A photographic Journey across austerity Britain
We’re delighted to announce that Bank Street Arts will be staging a major 2 month exhibition of photographer Si Barber’s The Big Society opening in November 2011 and running into The New Year.
At once an angry, impassioned state-of-the-nation address, indictment of free market capitalism, and wry look at the quirks of contemporary British life, The Big Society focuses on “people negotiating their way through the rubble and the chaos” of the recession. “Not the movers or the shakers, but those surviving the will of the powerful… the lucky and the losers.”
Si says of The Big Society: “I got the title when I was listening to the radio when Prime Minister David Cameron was describing the way he wanted to reshape Britain. I found his nostalgia for the certainties of his privileged upbringing quite sinister really. It reminded me of an Enid Blyton story. I thought if I’m going to witness his Big Society, he can see mine as well. So I sent a copy [of The Big Society book] to No 10 Downing St, for his attention.”
The Big Society was exhibited at FACT in Liverpool earlier this year, as part of the Look11 International Photography Festival. The Bank Street Arts show will feature a number of previously unseen photographs.
We will be hosting a number of other events and activities around this important exhibition (full details will be announced soon) and we urge anyone interested to come along and get involved. After all, this is The Big Society…
For further information please contact Bank Street Arts’ Photographer in Residence Andrew Conroy at andrewdconroy@yahoo.co.uk
