1,500 people snapped up the opportunity to have their portrait taken by photographer Barry
Lewis, who pitched his White Tent in the Bullring for a week, to capture the internationalism
of Birmingham’s residents and visitors. He said “The people of Birmingham were lovely and
made it so easy for me to capture the essence of the city in my photographs. I chose
Birmingham as the first city to visit as part of my Portrait of Britain project because of its
style and imagination.”
The White Tent project was managed by Rhubarb Rhubarb, in collaboration with Bullring and
Birmingham City Council, via its Urban Fusion strategy for creating large scale projects which
profile Birmingham as a city for creative excellence. Rhubarb Rhubarb will be showing some
of the White Tent images at its International Festival of the Image in July. The images will
form the backdrop to the café which will be in Curzon Street Station, the venue for this year’s
Festival, open to the public from 21-26th July – 11am-6pm. There will be a public opening on
Friday 20th July at 6pm.
This annual festival, now in its eighth year, is now known as Europe’s premiere Portfolio
Review, with the aim of profiling the participating photographers to new audiences and
growing the number of exhibitions around the festival. This year the venue at Curzon Street
Station offers the Festival the chance to show Luminous – 12 Fine Art Photographers from
the West Midlands, which drew huge audiences last year in Arles, France; Otherlands –
images of international destinations, and the Light Sale – images from regional producers of
photography and digital images, including the Hereford College of Art and Design final year
degree show.
Rhubarb Rhubarb will also be associated with New Art Gallery Walsall to showcase ‘Recovered Territories’ by Ian Wiblin and with mac for ‘The Spaces in Between’ exhibition by Andrew Jackson and ‘The Visible Invisible Object’ by David Sullivan.
Creative Director - Rhonda Wilson, MBE, said “Curzon Street Station will become the place of
arrival and destination for new creative industry trade routes and all the shows offer visibility
to the regional and international image makers and to Birmingham and the region as the UK’s
centre of excellence for photography and the digital image. Last year two people drove a
camper van for three days from Vienna to get to Birmingham, the desire to take part in the
Festial is that great! This year we have invited new experts from Europe – including Simone
Klein, who takes up the new International photography post for Sotheby’s. We are also
delighted to announce that we have our first visitors from China and India this year - from
the Lianzhou Photography Festival – Duan Yuting of Hanyu Media, and the Director of the
Habitat Gallery, Delhi, Dr Alke Pande. We’ve been out and about, weaving in and out of the
different marketplaces and finding new people in areas of growth and potential.”
She continued: “As a response to continued requests from our reviewers and photographers,
a new initiative for this year is the Portfolio Promenade, where all participating photographers
will be invited to show their work to all the reviewers and invited guests and buyers on
Saturday 28 July in the Horton Suite of the Burlington Hotel. At the same time, a Silent
Auction of 20 images by invited picture donors will take place. This year there is a far more of
a public menu for the Rhubarb offering.”
Neil Rami, Chief Executive Marketing Birmingham said: “As well as attracting a young and
diverse audience to Birmingham for this not to be missed event, the Festival of The Image
brings significant economic benefits to the city. Circa £200K is generated in the space of a
week by Rhubarb Rhubarb’s spend on flights, hotels and hospitality for its international
reviewers, plus the participating photographers, from 33 countries, who spend an average of
£600 each on hotels, travel, eating out and shopping.”
Ends
For further information please contact Tracey Saunders, Head of PR & Corporate Affairs,
Marketing Birmingham on 0121 202 5002 or email us.
Notes to editors
- Rhubarb-Rhubarb is a Birmingham based photography training and development
agency, which works to introduce photographers at different stages of their careers
to those who can provide opportunities for future commissions, exhibitions and
publication. Rhubarb curates exhibitions and provides networks for selling, publishing
and offering support to buyers and commissioners. Rhubarb-Rhubarb works to build
the confidence of photographers facing the rapidly changing industry and
marketplaces, virtual and in real time, by supporting mentoring courses, events,
portfolio sessions and The UK's International Festival of the Image –
www.rhubarb-rhubarb.net
- Rhubarb-Rhubarb.net Ltd 212 The Custard Factory Gibb Street Birmingham B9 4AA
0121 773 7889 info@rhubarb-rhubarb.net
- In 2007 Rhonda Wilson received an MBE for services to photography and
international trade.
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