www.thecaravangallery.photography
PRESS RELEASE: Sunderland Pride of Place Project
2nd April - 2nd May 2015 (tbc)
55 High Street West, Sunderland, SR1 3DP
What does Sunderland mean to you? Is Hendon heavenly or hellish? Does Roker rock? Is Barnes beautiful, brutal - or both?
Does The Bridges make you whoop or wince? Is a spray tan enough to keep you warm on a cold winter’s day?
What would make a great souvenir of Sunderland? Is there a Mackem mantra? What hidden or unusual attractions would
you show visitors?
To complement their photography exhibition at Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art, artists Jan Williams and Chris Teasdale
of The Caravan Gallery will be transforming an empty shop in Sunderland’s High Street West into a dynamic art exhibition-cumalternative visitor information centre exploring Sunderland in all its multifaceted glory.
Pride of Place Projects - growing exhibitions celebrating local distinctiveness
During April 2015 the Sunderland Pride of Place Project will give visitors an opportunity to define where they live - and how
they live - in the twenty-first century, through research conducted in the spirit of ‘Mass Observation’. The exhibition will open
with photos of Sunderland by The Caravan Gallery as a catalyst to get people talking. Winning images from an open submission
photography competition and The Sunderland Book Project initiated by book artist and printmaker Theresa Easton will form
part of the opening display.
Local residents and visitors will be invited to contribute by sharing their views and using their creative talents - writing,
photography, drawing, video, sculpture, singing, knitting, whatever - to help produce a wonderfully anarchic and refreshingly
honest exhibition-cum-alternative-tourist-information-centre celebrating the city and its character. The exhibition will grow day
by day as visitors add their own observations, little known facts and creations to The People’s Map and The People’s Wall. An
unusually entertaining survey will give residents and visitors from elsewhere a chance to say what they think about Sunderland,
past present and future. There will be workshops, and competitions for all with prizes donated by local businesses.
‘This is a great opportunity for the people of Sunderland to show off their local knowledge and creativity! Everyone is
welcome to participate - schools, colleges, art and craft groups, photography and local history societies, sports associations,
gardening clubs, writers and musicians, local food producers, shoppers, road sweepers, civil servants etc. We want to know
about your Sunderland.’
Local people are invited to come along with their Sunderland-related creations and items for possible inclusion in the
exhibition which will be curated by The Caravan Gallery and will grow during the duration of the project. Contributions
might include 2D and 3D artworks they have made themselves, photos, films, scrapbooks, old postcards, books and brochures,
souvenirs and memorabilia. Items may be scanned and returned or kept until the end of the exhibition. Alternatively they can be
donated to The Caravan Gallery archive. Some of the material collected will appear in a commemorative publication produced
at a later date. Pride of Place Projects open with a launch event and end with a closing celebration where participants and
visitors can admire the finished display.
THE CARAVAN GALLERY
PRESS RELEASE: Sunderland Pride of Place Project - Page 2 of 5
The Caravan Gallery’s citywide project in Sunderland combines three major components:
1
extra{ordinary}
Photographs of Britain by The Caravan Gallery
NGCA: 6th March - 1st May 2015, preview and book launch 5th March, 6 - 8pm
A national touring exhibition of over one hundred colour photographs taken over the last fifteen
years. Astutely observed, thought provoking and sometimes hilarious, these images focus on the
extraordinary details of everyday life, and is itself an extraordinary record of social change since
the millennium. A full colour hardback publication will accompany the exhibition.
2
Sunderland Pride of Place Project
Jan Williams and Chris Teasdale devised their Pride of Place Project concept so that local people
can get involved in their investigations of places. Whether popping up in a Belgian field or disused
factory, turning an empty shop into a community arts hub or exhibiting in a ‘normal’ gallery, their
approach is the same. The artists encourage people from all walks of life to get together and talk
about where they live and how places affect the way they feel and behave. Personal connections
are made as people share stories and swap information. Familiar places may take on a new allure
as overlooked details come to light and people reconnect with their surroundings.
3
Sunderland Caravan Gallery Tour
During March 2015 The Caravan Gallery will visit six sites across the city to publicise
extra{ordinary} - Photographs of Britain by The Caravan Gallery at NGCA , and to encourage
people to get involved in the Sunderland Pride of Place Project. The exhibition inside this unique
mobile gallery will include photographs from all over Britain as well as Sunderland. Confirmed
dates and locations so far include Arts Centre Washington on 7th March and outside The Bridges
shopping centre on 21st March.
