Blast! Festival of Photography, talks and walks, West Bromwich, Saturday 22nd June 2019

 Informal OCA Midlands group meeting organised by Allan O’Neill

We met at the Vine Pub in West Bromwich at 12 to look at Stephen Burke’s Exhibition “The Lord is my Shepherd”. Stephen joined us for the afternoon. Stephen works for GRAIN photography hub.

Stephen explained that he applied to Multistory, the commissioners in 2017 for the 2019 Blast festival, giving him a year and a half to make and present the work alongside other his other works. I thought there was a resemblance to Casey Orr’s Saturday Girl on which I saw at Hull and Derby. Colourful backgrounds relate to clothing that would be worn to West Bromwich Albion Football Matches. The clothing represents a uniform and the single images collectively form football fans at a match. Themes emerging are culture, identity and a sense of belonging. People not smiling show respect. I liked the way the vinyl images hung, looking like fans in a football stand. The work was made in three parts:

Interviews 

Fan groups such as the Polish Baggies, South Asian Supporters Groups, LGBT fans, and traditional groups were interviewed as football brings people together. Questions were asked such as when did the fans start going to the matches, explaining their sense of belonging and friendships. Stephen spoke to about 10-12 people in depth.

Photographs 

Liam Pie from West Bromwich and Stephen used pop-up studios in different place s where fans congregate to meet and speak to fans. They collected details and stayed in touch with people, kept them informed about the project and the celebration event. They photographed about 200 people over a 9-month period between September 2018 and April 2019 with about 10-50 people sitting per session.

Games 

The sound recording is live footage. The title of the work is the psalm which West Bromwich Albion fans sing. There is a parallel with the church and a sense of belonging and beliefs. People sing for social well-being.

Some of the images were printed onto vinyl and some onto wood. They have been outside for about 2 months and not noticeably showing signs of wear (but someone has scratched their name into the corner of one). They were exhibited for the last home game of the season with a sing along. Some people engaged with the work. 

Stephen Burke’s Website http://stephenpburke.com/the-lords-my-shepherd

Stephen took us on a journey of his work since graduating. He concentrates on identity and place. His one regret from his first piece of work “It’s OK around here” (2012) was not keeping contact numbers of the people he photographed and developed his working practice to include this. Other projects he was involved with were Longbridge and Austin Village. Both used archives, heritage, living memory and a celebration of place. The projects sounded really interesting and Stephen worked with a group of people such as archaeologists and historians to look at constantly shifting identities.

I could relate to Stephen’s work and began to question my Assignment 1 images which were about to go to my tutor I realised that Stephen’s work celebrates the pride of the communities he worked with and my images didn’t reflect that or the respect the ex-miners had for the colliery. I had to rethink the angle and re-write the words (So CS Assignment 1 happened to focus my thoughts).

Anne Bryson, a fellow OCA student brought a couple of tunnel books she had made from her photographs to show students. I really like the idea, so I researched Shona Grant’s tunnel books. https://www.shonagrantsart.com/artistsphoto-books

After a curry lunch moved to West Bromwich town centre to see more or the Blast festival. 

The British Muslim School Girl Gaze 

“Girl Gaze is a photographic exploration of the Punjab and diaspora communities in the Black Country through the voices of young girls and women. Bringing together newly commissioned work by four female artists: Jocelyn Allen (UK), Jennifer Pattison (UK), Andrea Fernandes (India) and Umza Mohsin (India), the exhibition explores the diverse themes regarding gender, identity, patriarchy, tradition, culture, memory, place, belonging and difference that shape the lives of women in both countries.”

I liked the apparent simplicity of Jocelyn Allen’s work. The images were stuck on the wall without frames and grouped together. Different sizes were used. It was in keeping with the venue.

Andrea Fernandes’ work utilized small images in a large frame, keeping the effect simple. I particularly liked the small cut out image with a tiny bit of image left in it. 





Dawinder Bansal explored the relationship between the first-generation South Asian women living in Sandwell and their cars. This was a fascinating film using archived photographs and oral history.

Former Poundland 

Jon Tonks - Stories from Home 

“A portrait of the Central and Eastern European communities living in Sandwell, home to the biggest Polish population in the UK. Jon Tonk’s photographs were made over a 2-year period and against the backdrop of the divisive geopolitical rhetoric following the 2016 EU referendum. The exhibition explores the cultural identity and hopes and fears for the future of these communities and asks the question that reaches beyond borders: What binds a community to make a place home? 

Photo’s in an exhibition don’t have to be big, but the wall hanging was impressive, reminiscent of a school photo, it featured the whole community. When enlarged to this size and printed, it was still sharp enough for faces to be recognisable. We chatted to Stephen about the photographic process.

Caravan Gallery 

“Using photography as a starting point, Jan Williams and Chris Teasdale of the Caravan Gallery are working with local people to create a portrait of each of Sandwell’s six towns that will result in a Sandwell Pride of Place Project exhibition that will grow and evolve throughout the festival as visitors add their own Sandwell related contributions in any medium.”

Love the tyres. May be an idea as an artefact later on? I’m collecting things at the moment and I can’t see it being too difficult to find tyres. The disposal of them afterwards may be an issue? I still like the postcard on racks idea as an interactive way of handling photographs. 

Indoor Market Kings Square Shopping Centre 

“Nilupa Yasmin was drawn to the markets in Sandwell because they are a place where people from diverse backgrounds come together. Her photographs are woven together to create colourful, and complex patterned images that reflect the people and products for sale.”

These images remind me of memories an elderly relative would share about the markets in Birmingham. This was really impressive work and having some experience of playing with strips of photographs in my last course, I can only begin to imagine the work which has gone into these huge hangings. The cut photographs were very tactile. I preferred them to the digital version.

Thanks to Allan for organising such an enjoyable event. Thanks to Stephen for sharing an insight into the life as a working photographer and answering all the questions! Alan is planning a few further events so fingers crossed I can participate.

References

Blast! (2019) Blast! Festival of photography, talks and walks 24th May-29th June 2019 West Bromwich. Town centre (Indoor Market, British Muslim School, Former Poundland)