New Project: Mersey Ferries Artist In Residence
This summer, in partnership with Mersey Travel and National Museums Liverpool, Open Eye Gallery’s Creative Producer Liz Wewiora will be the new Mersey Ferries Artist in Residence.
From August to October 2017, Liz will be boarding the ferry and spending time with regular commuters, tourists and the Mersey Ferry staff to share and recover memories and stories of the individuals using the ferry, past and present.
As part of the project, Liz will photograph and engage with ferry-goers, documenting the immortalised ‘ferry ‘cross the Mersey’ trips. In line with her belief in socially engaged photographic practice, she’ll be taking the time to get to know the passengers and giving them the opportunity to get involved to co-create a new body of work of photographic, video and oral history context.
The project will delve into the personal stories of past events surrounding Pier Head, Seacombe & Birkenhead ferry terminals. Liz will also be providing Photostories training with Mersey Travel staff and will be collaborating with FACT’s Digital Ambassadors Over 60s group.
The work from the project will be exhibited in January 2018 at the Museum of Liverpool and Open Eye Gallery. The showcase will coincide with the Tom Wood UK premier solo show, Pierhead in Liverpool: an exhibition of his documentary photographs taken on the Mersey ferry between the 1970s – 1990s, which will be on show at Open Eye Gallery.