Blast! festival celebrates the character and creativity of Sandwell
The Caravan Gallery is working with the arts organisation Multistory, based in Sandwell, to create the Blast! Festival of Photography, Talks and Walks.
The collaboration between artists and photographers, Jan Williams and Chris Teasdale, forms the bases of The Caravan Gallery.
They use photography to document the reality and surreality of everyday life, as well as exploring sense of place.
The benefit of being a mobile exhibition and social club means the gallery can interact with people and places other galleries may not be able to.
Since they formed in 2000, the pair have travelled all over the world, from an Asda car park in Liverpool to the Paul Smith Space in Tokyo, showing work inside their caravan and on the walls of galleries.
Jan and Chris have made regular visits to Sandwell's six towns, Oldbury, Rowley Regis, Smethwick, Tipton, Wednesbury and West Bromwich, since late 2017 to create a portrait of each town and its residents.
Their work has made a series of publications and a large Sandwell Pride of Place Project Exhibition for Blast! festival possible.
The exhibition will consist of photographs of Sandwell, taken by The Caravan Gallery, a large hand-drawn 'Map of Sandwell' for visitors to add their own thoughts and observations, as well as a selection of photos from the photo competition held in April.
The festival will transform the former Poundland next to West Bromwich bus station into a gallery and visitor centre, celebrating the character and creativity of the area.
Blast! will take place from May 24 to June 29, with the public welcomed from 11am on May 24.
More information can be found at blastphotofestival.com
