I Love West Leeds Arts Festival 2010 | The Lamppost Gallery

I Love West Leeds Festival Lamppost Gallery

Common to all neighbourhoods, rich or poor, ignored or unnoticed (unless you are a dog owner), lampposts offer the perfect backdrop to the biggest outdoor photography exhibition the Festival has ever done.

The main streets of Armley, Bramley, Pudsey, Rodley and Farsley will become galleries of new work by photographers from the Leeds Flickr community. Printed onto laminated robust foamboard to endure the weather and prizing fingers, the images will be in place for all to see for the duration of the festival 3-25 July 2010.

Photographers commissioned to work on the project are Stephen Griffin, Andrew Gilliver, Rob Randerson and Jon Mawson.

In addition to the work displayed by these photographers on the main shopping streets, five local primary schools will work with artist Kevin Hickson to produce work to be exhibited on lampposts near each school.

Check out www.lamppostgallery.co.uk to see all of the photographs in this exciting project!

Photographers

Stephen Griffin

This series of photographs began when I took a photo of the Farm Foods shop behind Bramley Shopping Centre during the summer of 2008. The subject matter was nothing unusual, but the resulting photo had a quality that made Bramley look like a comic book version of the American Midwest. From that point I set out to capture Bramley in a way that would look intriguing, beautiful and somewhat at odds with how I had viewed it up to that point.

Bramley is my home, and throughout the process of taking these photos I have got to know it better than ever before, and have come to see it in a very different light. I hope that by sharing these photos with other Bramley residents as part of the 2010 Lamppost Gallery on Bramley Town Street, that others may also see Bramley in a new light.

Jon Mawson

My aim with this collection of images is to demonstrate that Farsley possesses a distinct sense of identity and to depict familiar as well as more unusual perspectives of life in the village. I feel it is important that photographs of community life are shown in the community and hope that the images on display will generate discussion. The pictures can either be viewed individually or as a set and is by no means meant to represent a definitive collection. I would like to thank everyone who has made this project possible.

Andrew Gilliver

Pudsey is part of Leeds but has the feel of a country market town. Pudsey was a joy to photograph in my many expeditions in May 2010. There was much I knew little of, old forgotten railway lines, the former Greenside station, a hidden fishing pond in Lowtown, and Fulneck's Moravian Settlement. From the bustle of the market and the town centre to the miles walked along Pudsey Beck, there was much to see, and much to photograph. I raised the camera and made pictures of buildings, colours, patterns, shapes and textures; they all appealed in many different ways. I photograph the things that interest me, it's always a personal choice.

Rob Randerson

Much of Rodley life revolves around the historic Leeds-Liverpool Canal, where West Leeds locals stroll, run and commute along its sometimes sunny tow path.

Narrow Boat visitors claim temporary residence (7 days maximum), relax and I suspect have a drink with said locals before moving on to the next mooring…

In this series of photos shot on medium format film, I have set out to capture some of that life and its backdrop in my typically graphical style of photography.