Type=image;ImageID=6855;ImageClass=left;ImageTitle=Wolves football fans;TitleClass=strong;
Type=image;ImageID=6856;ImageClass=left;ImageTitle=Queing for Robert Plant gig at the Civic Hall;TitleClass=strong;
Type=image;ImageID=6857;ImageClass=left;ImageTitle=Making rock at Teddy Gray's sweet factory;TitleClass=strong;
People from all walks of life - from Wolves football fans to Wolverhampton Civic Hall ravers, shop and factory workers - star in the latest exhibition by the award winning photographer.
Gallery staff are encouraging people to come along and see if they can see themselves in the Wolverhampton archive of images when an entire wall is filled with his beautifully observed images.
Called Black Country Stories, the exhibition is free and opens at the Lichfield Street gallery on Saturday 23 May, 2015, and runs until 22 August. A preview of Black Country Stories takes place on Friday from 6.30pm to 8pm.
Martin, who has worked all over the world chronicling everyday people and the way they live, started the Black Country Stories project in 2010 and has created a photographic portrait and archive about the many aspects of traditional and modern life in the Black Country. He's visited churches, football matches, Diamond Jubilee parties, dances, shops, factories, horticultural shows and many more.
During the 4 year project he has photographed hundreds of people from Wolverhampton, Sandwell, Dudley and Walsall and now they are set to star in the 3 month long exhibition.
It will also include larger prints of Martin's work especially selected from the Black Country Stories archive as well as 400 archive images, oral histories and 4 documentary films made by Martin. The films feature pensioners on a Turkey and Tinsel coach trip to Weston-super-Mare, glassmakers, a pigeon breeder who goes to Mongolia and Teddy Gray's famous sweet factory.
Marguerite Nugent, Senior Curator at Wolverhampton Art Gallery, said: "Martin Parr is an internationally acclaimed documentary photographer so to have his work here and for that work to be about local people is a real coup.
"We hope people, who might not always visit, will come into the gallery to have a look to see if an image of themselves or anyone they know is in the exhibition. The exhibition covers such a breadth of Wolverhampton's communities, from people in church to those on the terraces at a Wolves game. It features factory and shop workers, street parties at the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in 2012, Sikh parades and gig-goers at Wolverhampton Civic Hall. It really is a fascinating glimpse of Wolverhampton and the surrounding Black Country."
Martin said: "I am looking forward to presenting back, to both Wolverhampton and the wider Black Country, the fruits of my 4 year journey around this unique area. Despite the poor local economy, the spirit and determination of the community comes shining through."
Black Country Stories is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, Wolverhampton Art Gallery, The New Art Gallery Walsall, Sandwell Council and Arts Council England.
The exhibition is free and the gallery is open Monday to Saturday from 10am to 5pm. The café is open Monday to Saturday, 10.30am to 4.30pm.
- released: Friday 15 May, 2015