Exclusive installation shots from North: Identity, Photography, Fashion
//Mannequin, New Power Studio, Autumn/Winter 2010 – Spring/Summer 2012. Wall: Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield, 1995-2001, Jason Evans//
//Set design, Tony Hornecker, 2016. Film: Stylist Simon Foxton discusses growing up in Berwick-upon-Tweed, produced in collaboration with SHOWstudio, 2016//
I am very grateful to curators Adam Murray and Lou Stoppard for these exclusive installation shots from their exciting exhibition North: Identity, Photography, Fashion, which opens in a couple of hours at Liverpool’s Open Eye Gallery.
Exploring the influence of England’s northern cities and landscape on fashion and visual culture, the show presents the work of such vital image-makers as Alasdair McLellan – who has created his first film installation for public display at North – as well as Jamie Hawkesworth, Glen Luchford and Nick Knight.
Contributing artists include Jeremy Deller and Mark Leckey and fashion designers and stylists are also showcased: a parka from Raf Simons’ A/W 2003 collection Control, which featured graphics from Peter Saville’s archive, is exhibited alongside work from Christopher Shannon, John Skelton, the now-defunct and lamented label New Power Studio and memories of growing up in Berwick-upon-Tweed from Simon Foxton.
//Wall: From Origins: Oh Manchester, So Much To Answer For, Alasdair McLellan, Francesca Burns and Kim Jones, i-D, May 2008; Bolton, Humphrey Spender, 1937. Film: Spare Time, Humphrey Jennings, 1939. Vitrine: From Special Issue: The North, John Bulmer The Sunday Times Magazine, March 28, 1965; from Angel Of The North, Tim Walker & Kate Phelan, British Vogue, August 2008//
Among new pieces is a collaborative effort from interiors designer Ben Kelly (his resume includes, of course, Manchester’s Hacienda nightclub) and the American fashion designer Virgil Abloh (who staged a response to the Malcolm McLaren exhibition I co-curated in Copenhagen a couple of years back).
//Installation: Virgil Abloh and Ben Kelly, 2016//
Stoppard will be familiar to followers of this blog as a fashion writer, curator and SHOWStudio editor. Murray, a Manchester-based academic, is co-founder with Robert Parkinson of photography collective Preston Is My Paris.
North: Identity, Photography, Fashion runs until March 19. More details here.
*Thanks to Adam Murray for the photographs*