Everyday pictures and urban landscapes captured through the camera lens
An exhibition of photographs focussing on urban landscapes and everyday images that can be been while travelling through a city has been extended.
City Wolverhampton Type: Photography by Tom Hicks’, which is being displayed at Wolverhampton Art Gallery, will now run until March 22.
Photographer Hicks, from Wolverhampton, has turned his attention to the city and its surrounding areas, including Bushbury, Heath Town, Graiseley and Horseley Fields.
He is also working under a method influenced by psychogeographic practices, particularly the concept of the ‘derive’ or drift.
The idea is that drifting through an urban environment without a clear purpose is the best way to fully experience it.
The exhibition forms part of an ongoing project, Black Country Type, where Hicks applies his unique aesthetic to the region, focusing on words, typography, handmade lettering and signs.
He also photographs ‘types’ of architectural features, objects and the post-industrial landscape of the area.
Hicks takes photographs while either walking or cycling, which he feels is the best way to fully observe buildings, signs and features in the landscape.
He says the approach gives him access to the hidden and the overlooked zones of the city, which can be seen in his the new collection of images.
Councillor Harman Banger, City of Wolverhampton Council Cabinet Member for City Economy, said: “This exhibition really shows the diversity of the city and the different things that people see on their day to day travels.
“There are lots of recognisable places and I hope visitors to the exhibition will take inspiration from how our wonderful city has been captured.”
Images in the collection range from large-scale Victorian architecture to hand-painted domestic garages.
And while the subject matter could be considered ‘everyday’ in nature, Hicks’ approach conveys the idea that ‘beauty is in the street’.
Hicks has worked in the Wolverhampton for two decades and exhibited widely across the Black Country and Birmingham.
The exhibition is free to see and can be viewed Monday to Saturday, from 10.30am to 4.30pm, and Sunday, 11am to 4pm. For further information, go to blackcountrytype.com
