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18
BriNgiNg arT TO
THe iNNer CiTy
Claire Farrell
Ma Visual Communication
graduate Claire farrell specialises in
breathing new life and colour into
some of the most neglected corners
of inner-city Birmingham.
She established EC-Arts in 2006, while still at
the University, to create opportunities for art
in unusual locations. Her first project was the
Festival of Xtreme Building, which saw a team
of artists and architects produce experimental
structures on a disused piece of land in the
city’s Eastside district.
Subsequent commissions included
painting murals on temporary hoardings
around waste ground in Digbeth and on the
Birmingham Central Library building, an art
installation which used advertising billboards
as blank canvases, a performance by musicians
from the City of Birmingham Symphony
Orchestra in Ladywood Fire Station and a
short film to mark the opening of Birmingham
Coach Station.
What ties together all of these diverse
strands, Claire says, is bringing art out of the
gallery into the public realm and coming up
with concepts that suit particular locations.
She said: “I try to show that you can
create art even in difficult times – the halted
developments around the city because of the
economic crisis have created some negative
aesthetics but even there you can be creative –
and the feedback I’ve received shows that
it’s appreciated.”
As Claire has become a well-known name
on the local arts scheme, she is now in a
position to create opportunities for others,
with several students from Birmingham City
University being given the opportunity to get
involved in her projects, either as artists or
assisting at the project management stage.
She added: “The University was a massive
influence on me and I’m still in contact with so
many people – not just fellow students but also
the staff who were instrumental in getting me
involved with some of the projects I worked on.
I always tell people who are students now that
they must make friends with their
lecturers because they have great contacts
in their industry and if you show willing and
potential, they will introduce you, but you
have to have the right attitude first.”
www.bcu.ac.uk/biad
ProGress 2012
Art and Design
ProGress 2012
Art and Design 19
CaPTUriNg area’S
eVeryday life
Staff, students and graduates
from Birmingham institute of art
and design (Biad) were commissioned
to create a series of new pictures,
capturing the everyday life of the
Colmore Business district, in
Birmingham City Centre.
MA Visual Communication students Chaporn
Pongsuwan, Patr Srisook and Ross Vincent
were among the team working on the ‘Take to
the Streets’ project. Inspired by the work of
the Magnum photographers – the international
photographic co-operative founded in 1947 –
their pictures document the changing face of
the area, and how various organisations are
working together to reinvigorate Birmingham’s
streetscapes.
Each of the seven Magnum photographers
involved interpreted street life differently,
which led to the production of both
stand-alone images and narratives exploring
the identity of people or places. What united
the work was its location on the street and a
spontaneous rather than posed approach.
The project culminated in the production
of a book and a small touring exhibition of
photographs, showing the area as an exciting
collage of constantly shifting, insight and
surprising juxtaposition. The photographs
will finally be added to Birmingham Central
Library’s Photography Collections, adding an
important new chapter to the history of street
photography in the city.
www.taketothestreetsbirmingham.co.uk
Crockett & jones Shoe Shop
by Chaporn Pongsuwan
Birmingham City University
students and staff were among
those at the book launch.
www.bcu.ac.uk/postgraduate www.bcu.ac.uk/postgraduate