The Flowers Still Grow a new exhibition celebrating Liverpool community stories is coming to Open Eye Gallery

Liverpool’s Open Eye Gallery is bringing community stories to life with its new exhibition, The Flowers Still Grow.

The Flowers Still Grow is a powerful project highlighting long-term collaborations between photographers, creative writers, and local communities in Anfield and Garston.

Each project celebrates personal narratives, the exhibition explores what makes a strong community today, reflecting the concerns, experiences, and aspirations of those who call these areas home.

People of Anfield and Childhood is a garden, co-created with communities in Anfield and Garston, are the result of two year creative residencies commissioned by Open Eye Gallery and Culture Liverpool.

The show also includes Next Up…, the annual graduate showcase of work from the MA in Socially Engaged Photography course at the University of Salford, and Social Lens: Celebrating Creative Collaborations (exterior walls), a celebration of the collaborative projects we have produced over the past 8 years. 

We live in uncertain times around the world today, and the exhibition represents how multiple voices have explored these concerns within their own local context.

Some projects focus on the inevitability and concerns of redevelopment of suburban landscapes, and the impact of issues like austerity and the Covid pandemic have had on people living and working here in the UK. Others focus on the need for more opportunities and spaces for communities to come together to tackle issues of loneliness, poor mental health and something we all deserve: the right to be creative and play. 

Sophie Mahon, Open Eye Gallery’s Joint Head of Social Practice, said:

“Creative residencies in Anfield and Garston have enabled us to work closely and collaboratively with communities to showcase often sidelined voices of children, of local people and of broader social issues that impact Liverpool’s communities.

“Our long term community based residencies have enabled us to support people in sharing their own experiences about the areas they live in, providing a platform for untold stories, moments of celebration and space for concerns to be voiced. We are honoured to showcase works both at the gallery and locally in communities, using photography and writing to creatively and collaboratively tell stories of our communities across Liverpool.”

People of Anfield 

The People of Anfield is an artistic project engaging local people of all backgrounds and ages to share conversations and ideas about the Anfield area – past, present and future. The project has been developed and delivered by photographer Emma Case and writer Pauline Rowe through photography, writing and discussion.

Anfield is a unique city-edge place that is transformed when visited by the world because of football or musical celebrity but people here long for a thriving high street and a beautiful environment, facilities that communities can be proud of, green spaces to be enjoyed, creative expression and safe streets. 

After many decades of decline and neglect, Anfield was further hit by Brexit, the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis. But in this urban, broken landscape, between the cracks in the bricks and on stagnant pieces of unused land, flowers still grow. The flowers, like the people of Anfield, grow despite their surroundings.

There are two stories to be told. The story of a place in which the local environment and economy are in decline and living can feel precarious. And the story of a local community that brings life, vibrancy and connection to where they live. 

Every face in this exhibition represents a unique story. The community grows in strength and is collectively determined just like the wildflowers that also make this place their home.

Like the flowers, the people are what make Anfield beautiful.

Emma and Pauline have worked closely with Anfield residents and a range of community organisations and spaces, including Kitty’s Laundrette, Homebaked CLT, Liverpool Lighthouse, Anfield Improvement District and Pinehurst Primary School, to develop works shown throughout the exhibition.

Emma Case, Open Eye Gallery’s photographer in residence, said:

“It has been such a wonderful time working on this residency over the past year and a half. We’ve connected in many creative ways with lots of different people and witnessed both the community’s frustrations and its constant hard work and dedication to bring people together and to support one another. I hope that this exhibition gives people a real glimpse of that and celebrates the community that we feel honoured to have gotten to know.”

Childhood is a garden 

Miriam Flüchter is a socially engaged artist who has been working with communities in Garston through a two-year artist residency. Childhood is a Garden offers a multi-dimensional view of Garston, aiming to paint a picture of the area that looks beyond the here and now, into the past and future, questioning what we have lost and what we wish for. 

Throughout the residency, Miriam has worked closely with grown-up residents to explore what growing up in Garston was like for them and local children and young people living in the area now to examine the ingredients of an ideal neighbourhood through the lens of nostalgia, memory and dreams.

Miriam has worked with Children at Garston Adventure Play, a long-standing youth provision that started out as a community-led summer playscheme in 1976, as well as with local schools and community groups. Together, they have explored storytelling through experimental analogue photography and textile crafts to create a playful and joyful family-friendly exhibition co-curated by children in Garston.

Miriam Fluchter, Open Eye Gallery’s photographer-in-residence, said:

“Working with Garston residents from the ages of 3 to 95 has allowed me to gain a comprehensive understanding of the history of this neighbourhood and its people. What has resonated most with me throughout is the deep love and connection people in Garston feel to their home and community and I am hoping this exhibition will reflect this love.

“The warm welcome I have received as an outsider in this community is a good example of the warmth that exists between residents, that I haven’t found words for, but hope my images will do it justice. The exhibition is largely curated by children between the ages of 3 and 11 for children, and children and grown-ups alike are very much invited to join in and add to it.”

Next Up…

Next Up… is our annual graduate showcase of work from the MA in Socially Engaged Photography course at the University of Salford. Open Eye Gallery has been jointly running this unique postgraduate course since 2018, and the programme supports students to explore the power of photography when working with real communities to co-author meaningful culture. The exhibition features work by three early career photographers from our 2023 graduates. 

Rachel Beeson presents her on-going project Picturing The Strikes – a UK wide exploration of working communities in Britain. The work brings together a series of beautiful portraits, images from the strikes themselves and personal stories from each of the participants involved. 

David Contreras worked collaboratively on a project called Our Streets, Our Stories with a local photography group, Clickmoor, to explore the act of undertaking street photography together as a tool for wellbeing. Clickmoor developed as an independent photo collective, off the back of a previous Open Eye Gallery commission with local community initiative My Clubmoor and artists Emma Case and Katherine Monaghan. We are delighted to welcome the group back with David to present in the gallery with us. 

Cyril Matthew presents a photo series from his previous project My History with Manchester, which explores the personal stories of individuals after migrating to the UK and spaces they have found themselves visiting in their new country for moments of contemplation, social history and wellbeing. 

Social Lens: Celebrating Creative Collaborations (Exterior Wall, 12 September – 4 October)

Exterior wall will present a celebration of the collaborative projects we have produced over the past 8 years. We have co-commissioned projects with partners across the health, cultural, environmental, charity, youth and social justice sectors, to name but a few, believing working in partnership with other sectors brings a strength in building knowledge and understanding. 

The works on display feature projects with NHS Merseycare foundation trust, Wirral Change, Sefton council and youth service, The Life Rooms, Royal Horticultural Society and projects from our Open Eye Hub Wigan and Leigh programme. Collectively they represent what can happen when the expertise of photographers comes together with the expertise of people and their lived experiences to tell powerful stories. 

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