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Finally, there was the couple of million pounds spent on restoring Hardman’s house and garden by the National Trust to create a museum for the public.
All that seemed a long time coming, but it has arrived and is now well established as a visitor attraction. It’s something everyone on Merseyside should take huge pride in.
Now comes the icing on the cake. We’re at the point where the photographs, which include a record of Liverpool from the 1920s to the 1960s, portraits, landscapes at home and abroad, are to tour Merseyside.
That vague hope of bringing these atmospheric photographs into the open so young eyes could see their city in a fresh way by understanding its past will become a reality.
Hopefully, those unfamiliar with Hardman’s work will also marvel at and be inspired by the artistry and technical accomplishments of this outstanding photographer.
The exhibition is called Liverpool People and Places – the photography of E Chambré Hardman, but it is more than simply placing his photographs in public places unexposed to his vision.
It will combine 20 striking Hardman images with work by young Liverpudlians as part of the European Capital of Culture celebrations. The youngsters have spent the past four months using photography as a method of recording the city, its life and its heritage.
The touring exhibition will be launched at Liverpool’s Metquarter designer shopping centre on April 7 and will finish at the Echo Arena Liverpool in November to coincide with the National Trust’s AGM, when it is held there in November.
Coincidentally, another National Trust exhibition of Hardman’s work will be one of the first to go on show at the newly-restored Victoria Gallery & Museum, Brownlow Hill, University of Liverpool, when it opens to the public.
Simon Osborne, the National Trust’s Liverpool property manager, says: “Through Liverpool People and Places, we hope that the city’s young people will explore and develop their own photographic skills.
“The aim of the project also enables the National Trust to continue paying for an archivist and restoring Hardman’s archives to make access easier.
“Also important is getting the pictures out to a wider community and encouraging young adults to participate in the project to introduce them to the pre-digital camera age.
“The students will be equipped with single-lens reflex cameras and get into John Moores University dark rooms to develop and print films. Liverpool Community College will look at how glamour photography was produced in studios in a way that is completely unknown now.
“It’s about engaging with the community so people have an awareness of a by-gone art form. These pictures were a complete revelation to the students who were absolutely enthralled.”
With the exhibition travelling to unusual locations like the Metquarter and Liverpool South Parkway station, Simon believes they will touch audiences who do not visit traditional galleries.
Wayne Colquhoun, chairman and founder of Liverpool Preservation Trust, formed the organisation to alert people to the potential mistakes in losing our cultural heritage.
“I hoped at the start of our dogged campaign that it would one day inspire a new generation to view Liverpool through the individual lenses of our own eyes,” says Wayne.
“To know these photographic works of art are now being used as a springboard to do this means all the long campaigning was more than worth it, because investing in youth forms a future generation’s cultural legacy.
“If one young person is inspired to become a photographer half as great as Chambré Hardman, then I will feel proud to have played my part in some small way. When these works go on exhibition, people should stop, look around and imagine how impoverished Liverpool would be without the knowledge of our historic past through Hardman’s legacy.”
The project is financed by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Liverpool Culture Company. Five organisations are currently involved: Interchill, Liverpool Community College, Shorefields Technology College, New Heys Community School and South Liverpool Youth Offending Team.
Laura Naylor, National Trust community project officer and exhibition organiser, says: “All the student participants toured Hardman’s former home and studio.
“They were supplied with an ‘inspiration pack’ of landscapes, portraits and house ephemera. A project officer helped the groups increase their understanding of Hardman and encourage thinking about wider social issues, like citizenship.”
Besides developing creative thinking, photography, animation, and film-making, she hopes the young people involved will also develop a sense of team work and a historical awareness of their surroundings.
Cllr Warren Bradley, leader of Liverpool City Council and deputy chair of the Liverpool Culture Company, sees this as one of the key targets for 2008: “One of the aims of this year is to engage as many people as possible in exploring their identity and celebrating their culture. I applaud the way the National Trust is taking Edward Chambré Hardman’s work out into the community for a new generation to appreciate.”
THE Liverpool People and Places exhibition opens in Liverpool’s Metquarter on April 7, and then tours community spaces across the city until November. Details of further venues will be announced shortly.
Source:
Liverpool Daily Post
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