Blog

Photocafe - November 8th

November 01, 2017
The next PHOTOCAFE will take place on Wednesday 8th November '17 from 7pm at 1000 Trades Bar and Kitchen in Birmingham.  ›
Photocafe - November 8th

How Did "Cities" Become So Racialised?

October 30, 2017
William Goldsmith, Professor Emeritus of City and Regional Planning at Cornell University, discusses his new book "Saving Our Cities: A Progressive Plan to Transform Urban America"    ›
How Did "Cities" Become So Racialised?

The Floating Signifier

October 23, 2017
"Race is a signifier which can be linked to other signifiers in a representation. Its meaning is relational and it is constantly subject to redefinition in different cultures, different moments.... ›
The Floating Signifier

Autograph ABP / Light Works Residency

October 09, 2017
I'm really pleased to announce that I have been selected to be the 2018 Autograph ABP nominee for the New York based Light Works Residency.  It's a great honour and privilege to be selected; I'm... ›
Autograph ABP / Light Works Residency

Out of the frying pan...into the fire...

September 25, 2017
In light of The Guardian's recent feature, describing that, "Barely 3% of Britain’s most powerful and influential people are from black and minority ethnic groups..[highlighting] startling... ›
Out of the frying pan...into the fire...

...being in one place and thinking of another...

September 22, 2017
Hurvin Anderson was born in 1965 in Birmingham and lives and works in London. His paintings draw on the genres of still-life, landscape and portraiture to explore the way community and identity can... ›
...being in one place and thinking of another...

OPEN EYE GALLERY – CULTURE SHIFTS: LOCAL - 6TH OCT - 22nd DEC 2017

September 20, 2017
I'm currently out in Montreal (yes, get me) developing a project; but I wished that I was able to have attended the launch of Culture Shifts: Local, last night, a new exhibition of collaboratively... ›
OPEN EYE GALLERY – CULTURE SHIFTS: LOCAL - 6TH OCT - 22nd DEC 2017

Computer Riot

September 20, 2017
In her first feature-length documentary, director Mina Shum (Double Happiness) takes a penetrating look at the Sir George Williams University riot of February 1969, when a protest against... ›
Computer Riot

Knights of the Raj - Exhibition

September 07, 2017
"Birmingham is home to hundreds of so-called Indian restaurants. However, many are unaware that it is the Bangladeshi community that pioneered this industry, laying the foundations for Britain’s ... ›
Knights of the Raj - Exhibition

Venice Biennale - New Voices

September 04, 2017
Really happy to see my friend Barbara Walker in the spotlight in this film currently on BBC iplayer   "In this film made before the Grenfell Tower tragedy, presenter Brenda Emmanus follows a... ›
Venice Biennale - New Voices

Streets apart: The History of Social Housing

August 31, 2017
BBC iplayer has a timely and very welcome new series available on iplayer now about the history of social housing.   "In 1842, Friedrich Engels went to work in his father's Salford mill. Shocked... ›
Streets apart: The History of Social Housing

The next PhotoCafe is on 27th September with award winning photographer Anand Chhabra.

August 25, 2017
The next PhotoCafe is on 27th September with award winning photographer Anand Chhabra.

After Photography: The Linguistics of Online Image Exchange | Charlie White |

August 22, 2017
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After Photography: The Linguistics of Online Image Exchange | Charlie White |

Can art amend history?

August 20, 2017
...why do some have to walk?    ›
Can art amend history?

