First Light – New Northern Photo Graduates

First Light Spotlight
Connecting new photography with new writing

Open Rooms will be hosting a season of talks in partnership with Waterside as we approach the launch of the exhibition, First Light – New Northern Photo Graduates in the spring/summer 2021.

The exhibition, devised by Waterside’s Mario Popham, brings together works by 13 photographers who have graduated from the region’s educational institutions in 2020.

Open Eye Gallery’s writer in residence, Laura Robertson will be producing a special First Light edition of Tilt (Open Eye Gallery’s in-house zine) featuring 13 commissioned pieces of new writing that responds to the selected photographic works.

This season of talks, chaired by Laura and Mario, will bring together the photographers, writers and educators who are central to this project. Together they will discuss the ideas and inspiration behind the images, the potential for collaboration across disciplines, the relationship between the image and the word and the role educators play in the early development of artistic practice.

Event Calendar

• March 16 – Connecting new photography with writing

Introduction with Sarah Fisher, Mario Popham, Laura Robertson

• March 30 – Corrupted Archives

Laura Robertson, Schnel Franzine, Eleanor Woodley and Andrew Moseley UCEN

• April 13 – Unearthly Matter

Mario Popham, David Ketley, Laura Robertson, Michele Lazenby Photography BA (Hons) Sheffield Hallam University

• April 27 – After Nature

Laura Robertson, Sam Wallis and Robin Fanner, John Van Aitken Photography MA UCLan

• May 11 – Parallel Histories

Laura Robertson, Nathan Johnson, Jack Ryder and Brian Morrison BA (Hons) Photography at UCLAN

• May 25 – Things Are Strange

Mario Popham, Dan Commons, Jack Hook, Phil Welding BA (Hons) Photography at Leeds Art University

• June 8 – Networked Beings

Mario Popham, Talulla Greenwood, Matthew Thomas and Richard Page BA (Hons) Photography at Manchester School of Art

• June 22 – Interior Tension

Mario Popham, Kayleigh Cleminson and David Lockwood BA (Hons) Photography and Digitl Imaging at Hugh Baird University Centre