities in Coventry and Stoke-on-Trent (GRAIN Projects), Prescot and Chester (Open Eye Gallery), in London (Photofusion) and in Leicester (QUAD/ FORMAT).

The photographer-in-residence programmes will also include mentoring support delivered by Impressions Gallery, PARC (Photography and the Archive Research Centre), Redeye The Photography Network, ReFramed and The Photographers’ Gallery.

Picturing England’s High Street will also include a digital mass participation project due to launch in 2022. More news on this will be announced soon.

How to apply

The Open Calls for Coventry, Stoke-on-Trent, Prescot and Chester will launch in March 2021. Followed by Leicester and London, which will launch in Spring 2021. Please sign up to register your interest and to be notified when each open call goes live.

Register your interest via

Open Calls: Historic England, Picturing England’s High Streets – Photoworks

The residencies will take place at different high street Heritage Action Zone across England. The locations are:

Coventry – working with GRAIN Projects

Coventry is a city with a rich history dating back to the Middle Ages. Now a diverse and young city, and UK City of Culture 2021. Coventry’s buildings tell the story of a proud, innovative past built on peace and reconciliation. Today Coventry is a city of sanctuary, diverse cultures and communities. We are looking to select one artist to work as photographer-in-residence in Coventry. This residency will be led by GRAIN Projects and will draw on their regional expertise and existing connections in the local community. The open call for the Coventry photographer-in-residence will go live in March 2021. Find out more about this opportunity and our partner GRAIN Projects here.

Stoke-on-Trent – working with GRAIN Projects

Stoke-on-Trent is a city in Staffordshire formed by the federation of six towns. Since the 17th century the area has been the home of the pottery industry in England.  The six towns are tight knit communities, all distinct with a rich and unique heritage. We are looking to select one artist to work as photographer-in-residence in Stoke-on-Trent. This residency will be led by GRAIN Projects and will draw on their regional expertise and existing connections in the local community. The open call for the Stoke-on-Trent photographer-in-residence will go live in March 2021. Find out more about this opportunity and our partner GRAIN Projects here.

Prescot – working with Open Eye Gallery

Prescot was a market town known as ‘a town of workshops’ because of its diverse commercial activities that included all stages of watchmaking, pottery, coal mining and tool making. The photographer-in-residence programme in Prescot will coincide with the opening of The Shakespeare North Playhouse which is currently under construction in the town and Knowsley’s role in Liverpool’s Borough of Culture status for 2022. We are looking to select one artist to work as photographer-in-residence in Prescot. This residency will be led by Open Eye Gallery and will draw on their existing connections in the local community. The open call for the Prescot photographer-in-residence will go live in March 2021. Find out more about our partner Open Eye Gallery here.

Chester – working with Open Eye Gallery

Chester’s regeneration plan and the High Street Heritage Action Zone is focused around the Chester Rows and surrounding area. We are looking to select one artist to work as photographer-in-residence in Chester. This residency will be led by Open Eye Gallery and will draw on their regional expertise and existing connections in the local community. The open call for the Chester photographer-in-residence will go live in March 2021. Find out more about our partner Open Eye Gallery here.

London – working with Photofusion

We are looking to select one artist to work as photographer-in-residence in London. This residency will be led by Photofusion and will draw on their expertise and existing connections in the local community. More information about this opportunity and details about the open call for the London photographer-in-residence will be released in Spring 2021. Find out more about our partner Photofusion here.

Leicester – working with QUAD/ FORMAT

We are looking to select one artist to work as photographer-in-residence in Leicester. This residency will be led by QUAD/FORMAT and will draw on their expertise and existing connections in the local community. More information about this opportunity and details about the open call for the Leicester photographer-in-residence will go live in Spring 2021. Find out more about our partner QUAD/FORMAT here.

Familiar Faces by Adina Lawrence, is an exhibition in and about Newcastle-under-Lyme. GRAIN partnered with  Appetite and Newcastle-under-Lyme BID.

