CLASSROOM PORTRAITS BOOK AVAILABLE

Just a heads up, for those of you still looking for an affordable copy, the Prestel edition of Classroom Portraits seems to be available from at least one Amazon seller for £40 at the moment.

CHILDHOODS - SIDE GALLERY

Side Gallery, 5-9 Side, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 3JE, UK
Saturday 1st October - Sunday 27th November, 2016. 
Tuesday-Saturday 11- 5

Delighted to be part of the exhibition that is relaunching the Side Gallery after its redevelopment. The show includes a selection of the Classroom Portraits alongside work by 11 other photographers and film makers, all of which reflects upon childhood in one way or another. It's great that the Side have classic material such as Wendy Ewald's wonderful Portraits and Dreams and Chris Killip's Seacoal in their collection as well as lesser known gems such as Tish Murtha's Juvenile Jazz Bands. The show also features recently completed or ongoing projects (that I have yet to see) by the likes of Kai Wiedenhoefer and Liz Hingley.

THE FUTURE IS OURS - TOWNER ART GALLERY

The first British showing of the global Classroom Portraits series opens tomorrow evening at Towner Gallery, Eastbourne. For opening times and information please see here.

The show features some 60 framed pieces while smaller scale work and research material is displayed in vitrines. Also included are a series of Classroom Portrait videos as well as newly commissioned video portraits of individual pupils.

I will be giving an illustrated talk about this and other projects on Saturday 10th at 2 pm

HIDDEN PRESENCE, CARDIFF.

Sugar Factory Road, St Kitts, 2015. © Julian Germain

Customs House, Bute Street, Cardiff.
October 1- 31. Open Tues - Sat 11-5

In 2014 Julian Germain was commissioned to respond to the life story of Nathaniel Wells (1779 - 1852) who was born into slavery on the island of St Kitts in the Caribbean, the illegitimate child of a slave woman and sugar plantation owner. Extraordinarily, at the age of 9, Nathaniel was sent to Britain to be educated and he subsequently inherited his father’s fortune, along with the sugar plantations and slaves, including his own mother. In 1802, at the age of only 23 and a ‘black’ man of African descent, he purchased one of the finest houses in Wales, Piercefield House near Chepstow. From there, he lived the life of a country gentleman and became a magistrate, deputy lieutenant and County Sheriff.

Germain has retraced the steps of Nathaniel Wells from his now derelict estate at Piercefield to his birthplace in the West Indies. The images reflect upon the sugar industry, slavery and colonialism - the ongoing significance of the deep historical links between the two locations, as well as how the social and economic landscape continues to necessitate migration and how this movement of people affects everyday life in Wales.

The exhibition is sited in the near derelict Custom's House in the Cardiff Bay / port area of the city. In the 1950's and 60's, new immigrants from the West Indies would disembark from their passenger ship and be directed to the building for registration.

Hidden Presence is part of DIFFUSION, the Cardiff International Festival of Photography 

Sugar Factory Road, St Kitts, 2015. © Julian Germain

Remains of the Vambelles Sugar Estate, St Kitts, 2015. © Julian Germain

Brilliant Car Wash, Cwmbran, 2015. © Julian Germain

Hidden Presence, Custom's House, Cardiff, 2015. © Julian Germain

Piercefield House, Chepstow, 2015. © Julian Germain

NO OLHO DA RUA, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Centro Municipal de Arte Hélio Oiticica
Hélio Oiticica Municipal Art Centre, August 1st - 19th September.

The No Olho da Rua Collective, that last surfaced at the Photo Bienial in Brighton nearly 3 years ago, is participating in the group show Album de Familia curated by Daniella Geo at the Centro Municipal de Arte Hélio Oiticica in Rio de Janeiro. A brand new, 16 page large format No Olho da Rua newspaper is featured and is available free to gallery visitors and NODR flyposters are posted in the surrounding streets.

Front and back cover of the new newspaper (top). NODR flyposters on walls in the surrounding area

The rest of the exhibition features a host of well known artists including, Candice Breitz, Bill Viola, Gillian Wearing, Rosangela Renno and Richard Billingham, to name but a few, and I believe a catalogue will be published soon.

BOOK SIGNINGS - PHOTO LONDON / OFFPRINT

This Saturday 23rd May:

I'll be signing 3rd edition of For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness:

Photo London 3 - 4 pm. MACK / Booth P5, Great Arch Hall, Embankment Level, Somerset House, Strand, WC2R 1LA


Offprint 5 - 6 pm. MACK / Turbine Hall, Tate Modern, SE1 9TG.

Offprint is free, just wander in. You need to buy tickets for Photo London.

The Curves of the Needle @ Baltic 39 until May 17th

by Julian Germain from The Curves of the Needle - photo © Colin Davison

The Curves of the Needle is a group exhibition of contemporary art inspired by the unexpected resurgence of interest in the vinyl record.The show features a fascinating range of material, from album cover artwork to installations, videos, photographic works etc that explore the cultural significance of the era of vinyl, as well as the actual physical nature of analogue sound emanating from the grooves of a record.

alt.vinyl, Sam Belinfante, The Basement Group, David Blandy, Ralf Brög, Rutherford Chang, Rhodri Davies, Dj78, Graham Dolphin, Benedict Drew, Julian Germain, Rodney Graham, Bruce Haack, Jandek, Philip Jeck/Lol Sargent, Jim Lambie, Locus+, Christian Marclay, Jonathan Monk, Elizabeth Price, Eliane Radigue, Sun Ra, Lathe Revival, Jonty Semper, David Toop, Bartholomäus Traubeck, Michael Wilkinson, X-Ray Audio and a commissioned text on record sleeves by writer Harry Pearson.

The Curves of the Needle
Baltic 39
31-39 High Bridge Street
Newcastle Upon Tyne

by Graham Dolphin from The Curves of the Needle - photo © Colin Davison