Handsworth SP @brian.homer, @bishton and John Reardon set up the Handsworth Self Portrait Project in 1979 in response to the way photographers and journalists tended to visit briefly and portray the area as only having problems. They wanted to show the people themselves in a more positive light without the distractions of the environment so used a plain backdrop. The shots were taken over five Saturdays in Autumn 1979 on the street outside their office in Grove Lane, Handsworth, Birmingham. . . . . . #5decadesofselfportrait #groupexhibition #BlastPhotoFest2019 #davidattie #johnreardon #derekbishton #brianhomer #thepublic #jubileearts #handsworthselfportrait #curator #archivecurator #Multistory #Sandwell #AmbitionforExcellence #ACE #ACEmidlands #ACEsupported #CultureMatters #SandwellCouncil #MultistoryArtists #Community #Photography #Portraits #artsfestival #photographyfestival #contemporaryphotography #ambitionforexcellence

David Attie Five Decades of Self Portrait is an exhibition showing at Blast! Festival. The exhibition will showcase photographs from the David Attie archive. Curated by @brian.homer, who was one of the three organisers of Handsworth Self Portrait in 1979 alongside @bishton and John Reardon. The Handsworth project was influenced by seeing an Attie shot in Camerawork Magazine. The Attie prints on show include a set of American Self Portraits shot in his studio in the late 70s, as well as Self Portraits taken in Kiev, 1976. . . . . . #5decadesofselfportrait #groupexhibition #BlastPhotoFest2019 #davidattie #johnreardon #derekbishton #brianhomer #thepublic #jubileearts #handsworthselfportrait #curator #archivecurator #Multistory #Sandwell #AmbitionforExcellence #ACE #ACEmidlands #ACEsupported #CultureMatters #SandwellCouncil #MultistoryArtists #Community #Photography #Portraits #artsfestival #photographyfestival #contemporaryphotography #ambitionforexcellence

Five Decades of Self Portrait includes Self Portrait Images from David Attie and from Handsworth Self Portrait (Brian Homer, Derek Bishton and John Reardon) and other self portrait projects from the Black Country with Jubilee Arts and The Public that were influenced by Handsworth Self Portrait. It traces the influence of David Attie’s seminal Russian Self Portraits taken as part of a 1976 United States Information Agency exhibition in Kiev through to contemporary images. Attie was the first photographer to recognise the wider potential of handing control of the moment an image is captured to the person being photographed. He died in 1982, and his images have not been exhibited since 1979 and have never before been shown outside of the US. Curated by Brian Homer for #BlastPhotoFest2019

For Blast! Festival, Chantal Rens will present a selection of collages in unexpected places on the streets of West Bromwich. Chantal’s work is uncanny, funny, sometimes unsettling and sometimes nearly undetectable, with playful interventions that challenge what you are seeing. Chantal Rens @commonsenseisahungrybitch is a Dutch artist. She makes collages and books that she publishes herself under the label PANTOFLE BOOKS @pantoflebooks, the independent publishing house she founded with Dutch cartoonist and artist Gummbah. . . . . . . #chantalrens #pantoflebooks #gummbah #BlastPhotoFest2019 #MultistoryArtist #multistory #sandwell #sandwellcouncil #ambitionforexcellence #photography #photographyfestival

“Another Place Like Home” is a work which examines the metaphysical concept of belonging. Exploring the ways in which our ‘mental spaces’ are shaped by, and entwined with, the physical spaces around us in often surreal and unfathomable ways. “Another Place Like Home” is a collaborative work presented on-line which solicits and encourages active participation with digital audiences. Andrew Jackson (@andrewjacksonphotos) is a contemporary British artist who engages with the challenges of representation and narration through the medium of photography. He is an award-winning recipient of the Autograph ABP / Light Work International Photography Residency in Syracuse, New York. His interventions focus on notions of selfhood, revised histories, memory, family, storytelling and urbanism. A graduate of the MA Documentary Programme at Newport in Wales, Jackson has since undertaken both self-initiated and commissioned works in the UK and abroad. In 2018, he was shortlisted for the Elliott Erwitt Fellowship. He currently lectures at Coventry University. . . . . . . . #andrewjackson #andrewjacksonphotos #FORGEartist #blastphotofest2019 #MultistoryArtist #multistory #sandwell #sandwellcouncil #ambitionforexcellence #photography #followfriday #followfriday #photographyfestival

My Mother, My Daughter, Myself exhibition, Jubilee Arts 1993. Photographers: Jeevan Singh/Fiona Bailey. Jubilee created a magnificent record of life in the Sikh and Asian community in the 1990s. . @grahampeet takeover in the lead up to #BlastPhotoFest2019.The ‘Black Country Sikhs’ exhibition will show at Smethwick Heritage Centre throughout Blast! Festival. . . . . . #grahampeet #curator #archivecurator #blackcountrysikhs #BlastPhotoFest2019 #Multistory #Sandwell #AmbitionforExcellence #ACE #ACEmidlands #ACEsupported #CultureMatters #SandwellCouncil #MultistoryArtists #Community #Photography #Portraits #artsfestival #photographyfestival #contemporaryphotography #ambitionforexcellence

Marshall Street, Smethwick. 1964 Photographer: Unknown, Alamy . @grahampeet takeover in the lead up to #BlastPhotoFest2019. The ‘Black Country Sikhs’ exhibition will show at Smethwick Heritage Centre throughout Blast! Festival. . . . . . #grahampeet #curator #archivecurator #blackcountrysikhs #BlastPhotoFest2019 #Multistory #Sandwell #AmbitionforExcellence #ACE #ACEmidlands #ACEsupported #CultureMatters #SandwellCouncil #MultistoryArtists #Community #Photography #Portraits #artsfestival #photographyfestival #contemporaryphotography #ambitionforexcellence

We’re super excited to announce the Blast! Festival programme and the launch of our new website, click here to see it. The festival is like no other – made with and for the people of Sandwell. It runs from Friday 24 May to Saturday 29 June 2019, and exhibitions, film screenings, events, talks and walks […]