GRAIN are working in collaboration with Mark Wright and Format International Photography Festival on a new exhibition and publication.  The project will Premier work from Wright’s series The Fireside and the Sanctuary.

24 March – 23 April 2017

The work is made with the communities affected by fracking decisions in northern England.  In his work Wright considers the experiences, lifestyles and habitats of the communities affected by policy decisions that will impact on the landscape and their way of life.  Wright has spent time with these communities working on interviews and photography.  Village, rural and agricultural communities are the most obviously affected by national government policies relating to the new gas drilling procedures by giant, global chemical companies.   The environment and communities are rapidly changing following the lead up to the decisions in autumn 2016.   The impact on people’s way of life, their ability to have a voice for their own concerns and wellbeing, is affected as communities are divided by tensions and the notion of changes to their way of life.

Wright’s practice is based upon in-depth research, written material and absorbing himself in a landscape or community.  In the new work fracking is clearly seen, not as a ‘local’ problem but one that gravitates around a central place and a collection of people.  The environmental and social concerns are universal and relevant to all of us.  In his work Wright makes the issues identifiable rather than literal or geographically specific.

The exhibition The Fireside and the Sanctuary will be exhibited at Format International Photography Festival 2017 and will be accompanied by a limited edition photo book with newly commissioned writing by Gemma Padley and Simon Constantine.

Image Credits;  Mark Wright, The Fireside and the Sanctuary