THE CARAVAN GALLERY
PRESS RELEASE: Sunderland Pride of Place Project - Page 3 of 5
LISTINGS INFORMATION:
Sunderland Pride of Place Project
55 High Street West, Sunderland, SR1 3DP
2nd April - 2nd May 2015 , 11am - 6pm daily . Closed on Sundays.
Opening celebration: Thursday 2nd April, 6 - 9 (tbc)
Closing celebration: Friday 1st May, 6 - 9 (tbc)
Final day: Saturday 2nd May (tbc)
extra{ordinary} - Photographs of Britain by The Caravan Gallery
6th March - 1st May 2015 (preview 5th March, 6 -8pm)
Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art (NGCA)
City Library and Arts Centre, Fawcett Street Sunderland SR1 1RE
Tel: 0191 561 8487 • www.ngca.co.uk • Email: [email protected]
Sunderland Caravan Gallery Tour
Please check local press, The Caravan Gallery website, Facebook and Twitter for details of the tour and for Pride of Place Project
updates.
www.thecaravangallery.photography
Facebook: The Caravan Gallery
Twitter: @caravangallery
NOTES TO EDITORS:
The Caravan Gallery is a collaboration between artists and photographers Jan Williams and Chris Teasdale, who use
photography to document what they call the ‘reality and surreality’ of everyday life. Founded in 2000, The Caravan Gallery is
a mobile exhibition space and itinerant social club on wheels housed in a 1969 mustard coloured caravan. The venue has
travelled thousands of miles taking contemporary art to unexpected locations and tens of thousands of people in Britain and
abroad.
Previous exhibitions include: Merseystyle, Museum of Liverpool; Watch This Space, National Theatre, London; Festival 2014,
Glasgow with Street Level Photoworks; LOOK/13 and FORMAT photography festivals; the Bluecoat during Liverpool Biennial;
Pride of Place Projects in Merseyside, Lytham St Annes, Oxford, Guernsey, Belgium and Portsmouth; The Condition of England,
NGCA; Is Britain Great?, Aspex, Portsmouth and Paul Smith Space, Tokyo. For more information please visit:
www.thecaravangallery.photography
THE CARAVAN GALLERY
PRESS RELEASE: Sunderland Pride of Place Project - Page 4 of 5
QUOTES
“With The Caravan Gallery there is this thing that is very familiar to me. It’s about seeing humour, seeing quirkiness, seeing
strangeness in everyday life. It’s not at all contrived, it’s just ‘click’, got it! I like that.”
Sir Paul Smith, Fashion designer
“Jan Williams and Chris Teasdale spend their time sifting rubbish in the cultural dustbin of modern Britain. This is noticing on an
epic scale, poignant and melancholic. Out of it they make art and laughter, a rare combination. Long live The Caravan Gallery!”
Daniel Meadows of the Free Photographic Omnibus
THE CARAVAN GALLERY PRIDE OF PLACE PROJECT TOUR
The Sunderland Pride of Place Project is the first instalment of a national tour across the length and breadth of the UK
throughout 2015 and 2016, in partnership with many of the country’s galleries and photographic venues: Impressions Gallery,
Bradford; Ffotogallery’s Diffusion Festival, Cardiff; Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art; Museum of Lancashire, Preston; and
Solent Showcase, Southampton.
Jan Williams and Chris Teasdale
tel: +44 (0)7808 160207
email: [email protected]
Twitter: @caravangallery • Facebook: The Caravan Gallery
Sunder City Council
BID logo
THE CARAVAN GALLERY
PRESS RELEASE: Sunderland Pride of Place Project - Page 5 of 5
PRESS IMAGES
To request high resolution press images please contact us at:
[email protected]
The Caravan Gallery
Inaccessible bench
Buildings of Sunderland
Buildings of Sunderland to email
Bargin!
Sunderland scene
Jan Williams and Chris Teasdale
tel: +44 (0)7808 160207
Sunderland
Pride
email: [email protected]
Twitter: @caravangallery • Facebook: The Caravan Gallery