Launch event: The Flowers Still Grow
Thursday 12 September, 6 – 8 pm / RSVP
Join us for the celebration of our new exhibition, The Flowers Still Grow, which brings together a series of projects that showcase long-term collaborations between photographers, creative writers, and local communities in Anfield and Garston. Each project celebrates the people who make up these communities whilst reflecting their concerns, experiences, and aspirations of the society around them.
People of Anfield and Childhood is a garden, co-created with communities in Anfield and Garston, are the result of two year creative residencies commissioned by Open Eye Gallery and Culture Liverpool. The show also includes Next Up…, our annual graduate showcase of work from the MA in Socially Engaged Photography course at the University of Salford, and Social Lens: Celebrating Creative Collaborations (exterior walls), a celebration of the collaborative projects we have produced over the past 8 years.
We live in uncertain times around the world today, and the exhibition represents how multiple voices have explored these concerns within their own local context. Some projects focus on the inevitability and concerns of redevelopment of suburban landscapes, and the impact of issues like austerity and the Covid pandemic have had on people living and working here in the UK. Others focus on the need for more opportunities and spaces for communities to come together to tackle issues of loneliness, poor mental health and something we all deserve: the right to be creative and play.
Liz Wewiora, Open Eye Gallery’s Head of Social Practice, said: “Open Eye Gallery has been working in collaboration with artists and communities to explore how photography can act as a tool to amplify often hidden voices in our society for the past 8 years. The voices in this particular exhibition range from 7-year-olds to people in their 80s; people who live down the road and people who have travelled a long way to be here. It has been a pleasure to work with the photographers, both established and recent graduates, over the past two years to realise these projects. They are a testament to the power of community spirit, collaborative work with our community partners and, of course, creativity.”
Thursday 12 September, 6 – 8 pm / RSVP
Join us for the celebration of our new exhibition, The Flowers Still Grow, which brings together a series of projects that showcase long-term collaborations between photographers, creative writers, and local communities in Anfield and Garston. Each project celebrates the people who make up these communities whilst reflecting their concerns, experiences, and aspirations of the society around them.
People of Anfield and Childhood is a garden, co-created with communities in Anfield and Garston, are the result of two year creative residencies commissioned by Open Eye Gallery and Culture Liverpool. The show also includes Next Up…, our annual graduate showcase of work from the MA in Socially Engaged Photography course at the University of Salford, and Social Lens: Celebrating Creative Collaborations (exterior walls), a celebration of the collaborative projects we have produced over the past 8 years.
We live in uncertain times around the world today, and the exhibition represents how multiple voices have explored these concerns within their own local context. Some projects focus on the inevitability and concerns of redevelopment of suburban landscapes, and the impact of issues like austerity and the Covid pandemic have had on people living and working here in the UK. Others focus on the need for more opportunities and spaces for communities to come together to tackle issues of loneliness, poor mental health and something we all deserve: the right to be creative and play.
Liz Wewiora, Open Eye Gallery’s Head of Social Practice, said: “Open Eye Gallery has been working in collaboration with artists and communities to explore how photography can act as a tool to amplify often hidden voices in our society for the past 8 years. The voices in this particular exhibition range from 7-year-olds to people in their 80s; people who live down the road and people who have travelled a long way to be here. It has been a pleasure to work with the photographers, both established and recent graduates, over the past two years to realise these projects. They are a testament to the power of community spirit, collaborative work with our community partners and, of course, creativity.”
