TRAVELLING GALLERY EXHIBITION
Reclaiming Our Cultural Landscapes 2017
Reclaim Photography Festival 2017 is proud to announce: Reclaiming Our Cultural Landscapes; a special travelling gallery exhibition, hosted by Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (6-21 May 2017) and Wolverhampton Art Gallery (23 May – 7 June 2017). The exhibition will showcase 30 prints, selected from our Festival submissions. We also invited John Myers, Liz Hingley and Nick Hedges to join our exhibitors.
This special travelling exhibition will offer emerging artists, the public and young people the opportunity to showcase their creativity and to exhibit their work alongside our established and international photographers. So we were honoured to invite British artist, Richard Billingham, to be our Festival Adjudicator.
For the first time, we are able to offer professional awards for some of our gallery exhibitors and we are grateful to everyone who has generously offered these prestigious opportunities. We would like to thank Richard Billingham; Jennie Anderson, Argentea Gallery; Emma Stone and Rankin, Rankin; Dr Michael Pritchard, The Royal Photographic Society; Caron Wright and Emma Chetcuti, Multistory; Michael Kirchoff, BLUR Magazine; Carl Hopley; Peter Hodgson; Sandwell College and our team of Festival curators who assisted with the awards selection.
This year’s spring Festival is supported using public funding by Arts Council England. We would also like to thank Andrew Fowles, Birmingham Museums Trust; Tess Radcliffe, Marguerite Nugent, Mark Biddulph and Niki Harriet, Wolverhampton Art Gallery; Steve, Palm Laboratories; Nick Taylor, KBM Framing Services; George, George Craig Consultancy; Will Farmer, Fieldings Auctioneers; Rob Grose, Art & Technical Services; Tom Bangham, Phoenix Web Solutions, and David Waldron & Richard Franklin, Sandwell College.
Prints from this gallery exhibition and our one day event were auctioned by Will Farmer, Fieldings Auctioneers, in support of St Basils charity on Friday 7 July 2017 (5-8pm) at the Edwardian Tearooms, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, Chamberlain Square, Birmingham B3 3DH. The auction was not for profit and was not publicly funded. View the exhibition brochure on ISSU here.
Nick Hedges
Street Scene, Leeds, 1970s
40 x 27cm Epson Archival print (semi-gloss), signed
This photograph is of an elderly lady at the end of her street, and two boys playing tag. It was part of a survey made for Shelter of housing in the inner cities between 1968-1972.
www.nickhedgesphotography.co.uk
Vembri Waluyas (Indonesia)
The Change of Papua Face, 2016
38.1 x 25.4cm
Honai, Central Highland, Papuan tribes’ traditional house. The roof was originally made from pampas grass. The modernisation, brought along with the operation of mining companies here, has reduced the Papuan forest. It is now hard to find the grass, therefore the Honai use tarpaulin for the roof. It is a kind of compensation taken from Corporate Social Responsibility. This photograph is part of my long-term project of Papuan tragedy. timurjalan.wordpress.com
Dima Zharov & Liza Zhakova (Russia) The Wilderness, Assorino Village, Kostroma Region, Russia, July 2016
38.1 x 25.4cm
Dima Zharov & Liza Zhakova are documentary photographers from St. Petersburg, Russia. This image is from our collaborative series, ‘Desert’ – a project about people who remain the last inhabitants of the Russian deserted villages. The inhabitants left them because of poor roads, lack of schools and hospitals, as well as electricity. Those who stayed refer to this area as Desert. zhakovazharov.ru
Stephanie Foden (Canada) Stranger Things, 2016
38.1 x 25.4cm
The present work, with its intimate portrayals of a five-month road trip aboard a crumbling motorhome, is the realization of an age–‐old dream — to roam about remote bits of Canada equipped with scarce resources and a borderline naïve sense of wonder. www.stephaniefoden.com
Simon Clay (UK) Hitching a Ride with Evel Knievel, 1998
38.1 x 25.96cm
Simon Clay and journalist Richard Fleury were invited to spend a week with Evel Knievel, in the late 90s, as part of their American Road Idols series of feature articles. In the photograph, Evel is swearing aggressively during a tirade about Monica Lewinsky, of whom he wasn’t a big fan. www.simonclay.com
Carolina Sandretto (USA) Marilena from the series Vivir Con, 2016
30.48 x 30.48cm
Marilena lives in a Solar in Havana, Cuba. In her small and old apartment, she lives with her parents, her husband, and her 10-year-old daughter. Like her, many Cubans strive in their everyday life. ‘Vivir Con’ is a series of portrait of Cubans and their home. www.carolinasandretto.com
Abraham (UK) A Path for One, 2016
25.4 x 38.1cm
My name is Abe, I’m a 17-year-old photography student studying at Newcastle Under Lyme College. This image was created to help show the journey of a college student and the way everyone else seems irrelevant when you are pursuing the future that you want.