The exhibition captures the familiar faces and the unique welcome of Newcastle town centre through the power of photography. Running from Friday 29 January until Sunday 1 August, the exhibition of portraits will be seen across three sites in Newcastle-under-Lyme; on Ironmarket, High Street – next to the war memorial – and High Street – near to Poundland.

Photographer Adina Lawrence captured the portraits of Newcastle workers in the Town Centre during December 2020; to highlight local retailers, shops and businesses and celebrate the historic town centre as it is now. The images shine a light on the diversity, strong offers, culture and heritage of the town and the businesses’ resilience during the most challenging of times.

The exhibition includes portraits that capture the wide range of businesses across the town centre, from business owners and staff to new businesses starting out, thriving market stalls to established shops who have been operating in the town for up to 500 years, independent unique outlets to international chains.

Access and Useful Info 

• Please support us by adhering to our COVID-Safe measures whilst enjoying Familiar Faces: Hands / Face / Space
• Please adhere to the lockdown guidelines by visiting Familiar Faces whilst doing your essential shop or during daily exercise

About Adina Lawrence:
Adina Lawrence is a Black British portrait photographer who makes portraits of people that show character, personality, strength and  diversity. Her pictures are compelling contemporary portraits that tell a story.  She is based in Stoke-on-Trent and has BA Hons degree in Photojournalism from Staffordshire University.

Instagram – @adinamya

The project is a collaboration with Appetite, Creative People & Places and is supported by New Vic Theatre, Partners in Creative Learning (PiCL), 6Towns Radio, Staffordshire University, Newcastle-under-Lyme BID, Go Kidsgrove, Keele University and Arts Council England.

Exhibition photograph by Andrew Billington

Tristan Poyser
Participatory Talk
Tues 29 December at 7pm – The eve of Brexit…

GRAIN are pleased to be collaborating with photographer Tristan Poyser and Art Link, Inishowen, Co. Donegal, Northern Ireland for this participatory event in association with the exhibition at Art Link.

A Time of Uncertainty brings together two significant series of work by Poyser, ‘The Invisible Inbetween’ and ‘Masked’.

Poyser has been making socially engaged work in Ireland, particularly focussing on the border, since the referendum. His work is not traditional documentary but participatory, based on conversations with over 700 individuals and communities over 5 years. For ‘The Invisible Inbetween’ he travelled the Irish border he recorded the landscape reflecting on the effect of Brexit on a land rich with turmoil and history. He explains, ‘Borders are intrinsically peripheries, a third space and projections of the state. The Irish border is both an administrative and political division, an imaginary boundary, with little evidence of the existence to signify a physical border.’

‘Masked’ is a piece that aligns still life, performative portraiture and documentary photography in another idiosyncratic form. 64 masks from his shifts for the online conglomerate Amazon appear bound together. This is a meditation upon an unprecedented era of hardship. ‘Whilst fortunate to be in a position to earn an income, there was a palpable tension brought on by the restrictions of the pandemic, the lockdown and employment. Clocking in, clocking out, timed breaks, compounded by the uncomfortable but necessary safety measures,’ he elaborates.

On Tuesday 29 December you are invited to participate in a Talk that Poyser will be facilitating. The first 50 participants that register before 16th December will receive a pack in the post which will enable them to contribute to this ongoing project link to The Invisible In Between.

Poyser invites the public to consider the referendum vote, their individual vote and how this will impact on those living on the Irish border and their future.

In addition to the first 50 registering you are able to register for the Talk and join in the Q&A and chat.

Each project engages with people and communities and remarks on a crucial time that affects us all. Each is a narrative of opinions, complemented by the artist’s reflection on two dominant issues of our time.

Book here. 

Tristan Poyser is a photographer, a board member of the Arts Council England’s Sector Support Organisation Redeye – The Photography Network, a Tutor for the British Academy of Photography, guest lecturer on Professional Practice, and delivers participatory workshops. He has also judged for the RIBA awards.

To Book  |  For further information on the associated exhibitions

Thank you to Luke Das who contributed to the text on these projects, interviewing Tristan Poyser for Loupe Magazine.