Mr. President

August 18, 2017
We're all up in arms this week about Donald. J. Trump being a racist, just like his daddy, as if somehow this is a freak occurrence that disrespects the integrity of the office of the Presidency,... ›
Mr. President

....there's no stopping me now: Support Sabiha's Chronic illness Journey

August 17, 2017
"Today I made it from the bed, down some stairs and to the sofa. There's no stopping me now" Sabiha Mahmoud     I first met Sabiha a few years ago, after she was a panelist at an event which... ›
....there's no stopping me now: Support Sabiha's Chronic illness Journey

The Bitter and the Sublime: preserving the memory

August 14, 2017
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The Bitter and the Sublime: preserving the memory

The African Photography Network

August 14, 2017
African Photography Network is an online resource for African photography. By uniting and showcasing photographers it seeks to raise awareness of what is happening in the field of photography in... ›
The African Photography Network

Shashamane: In search of a Promised Land

August 10, 2017
“We’ve been… Niggers right? From Niggers we went to Negroes, from Negroes we went to Blacks, from Blacks we went to African Americans, so they keep calling us with different names. And why? When... ›
Shashamane: In search of a Promised Land

Exotic Detail in the Margin

August 08, 2017
I was really pleased to see that artist Barbara Walker had been shortlisted for the Jerwood Drawing Prize. "The largest and longest-running annual open exhibition for drawing in the UK, presented... ›
Exotic Detail in the Margin

A day late and a dollar short: Jamaican Independence

August 06, 2017
  LIFE AND DEBT from Jón Stefánsson on Vimeo.   "...crippled but not forgotten..." (Pathe commentary 1.44 mins in)  Reference (click on links below). Citiblog  The Gleaner  The Guardian   ›
A day late and a dollar short: Jamaican Independence

MoAD Presents - A conversation with Shantrelle P. Lewis - Curator of Dandy Lion

August 05, 2017
MoAD Presents - A conversation with Shantrelle P. Lewis - Curator of Dandy Lion from Museum of the African Diaspora on Vimeo. ›
MoAD Presents - A conversation with Shantrelle P. Lewis - Curator of Dandy Lion

Modes of Representation

July 26, 2017
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Modes of Representation

"Black Innocence"

July 26, 2017
in·no·cenceˈinəsənsnounthe state, quality, or fact of being innocent of a crime or offense."they must prove their innocence"synonyms: guiltlessness, blamelessness, irreproachability"he protested... ›
"Black Innocence"

States of becoming

July 26, 2017
'In this selection from his archive, Dennis Morris gives us a beautifully well-judged and eloquent portrait of the black diaspora, frozen at a particular moment in time. It is pregnant with... ›
States of becoming

Bringing the subject to the centre

July 25, 2017
"For me the thing that has the greatest transformative capacity in the art world today, in terms of what people expect to see when they go to the art museum, is a painting that has a black figure... ›
Bringing the subject to the centre

The Affordances of Terrain: Teju Cole

July 12, 2017
"When I'm not there, I long for it, but what I long for is the feeling of being an outsider there and, soon after, the feeling of leaving again so I can continue to long for it" Teju Cole What... ›
The Affordances of Terrain: Teju Cole

Light on Surface

July 10, 2017
I photographed a young woman last Friday, for an assignment, whom two years before, when she was 21, was standing at a bus stop with her best friend waiting to go to a hen do. Until a boy racer... ›
Light on Surface

Border/Talks: A Conversation with John Akomfrah on Sea-Migration, Borders, and Art

July 06, 2017
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Border/Talks: A Conversation with John Akomfrah on Sea-Migration, Borders, and Art

Ghosts

July 05, 2017
GHOSTS In the early hours of a rural morning in Jamaica, in that small space in time before the sun rises and the moon leaves us, my father tells me that when he was a boy, he once saw a ghost... ›
Ghosts

Linton Kwesi Johnson - Inglan Is A Bitch

July 03, 2017
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Linton Kwesi Johnson - Inglan Is A Bitch

Our Jamaican problem - 17/01/1955

July 03, 2017
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Our Jamaican problem - 17/01/1955

The Cartographer tries to map a way to Zion

July 03, 2017
Currently listening to...   "And the ras says it's all a Babylon conspiracy de bloodclawt immappancy of dis world— maps which throughout time have gripped like girdles to make his people... ›
The Cartographer tries to map a way to Zion

Looking through Ruben. H. Bermudez's book at Photoespana 2017

July 03, 2017
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Looking through Ruben. H. Bermudez's book at Photoespana 2017

