Images: © Patrick Willcocks
MARCH 2025’s PRISM SOCIAL
March’s PRISM Social was held on Monday March 31st at 6.30pm in 1000 Trades. Photographer and curator Maria Reaney talk about her creative practice. She talked about her photography and curation of the 'Little Faces Big Feelings exhibition' which was shown in the Library of Birmingham last year. Maria also talked about a project 'Deanna Comes Home', which is a documentary project which she has been working on for the last 7 years in collaboration with Deanna who transitioned a couple of years ago. She told us of how she followed her journey as she transitioned and her struggles getting a job in the work place. She is now employed as a care giver and prospers everyday.
Images © Rebecca Orleans
FEBRUARY 2024’S PRISM SOCIAL
At our PRISM Social on Monday February 24th we heard from photographer and artist Rebecca Orleans who talked about her fascinating creative practice. She was joined by Nick Beech to talk about her involvement with the Stuart Hall Archive Project.
JANUARY’S PRISM SOCIAL
We had a great PRISM Social on Monday January 27th 2025. Photographer and educator Oksana Bischin talked about her work documenting Roma Communities in Romania and the UK as well as her work with the skater community. She also talked about the Stirchley Documentary Photography Course that she lead on. We had a great discussion afterwards as we thought about why photography infrastructure was so weak in the City.
We are hoping to have an exhibition of this courses work in March so watch our Socials. We are also hoping to run another course at some stage.
Morten starting his presentation
PRISM SOCIAL
We had a great a social on Monday 25th November with Morten Watkins 2024 talking about his work as a Medical Photographer. Fascinating job! Take a look at his website/socials.
Instagram: @mwatkinsphoto and @mortenwatkins
ANIA READY ‘I ALSO FIGHT WINDMILLS’
We hosted Ania Ready on 23rd April 2024 for a workshop and talk. This video is a rough recording of her talk about her photobook ‘I Also Fight Windmills’.
ARADA// STREET SMART
Arada// Street Smart Exhibition at Centrala - 7th May -18th May 2024. Research by Marco Di Nunzio. Images by Adelaide Di Nunzio
Images from the Opening/Panel Discussion.
Photographer: Francesco Falciani
Martin Parr.Autoportrait
Mark Evans with No. 21 at the Tipton Pigeon Racing Club, Tipton, The Black Country, England, 2010 © Martin Parr / Magnum Photos
We are delighted to be hosting in collaboration with MAC Birmingham a conversation with Martin Parr. This will take place on Monday 10th June at 6.30pm
Award-winning photographer Martin Parr is renowned for his intimate, satirical look at modern society in Britain and beyond – turning his lens on class, leisure and consumerism. Don’t miss this exciting opportunity to hear him discuss his extensive career in photography with journalist and PRISM supporter Rachel Segal Hamilton.
Tickets via the MAC Birmingham box office. Book here.
PRISM SOCIAL
We are having a social on Saturday June 15th. Tracey Thorne will be talking to us about her exhibition Intended for Jamaica at The Library of Birmingham. There is opportunity for a wider discussion about how to interpret archives. Afterwards we will go for a pizza.
For more details and booking. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/prism-social-with-photographer-tracey-thorne-tickets-914493573897
PRISM:SOCIAL
We are fortunate to be able to access a space at 1000 Trades for our monthly Photography socials, starting from Monday 23rd of September at 6:30pm.
This Monday we have Dan Burwood sharing work with us. ‘New Family Home’ is the provisional title for a new autobiographical work by Dan Burwood, drawn from his photography since 2008, when he first visited Beirut, Lebanon. Early image series witness a city through the photographic gaze of an ingenuous outsider, albeit filtered through ‘Pity the Nation’ and the barest sense of Sykes-Picot.
(After moving to Syria in 2010, and leaving in 2011 during the early Syrian Uprising,) he returned there in 2015 with Dima; they married in 2016, have 2 children and live on the nearest edge of Birmingham to Beirut. To have hearts and minds in 2 places is far from an uncommon experience in Balsall Heath; this work speaks from the particularly Lebanese-British experience of having 2 homes washing into each other.
Since 2015 Dan’s archive of Lebanon opens into the life of their extended family, and friendship group, becomes less formal, more vernacular, and comprises thousands of images and videos from the perspective of someone no longer just a visitor.
This is the first attempt to bring the everyday shooting of the last decade, collected without an endpoint or output in mind, into some kind of edit or order.
ROLAND RAMANAN TALKING ABOUT HIS NEW PHOTOBOOK
DOMINOES
A video produced for the launch of 'Dominoes'.
Roland talking about one of his subjects ‘ Nina’. Brian Homer in the foreground
MONDAY OCTOBER 28TH 2024 @1000TRADES
Photographer Roland Ramanan joined us from London to talk about his newly published book ‘Dominoes’
Published by Dewi Lewis, Dominoes is Roland Ramanan’s debut photobook. It is a unique and vibrant mosaic of the lives that float in and around a particular corner of Hackney in London’s East End - Gillett Square. The book is populated by intimate and moving pictures of people who have experienced addiction and pain as well as the deep joys of the community of which they are a part.
Roland is a London based documentary photographer, born in 1966 with a background in music and education. His work has been featured in Vice magazine among others and has won various awards including being shortlisted for the Royal Photographic Society documentary awards 2023. In 2022 he was one of the finalists in the Portrait of Britain awards.
Roland presented some of his work and this was followed by a Q and A led by Brian Homer; who chaired the event.www.rolandramanan.com
We had a good audience who loved Roland’s work
Roland Ramanan