Launch Event: A Place of Our Own

Open Eye Gallery

Join us to celebrate the opening of our new exhibition – A Place of Our Own!

A Place of Our Own is a group exhibition that brings together the local stories of people across Walton (North Liverpool), Prescot (Knowsley) and Chester town centre. What connects these three projects is a pride in people’s memories and associations with each place, but also an acknowledgement of redevelopment and regeneration needed within each area. Like many urban areas across the country, and particularly across the North West, there lies a fine balance in celebrating local heritage and culture while making room for the new. And who else is best placed to discuss this issue other than those that live and work on those streets?J﻿oin us for the launch event with drinks and music from <a href="https://www.instagram.com/dance4plantsliverpool/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Dance for Plants</a>!Projects include: Our Home. Our Place. Our Space. A project by photographer Lucy Hunter, Walton Youth and Community project and the wider community of Walton. Lucy worked for over a year in the area with residents, trying different camera techniques and exploring the area through photowalks and portraiture to share their perspectives and experiences of the local area. Photographers Sarah Weights and Tricia Grant-Hanlon also assisted with the project. A Portrait of the High Street. Photographic artist Tony Mallon has been working in collaboration with local residents from Prescot since the summer 2021. He invited people to set up a local photography group to reimagine the high street and create a contemporary portrait of the area. Suzanne St Clare and Chester Traders. For the past two and a half years Suzanne has been working with business owners trading on the historical Rows in Chester. Together they’ve been chatting about how these business owners came to Chester, their community, challenges, the quirkiness of independent trading and their love and passion for this beautiful, historic city. There will also be Reflections group exhibition on the Open Eye Gallery exterior wall and cafe area. Artists and photographers have been working with communities whose stories are seldom heard to capture their experiences of Covid-19. Ciara Leeming has been working with Gypsy and Traveller women and girls. Over copious cups of tea, they discussed their experiences. They looked at family photos, made portraits, developed captions from recordings of their conversations and produced a project zine bringing all of the individual stories together. Meanwhile, using portraiture, staged imagery, video and audio recordings, photographer Tadhg Devlin has captured the diversity of experiences and views on life for those living rurally during the pandemic. Whilst some felt particularly isolated in their setting, others felt their industries were protected through initiatives like the furlough scheme.Sam Ivin works closely with adult and young unpaid carers. He captured beautiful portraits, each decorated with key quotes from the participant, reflecting their experience over this time. Full details: <a href="https://openeye.org.uk/whatson/place-of-our-own/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">openeye.org.uk </a>