My PHOTOGRAPHY exhibition ! In BIRMINGHAM !

Today I share with you a recent exhibition of mine, which took place in good ol' Birmingham.
I was asked by a fellow friend of mine to participate an exhibition she organized, to showcase my photography work and some of her painting work.
The aim of exhibition was to portray arts that revolve around the topic of anxiety and depression which is a very common and big problem in today's society.
She asked if she could showcase my work from the photography projects I shot....one being the ''Lonely Journey'' project which I published on this platform a few months back... showing the journey of grief. And the second project which is not yet finished, called ''Ghosts of the City'' which showcases women who have gone through rape, sexual assault and abusive relationships, which ties to the initial topic of anxiety and depression.

I woke up early in the morning, to make my way up to Birmingham. The journey was around three hours long and I managed to get there at a healthy time of 11am, which gave enough time to set up the exhibition by 1pm.
The Exhibition took place in Centrala which is an Exhibition space and a cafe, located in the artsy part of Birmingham - Digbeth.
The day started well, we managed to set up the exhibition images around the gallery and have a few coffees before people started arriving.

The day was set out to be long, the gallery space was booked until 8pm so the aim was to stay until then. We had an interesting crowd I must say.... from the people who absolutely loved my work to people who weren't so impressed. It's my 4th Exhibition so far, so I'm used to hearing mixed opinions from people ... I mean, everyone has different tastes, can't please everyone. I also find that a lot of them change their minds once they read the project description and what the photos mean with the story of how they were shot. I believe it adds perspective to the viewer, making them realise how much effort and work went into the project but also helping them see the meanings, they haven't seen before.

I must say that since I was specifically asked to involve these two projects in this exhibition, I did what I was asked to, but the work presented was very outdated. The photos were shot around 2 years ago, since then my photography improved immensely. Nonetheless though, as always I was proud to showcase my work. Especially since it touched up on such sensitive subjects.

Another thing I brought with me to Birmingham, was a set of separate prints for sale, to hopefully raise some money for my future projects. People sometimes don't realize the effort of an artist, who commits truly to their work and the amount of money it takes to complete their vision.

I found the photo prints to be a success, as I wasn't expecting to sell any but instead sold around 5. Some people absolutely loved them, spending a long time deciding which ones to choose.

People came at random times throughout the day. Some spent a little time seeing each photo, some spend longer- really looking and focusing on them. It brought me such joy to see random people who chose to come by, give me some of their time. It was humbling to hear their thoughts and opinions and which photo was their favorite.

The day in general was really relaxing, we manged to even order a celebratory pizza to the gallery as we got a bit hungry later on in the day.

Although it was a small exhibition, I am so grateful to a friend of mine who organized it, and everyone who turned up to see the work. I am very humbled and very happy. Maybe it wasn't a big exhibition but I'm surely climbing up as each just gets better!

Thank you to everyone who took time to read this,

Hope you enjoyed this blog !

Cheers,

Marta x