extra{ordinary} Photographs of Britain by The Caravan Gallery
An alternative guide to Britain, collected by the innovative photography gallery-on-wheels.
This major exhibition features photographs made in hundreds of locations across the UK over the last fifteen years. Selected from The Caravan Gallery’s huge archive of images, extra{ordinary} offers an insight into the reality and surreality of everyday life in 21st century Britain.
In an alternative to the picturesque and often clichéd images found in tourist information brochures, the artists, Jan Williams and Chris Teasdale, seek out the curious, unusual and absurd in the places they visit. The artists say, ‘The Caravan Gallery doesn’t airbrush out Portaloos, and we’re as likely to photograph tanning salons as thatched cottages’.
The Caravan Gallery itself is an innovative photography gallery-on-wheels. Since 2000, Williams and Teasdale have travelled thousands of miles, taking their iconic 1969 mustard-coloured caravan to locations across Britain, from London’s Tate Britain to the small fishing port of Peterhead in the North East of Scotland, in a quest to share their photographs and inspire others.
Contributions from local people are vital to the project. The artists delight in talking to the many visitors drawn to the caravan, and seek out their recommendations of people and places worthy of investigation. Williams and Teasdale have photographed everything from distressed shoppers in Liverpool to a one-penny wedding dress; from a box of mystery vegetables, to an elderly couple enjoying the papers whilst wedged in between two cars in a lay by, oblivious to the scenery. The artists say, ‘Unexpected delights are to be found in the most unpromising situations, and vice versa. Many of our images tell stories and raise questions. They might be tawdry, topographic, touching, tragicomic, typical and sometimes irreverent but are always real’.
extra{ordinary} is one of three components in the Bradford Pride of Place Project which will be sweeping across the city this summer. Visitors will also be able to experience The Caravan Gallery on location during the Bradford Caravan Gallery Tour, and contribute stories, artwork and ideas to a reverse visitor information centre at the Bradford Pride of Place Project hublocated at Fuse Art Space throughout June and July.
The Pride of Place Project is a major touring project delivered by The Caravan Gallery throughout 2015 and 2016, funded by The National Lottery through Arts Council England.
Artists
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Jan Williams and Chris Teasdale
The Caravan Gallery is a collaboration between artists and photographers Jan Williams and Chris Teasdale, who use photography to document what they call the ‘reality and surreality’ of everyday life. Founded in the year 2000, The Caravan Gallery is a mobile exhibition space and itinerant social club on wheels housed in a 1969 mustard coloured caravan. The venue has travelled thousands of miles taking contemporary art to unexpected locations and tens of thousands of people in Britain and abroad. www.thecaravangallery.photography
Resources
Our visitors say...
“The exhibition has inspired me to draw and photograph all of the interesting and strange sights I see.”
“I am constantly learning new things about my home town.”
“Brightened my day and made me laugh.”
