Times of our Lives preview

Young people’s private viewing of “Lives of our Time” photography exhibition

Friday 5^th September saw the opening of the brand new exhibition “Lives of our Times” at Hartlepool Art Gallery.

The exhibition which features the work of three female photographers and asks the question; “what is it like to be a teenage girl?”

Karen Robinson is a London based photographer who has worked all over the world on humanitarian projects for organisations such as Amnesty International as well as commercial work for Vogue, The times among others

http://www.karenrobinson.co.uk/projects.php

Her work in this exhibition; “All Dressed up” was commissioned by Side Gallery in Newcastle in 2006 and focuses on the lives of teenage girls in former mining villages of the North East. The photographs document the daily lives and highlights issues that the young women are facing, often as a result

Harriet currently studies at Cleveland College of Arts and Design. You can read more on her blog; http://harrietautonphotography.blogspot.co.uk/

Lucinda Grange’s exhibition “Everyone” portrays deeply personal stories by young women, their problems and how they have overcame them.

http://www.lucindagrange.com/

Also exhibited was an amazing installation of photography by young women from Throston Youth Centre who worked on their project alongside Lucinda Grange. Hung by wires across the walls, photographs and snapshots narrated the three month photography project and showed their personal and photographic journeys.

Young people helped organise and gave input for the private view. The lights were dimmed the DJ played and we opened the doors to over 90 people! 16 year old Aiden Stephenson provided the soundtrack to the evening with a mix of contemporary and classic House music.

Amazing cocktail were mixed and served from Mr Browne’s Vintage style temperance bar. Queues lined up for traditional tastes like Elder and Sarsaparilla to go with the buffet of pizza and fruit bowls.

Steph’s review of the event;

“I really enjoyed the evening- viewing the work in the exhibition, while eating pizza, enjoying the fabulous DJ, and trying the different varieties of cocktails. My idea is to tell schools and colleges to put any arts/cultural events on the log-on message on school computers, to persuade young teenagers to get involved with the arts and events like these.”
With special thanks to our amazing volunteers Ella, Josh and Steph!