Blast! Photography Festival Highlights / A Celebration of People and Place / Multistory

Highlights from Blast! Festival of Photography, Talks and Walks 2019. A celebration of people and place produced with, and for, local people.
Blast! Festival invited 40 international and local artists, photographers and curators to showcase work, develop projects and collaborate with communities to present stories about everyday life. With exhibitions, film screenings, events, family friendly activities, performances, talks and walks, Blast! was presented on the streets, the Metro line, in shops, libraries and pubs, on historic buildings and in the community spaces of Sandwell. The festival took place over six weeks in each of Sandwell’s six towns: West Bromwich, Tipton, Rowley Regis, Oldbury, Smethwick and Wednesbury; it was free and open to everyone.
The festival showcased a range of new commissions by diverse contemporary photographers and artists working at the intersection of social practice and documentary photography, made in collaboration with local communities, that explored questions of accessibility and equal representation in the arts.
At the heart of the festival was The Sandwell Pride of Place exhibition: artists Jan Williams and Chris Teasdale of The Caravan Gallery, turned a derelict space that used to house a Poundland shop, into a temporary exhibition space / alternative visitor centre. Co-created with Sandwell Residents, the exhibition invited the community to contribute to the exhibition with their own words and images. The exhibition culminated into an alternative, local perspective on Sandwell, growing daily as visitors added to the artwork and ephemera on display, shared stories and made a mark on The People’s Map of Sandwell.
For more on the project: multistory.org...

[@simi9951]

It was a great 6 weeks. I wish I could rewind back and do it all again 😁

[@MultistoryFilms]

Us too!