Tim Mills, Picturing England’s High Streets
For the past year, artist Tim Mills has been working as Photographer in Residence in Coventry, part of Picturing High Streets, a national cultural programme for High Street Heritage Action Zones.
Using a socially engaged approach working alongside local communities, Tim has created a contemporary response to The Burges, one of the few traditional historic high street areas surviving in Coventry.
Operating within a small, localised geographical area and, informed by industries that defined the city of the past and those that shape it today, he has explored the exchange of goods and services by engaging with shop owners and the wider community in photographic acts and workshops, harnessing the skills and expertise of local businesses to create the art works.
Tim has produced a range of small, experimental studies that continue his preoccupation with ideas of transience, place, heritage and community. Using photography, moving image, sound, textiles and performance, the collaborative outcomes feature multiple authors and voices.
From 12 th November to 27 th November, a selection of these outcomes will be displayed as public interventions in and around The Burges and Palmer Lane, with the aim of establishing a dialogue between concept, content and place.
An Historic England, Photoworks and GRAIN Projects commission.
Tim Mils, Photographers Talk
17th November, 6 PM – 7.30 PM
Zoom, Free to attend, Book here
During this talk Tim will discuss and share the multiple approaches he has undertaken to engage with communities of The Burgess and the outcomes created during the residency.
Tim Mills
Tim Mills will be working with GRAIN Projects in Coventry and local partners the Historic Coventry Trust, Culture Coventry, Coventry University, Coventry City Council and Coventry City of Culture Trust. Mills uses photography and reappropriated archive material to explore and engage with communities and place. His work is often presented as installations within public contexts and outdoor locations.
Mills said “From the stories of my Dad’s red velvet wedding suit purchased on the Burges, my Mum’s performances at The Coventry Theatre on Hales Street, to my Aunt providing blindfolded mystery tours of the city in a wheelbarrow during the 1950’s, Coventry has always been central to my family’s history. My work explores photographic archives, memory, community and place and what that means for our future, so I am thrilled by the creative potential of this project during a significant moment for the city.”
