Northern Perspective @ Open Eye Hub Wigan&Leigh

Open Eye Gallery

A talk and Q&A event celebrating the visual artists and organisations who are reshaping how Northern stories are shared, seen, experienced.

Leigh Town Hall

Wednesday 12 November 2025 / 6–8pm / Open Eye Hub (Leigh Town Hall, Market St, Leigh WN7 1DS)The North has always been rich with voices that speak of resilience, creativity, and community, and Northern Perspective celebrates this by creating space for visual artists and organisations who are telling northern stories on their own terms, rooted in lived experience and shared culture.Speakers<a href="https://mariopopham.com/" title="https://mariopopham.com/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Mario Popham</a> (host). Mario Popham is a Japanese/British photographic artist, curator and educator based in Manchester. On a planet increasingly shaped by human activity, he is driven by a fascination in our paradoxical relationship to non-human nature and how our path has seemingly deviated from the natural order. This has formed the basis of an ongoing enquiry through long-term projects. His work has been exhibited and published in Britain and internationally.<a href="https://openeye.org.uk/spotlight-on-sam-batley/" title="https://openeye.org.uk/spotlight-on-sam-batley/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Sam Batley</a>. Sam Batley is a socially engaged photographer, filmmaker and writer based in Liverpool. He responds to life’s dualities – fear and faith, isolation and loss of purpose to the joys and interconnectedness of community. Navigating the eternal dance that unites them. Leaning into his lived experience through creative process, engaging in a call and response between the internal and external, nursing the seeds of ideas that come through this conversation into their fruiting bodies.<a href="https://openeye.org.uk/paula-keenan-and-picturing-eccles/" title="https://openeye.org.uk/paula-keenan-and-picturing-eccles/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Paula Keenan</a>. Paula Keenan is a documentary photographer and community arts facilitator who for thirty five years has specialised in portraiture and delivering community projects around the Northwest. The work she creates involves working with groups and people who want to share their experiences, using the photograph as a medium of communication. Working with Imperial War Museum North, the Lowry, Open Eye Gallery and other Northwest galleries she has had the opportunity to engage with a variety of groups and produce work tackling issues of gun crime, homelessness, loneliness, domestic violence and community regeneration. Paula is interested in the history of the family album and how taking photographs has changed over time especially with the advent of the mobile phone and social media.<a href="https://www.northernheartfilms.com/" title="https://www.northernheartfilms.com/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Northern Heart Films</a>. Northern Heart are award-winning storytellers and documentary filmmakers, championing aspirational stories and authentic voices. They celebrate people and places of the North and champion emerging talent. Their storytelling is built on working class heritage and a belief in the power of genuine human experience.Grace Dyke (<a href="https://www.yellowjigsaw.co.uk/" title="https://www.yellowjigsaw.co.uk/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Yellow Jigsaw</a>). In 2014 Grace co-founded PR social enterprise Yellow Jigsaw, an award-winning social enterprise that delivers media and journalism community programmes to children, young people and older people: equipping them with the skills and confidence to create, debate and navigate the media with confidence. This gathering will shine a light on the power of visual art to capture identity and challenge perceptions, and celebrate the strength of the Northern voice. From photography and film to socially engaged practice, northern artists are amplifying perspectives that matter: stories of place, belonging, and what it means to live and create in the North today.More than just a showcase, the event is a chance to reflect on why these voices are vital. Northern culture is not a single story, it’s personal experience, shaped by history, industry, migration, and community. By celebrating authentic voices, we not only safeguard our cultural identity but also open doors for new ways of seeing and understanding each other.Northern Perspective invites audiences, artists, and cultural partners to come together in conversation and celebration to recognise the work already happening and to spark ideas for the future.

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Northern Perspective @ Open Eye Hub Wigan&Leigh

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Northern Perspective @ Open Eye Hub Wigan&Leigh

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