The Fishermen - Chigozie Obioma

July 03, 2017
 Currently listening to...   "Listen, days decay, like food, like fish, like dead bodies. This night will decay, too and you will forget. Listen, we will forget."   Guardian review ›
The Fishermen - Chigozie Obioma

Overcoming the Colonial Tool: 'Artscape - The New African Photography'

July 01, 2017
Overcoming the Colonial Tool: Artscape - The New African Photography Produced by Al Jazeera Artscape, "The New African Photography" looks at this fast-changing continent through the eyes of an... ›
Overcoming the Colonial Tool: 'Artscape - The New African Photography'

How racism makes us sick | David R. Williams

June 29, 2017
HOW RACISM MAKES US SICK | DAVID R. WILLIAMS    ›
How racism makes us sick | David R. Williams

Black America - Documenting Our Existence in Photography

June 29, 2017
Black America - Documenting Our Existence in Photography “If it were not for Debra Willis,” artist Dawoud Bey says near the end of Thomas Allen Harris’s documentary Through a Lens Darkly: Black... ›
Black America - Documenting Our Existence in Photography

John Edwin Mason | Visual Justice: Gordon Parks’ American Photographs

June 29, 2017
John Edwin Mason | Visual Justice: Gordon Parks’ American Photographs "I suffered evils, but without allowing them to rob me of the freedom to expand." John Edwin Mason | Visual Justice:... ›
John Edwin Mason | Visual Justice: Gordon Parks’ American Photographs

Roy DeCarava

June 28, 2017
ROY DECARAVA on Charlie Rose Roy DeCarava on his MoMA exhibition and book entitled, "Retrospective. “I don’t really think that the technique really determines the veracity of the image. It’s what... ›
Roy DeCarava

Who stole the soul?

June 27, 2017
Black America Again - Common - directed by Bradford Young  ›
Who stole the soul?

What responsibility does an artist have to their own community?

June 25, 2017
What responsibility does an artist have to their own community?  We often ask ourselves, who is our audience?  But what increasingly I've been asking myself is what responsibility do I have, as... ›
What responsibility does an artist have to their own community?

Criminal Injustice

May 08, 2017
Criminal Injustice    ›
Criminal Injustice

Falling Down

February 05, 2015
FALLING DOWN A bitter wind blows in through the vents of the laundry room on the nineteenth floor of Barry Jackson Tower.  Youths, who have eased themselves past security, to build and then burn,... ›
Falling Down

Monday Music: It Never Entered My Mind

December 29, 2014
  I've often looked at the cover photo (below) and wondered about the composition...the placement of the steamroller...the man crossing the road...was it just a snap?  A shot at the start of the... ›
Monday Music: It Never Entered My Mind

Emmet Gowin

January 16, 2015
Emmet Gowin “We don’t tell everything we know about ourselves. We tell those things that we feel have a chance poetically of fitting back into life and that means fitting back into the feelings of... ›
Emmet Gowin

PhotoEspana 2017

June 23, 2017
PhotoEspana 2017 I had a brief trip out to Madrid recently and caught some of the Photoespana festival. Like any festival there are things which light your fire and others which don't but I was... ›
PhotoEspana 2017

Dispossession: The Great Social Housing Swindle - Extended Trailer

June 23, 2017
Dispossession: The Great Social Housing Swindle - Extended Trailer It was a great pleasure to meet the director Paul Sng and to more importantly be asked to be involved in his upcoming book.  ›
Dispossession: The Great Social Housing Swindle - Extended Trailer

State of Photography Symposium

June 23, 2017
It was a great privilege to be a speaker alongside such a great line up of speakers at the symposium on June 16th.  ›
State of Photography Symposium

PhotoCafe Free Event - July 5th

June 23, 2017
PhotoCafe Free Event - July 5th All are welcome to the next PhotoCafe free event on July 5th at 1000 Trades with our speakers on the night Richard Lambert and Walter Rothwell. We're looking... ›
PhotoCafe Free Event - July 5th