Amanda Jackson (UK) Adam and Sian, Volunteers, 2015
38.1 x 31.06cm
The photograph, ‘Adam and Sian, Volunteers’ is part of the series ‘To Build A Home: A study of the people of Lammas Tir Y Gafel Eco Village and the surrounding community’, which focuses on the North Pembrokeshire settlement near Glandwr.
www.amandajaxn.co.uk
Tanya Houghton (UK) Natalie, A Migrant’s Tale, Plate 7, 2016
38.1 x 26.39cm
Tanya Houghton b.1985 is a British photographer. The image Natalie is taken from her recent body of work ‘A Migrant’s Tale’. Working with migrant’s, Houghton explores our connections to home through the language of food, proposing that we are all migrant’s continuously travelling to and from a cognitive home we carry within.
www.tanyahoughton.com
Justas (UK) Candy Shop, 2016
38.1 x 25.4cm
Our class went on a residential trip to Yorkshire to take photographs for our project ‘Cultural Landscapes’. When I saw the man with his dog, randomly standing next to this old candy shop, I had an opportunity to capture the moment before they walked away.
Leila Collins (UK) Silk, 2015
38.1 x 25.27cm
This shot was taken at Hackney Carnival in London, in September 2015. It was shot on 35mm film, on an Olympus XA2. I was drawn to the pastel colour palette, as well as the contrast between the woman’s grave expression and the grandeur and extravagance of her attire. digitallionldn.blogspot.co.uk
John Myers
Nicola and Donny Osmond, 1973
20.32 x 25.78cm silver bromide print, pencil signed and dated 2015
John Myers’ portraits, boring photographs, televisions, houses and sub stations collectively known as Middle England were taken in the small town of Stourbridge between 1972 and 1979. www.johnmyersphotographs.com
Aleksandra Nowysz (Poland) Tufo, 2016
38.1 x 25.4cm
Tuff is a type of white rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Sassi is a habitat excavated in tuff rock. Furthermore, it is an example of vernacular architecture – made without architects. Here the city is an extension of the natural landscape. This is a productive landscape and an inhabited one. www.instagram.com/aleksandranowysz
Wojciech Ryzinski (Ireland) Hurling, 2013
38.1 x 25.31cm
In a conversation with my Irish friends, I have, at once, compared Hurling to a religion. I was then told that this is something way more serious. This project’s goal is to show behind the scenes of Hurling. www.ryzinski.com
Nicola Onions (UK) Ephemeral VI, 2014
38.1 x 25.5cm
‘Ephemeral VI’ is taken from Onion’s project ‘Ephemeral’, an exploration of the artist’s grandparents memories and Alzheimer’s disease. The ice encasing the images changes through time, as it melts. This visualises how the disease distorts and effects memories and shows how transient life is.
cargocollective.com/nicolaonions
Paul Biddle (UK) The Figure Flinger, 2016
38.1 x 31.75cm
My latest series is about Cabinets of Curiosity and Rooms of Wonder. It’s about Man as avid collector and pillager of the Natural World to the detriment of that world, as symbolised by the Dodo. paulbiddle.com
Paul Schatzberger (UK) Central Park, 2005
38.1 x 27.24cm
Originally struck by the Lowryesque figures in Central Park, New York, skating round incongruously bright traffic cones, the skyscrapers disappearing into atmospheric low cloud, I find that this photograph now takes on new meaning with the Trump signs on the perimeter. 6x7cm colour negative, Mamiya 7 with 65mm lens, 2005.
www.paulschatzberger.com
Yangkun Shi (UK) Hometown, 2016
38.1 x 32.66cm
This image is selected from the Solastalgia project, which is about a young Chinese generation exploring memories and seeking identities, in the context of tremendous change in China. By taking photos in order to describe the social reality, from my perspective, the project not only questions the impact of the industrialisation, but also reflects my uncertainties under a particular environment. www.shiyangkun.com
David Waldron (UK) School Visit 2, 2000
38.1 x 30.48cm
As a photographer and educator, opportunities to photograph in schools presents itself from time to time. An educational trip to Goa, working on compare and contrast exercises with photographic students, led us to observe class groups in social and working situations. School visit 2 shows the pupils being enthusiastically led outside, for a short break from class – just like they do in college at home.
