Arts First podcast: 'What We See is Not Always Black and White'
In the latest edition of the Arts & Society Forum podcast, artist and photographer Steve Forrest and critic Pauline Hadaway discuss Steve's exhibition at Warrington Museum and Art Gallery.
The AoI’s Arts & Society Forum has been doing some great work of late. In addition to the latest edition of the Arts First podcast, which is going from strength to strength (see below), the Forum is also running its annual series of art tours over spring and early summer.
Dido Powell Art Tours 2025
Led by artist and lecturer Dido Powell, the theme of this year’s tours is Masters, Influencers and Eccentrics. This year, you have two chances to see each tour, one on Sunday, one on Wednesday. The next tour in the series will be at Tate Britain in Millbank, London on 26 & 30 March. The tour looks at the work of JMW Turner and other works at Tate Britain that reflect Turner’s themes. Find out more about the tour here.
Arts First podcast
What We See is Not Always Black and White is the title of an exhibition, currently showing at Warrington Museum and Art Gallery, by Manchester-based artist and photographer Steve Forrest. Steve and former gallery director Pauline Hadaway join Niall Crowley to talk about his work and the exhibition.
For more than three decades, Steve has covered foreign wars, photographed Hollywood celebrities, artists and politicians – commissioned by major news organisations and newspapers such as The New York Times – and worked as a photographer for UK and foreign governments, the UN and international NGOs.
According to the museum website: ‘This exhibition is an examination of the artist’s own analogue / digital documentary photography archive. Once released from the rigid categorisation of the archive and from the burden of memory and historical documentation, the photographic image, as document, ceases to serve as archival memory, and is no longer bound by its historical duty to promote truth and accuracy. These photo-montages are Steve’s response to what he feels are the limitations of documentary photography within an increasingly simplified and polarised view of the world.’
Pauline Hadaway has worked in arts and education since the early 90s and as director of Belfast Exposed Photography between 2000 and 2013, overseeing its transformation from a small scale, though politically significant, city-based project into an internationally renowned gallery of contemporary photography. Pauline has been undertaking doctoral research at the University of Manchester, while working in a freelance capacity as a researcher and arts development consultant.
Steve’s exhibition is showing from 18 January 2025 - 30 March 2025.
Find out more at Warrington Museum and Art Gallery.
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