Interest area: Photography

Veronica Watson has been chronicling the people who populate the Bluecoat for almost 20 years. As a founding member of Blue Room, the Bluecoat’s inclusive arts project, she has cast a steady eye over the ever evolving community of people who spend time working, volunteering and creating at the arts centre. Her portraiture practice has captured the likeness and spirit of many individuals through drawing and painting.

For the first time, the artists’ collection of portraits will be shared in a limited edition book, All Together Now with a foreword by writer Mike Pinnington from the Double Negative. More information on how to purchase the book will be available soon.

This accompanying exhibition features a selection of portraits of people connected with Blue Room and the Bluecoat, along with archive images of Watson’s long engagement with the arts centre.

Located in their upstairs Gallery.

Until Sun 4 May
Open 11am-5pm, Tue-Sun
Free entry

Goodison Park’s final season as home to Everton Football Club will be documented from a fan’s perspective, through a new photo display opening on 5 April at Museum of Liverpool.

Featuring nine photographers from the club’s fanbase, Goodbye to Goodison is a love letter to the home stadium of Everton Football Club in its final season. The display of photos taken during the final season looks at the relationship between this iconic ground and the loyal fans who congregate around the stadium.

Goodbye to Goodison brings together fan photographers that document the matchday experience at Goodison Park. The photos selected highlight matchdays away from the Premier League glamour – the chippies, pubs, meeting places and family moments shared during the final season.

As the club moves into the next chapter of its rich history, relocating to a state-of-the-art stadium, fans are savouring the final moments in one of the country’s last great football stadiums.

Chris Wardle, co-curator and contributor to Goodbye to Goodison, said: “While a lot of attention is focused on the pitch for Goodison Park’s final season, I wanted to shift our focus to the pre-game experiences and moments that, to me, make this old ground so special.

“The display celebrates the streets, landmarks and establishments that have become an extension of the ground over the years.

“We’re lucky, as a fanbase, to have a talented group of photographers who have taken it upon themselves to document Goodison’s legacy from their own perspective. I am excited to showcase the work of these photographers and pay tribute to one of the great stadiums in world football.”

To mark the final game, museum curators will select an image taken from the final game of the season, capturing the emotion and importance of the final game at The Grand Old Lady.

Karen O’Rourke, curator for sport, music and performance at Museum of Liverpool, said: “Leaving a space for an image from the final game at Goodison Park seems like an important thing to do. We are hoping the photographers involved can capture the emotion that will no doubt overflow before and after the last game. The display pays tribute to a landmark of the city, before the club moves to its new ground on the banks of the River Mersey.”

Goodbye to Goodison opens in Museum of Liverpool’s Skylight Gallery on Saturday 5 April and runs until Sunday 10 August.

On Thursdays throughout the run of the display, visitors will be able to see additional images from the photographers and share their own memories and experiences of going to the match.

Running alongside the display, the museum will release an episode of the NML Podcast talking with staff, ex-players, ex-managers and other important figures who know Goodison Park best. Online a wider selection of photos from around the ground will be available to view.

For more information on Goodbye to Goodison, the photographers and special events, please visit: Liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/Goodison-park.

 

Open Eye Gallery proudly presents No Iconic Images. Views of War, a thought-provoking exhibition examining contemporary depictions of war.

This exhibition invites audiences to reconsider the power of war photography in shaping collective memory, political narratives, and public perception. As images circulate faster than ever in a digital world, the exhibition raises pressing questions: Do we still need iconic images? How do they influence our understanding of war? And what happens when a single image defines an entire conflict?
In collaboration with The Guardian and Magnum Photos, the exhibition showcases projects by a new generation of Magnum photographers, Peter van Agtmael and Newsha Tavakolian, who offer personal insights into the wars they witnessed in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria.

The exhibition also delves into the editorial choices behind war photography today, with The Guardian providing a unique perspective on global conflicts, from Haiti to Myanmar. As Fiona Shields, The Guardian’s Head of Photography stated:”The geo-political nature of a conflict will often determine the priority of our reporting”, these images drives us to think about how photography shapes and influences our understanding of global crisis.

Investigative works by Forensic Architecture and the Centre for Spatial Technologies reconstruct the 2022 attack on Kyiv’s TV Tower, while artists Yarema Malashchuk and Roman Khimei challenge traditional Western aesthetics in representations of war casualties.
“As the world burns and images circulate faster than ever, it examines recent wars and how they are portrayed and reflected upon through photography”. – Max Gorbatskyi and Viktoria Bavykina, exhibition curators.

Image: Raymond and his sons. Darien, Wisconsin, USA, 2007 © Peter van Agtmael / Magnum Photos