Suzanne Plunkett (UK) Semi-detached, 2016
38.1 x 23.9cm
l’ve long been fascinated by British semi-detached houses that clearly began as symmetrical halves but have, over the years, morphed into two very different and distinctive sides with little in common beyond being joined at the hip. Both sides tell their own stories about their occupants and the surrounding neighbourhood. www.suzanneplunkett.com
Verena Andrea Prenner (Austria) Europe Now, 2013
30.48 x 30.48cm
EUROPE NOW is an artistic reflection on the current situation in Europe. www.verenaprenner.com
Nicholas Priest (UK) Untitled, 2009
38.1 x 25.33cm
This photograph taken from my ongoing series ‘Stadt Farbe’ (city colour), which depicts real life Birmingham. As I moved here to study, I found myself seeing the real Birmingham. Living in Perry Barr, Ladywood, other suburban areas; I saw what Birmingham was really about: abandoned, uncontrolled, decaying, untidy and misused, yet beautiful and full of colour. www.nicholaspriest.com
Liz Hingley
Narwal Fatima, Ayeman Ferdos and their great-grandfather Khadam Hussain
From the series ‘Home Made in Smethwick’ commissioned and produced by Multistory. 30 x 20cm
Liz Hingley is a British photographer and anthropologist. This image is taken from ‘Home Made in Smethwick’ an intimate photographic series, produced in a book, of the people and the food cooked in Smethwick in the Black Country, one of the most culturally diverse towns in the UK. www.lizhingley.com
Annie Risemberg (USA) Untitled 2, 2016
38.1 x 25.4cm
I took this photo while I was in Bamako, Mali, to document the Tabaski (Eid al-adha) and Independence Day holidays. I found this group of children sitting in the garden commemorating Mali’s 50th anniversary of independence from France. www.annierisemberg.com
Luke (UK) Separated, 2016
38.1 x 25.4cm
I have been a photographer for around two and a half years and I am happy to photograph almost anything if asked to. I currently study photography at Matthew Boulton College.
John Fallon (UK) James Bridge Copper Works, Walsall, 2016
38.1 x 30.02cm
This image is from a larger project entitled ’1974’, which views the industrial and commercial landscape of the region as left over and abandoned relics.
‘1974’ is the year when the West Midlands county was formed at a significant time in British history in terms of politics, industry and culture. www.johnfallon.org
Anna Magérusz (Hungary) Night Owls, 2012
38.1 x 25.4cm
This picture was taken in 2012, in a traditional old bar called Piaf, in Budapest. I photographed people and situations from the night life. You have to ring the bell to get in the bar. Inside the place, it feels like you are travelling backwards in time. annamagerusz.tumblr.com
Mattia Vacca (Italy) S’ Ardia, 2016
30.48 x 30.48cm
In Barbagia, a mountainous area in central-eastern Sardinia, locals still live respecting ancient traditions. Every year, the bravest horse riders of the Italian island, participate in the wild and unrestrained race ‘S’Ardia’. They run for celebrating a warrior saint never approved by the Vatican Church. Not for money or glory. www.mattiavacca.it
Dániel Halász (Hungary/USA) Untitled, GYDA, Uganda, 2015
25.4 x 38.1cm
Daniel Halasz (1981, Hungary) is a photographer and videographer who has travelled extensively around the world and is the recipient of numerous grand prizes, such as the Google Saatchi Photography Prize and the Epson Art Photo Award. He was nominated as one of the best young artists in Europe in 2011 and is a top artist of PLATTFORM 10 at the Fotomuseum Winterthur in Switzerland.
www.danielhalasz.com
Tom Illsley (UK) Aircraft Taking Off Over Hatchford Brook, 2016
38.1 x 30.48cm
There’s No Herons Today. Birmingham Airport receives thousands of international passengers daily. These visitors travel from the four corners of the globe, flying over the surrounding area without intricately seeing the beauty of the landscape below. This series of images highlights the landscape and its history to these travellers that frequent the sky above. www.tomillsley.com
John Hodgett (UK) National Memorial Arboretum, 2016
38.1 x 25.7cm reserve
I never leave my home without a camera, and although I rarely seek out subjects to photograph, I do stumble across situations that I want to preserve and share.
Jolita Mo (UK) One Day in Summer, 2014
38.1 x 25.25cm
Jolita Mo is a London-based designer and photographer who works mainly with film. ‘One Day in Summer’ was shot at Coney Island, New York on colour slide film. The film was cross-processed to create surreal, over-saturated colours, playing the notion of nostalgia and timelessness. www.jolitamo.com
Laura-May (UK) Fishbowl, 2017
38.1 x 25.4cm
This image is part of a project on surreal landscapes. I experimented by photographing different objects inside lightbulbs in various landscapes.