Photography students feature work in John Bulmer Exhibition Northern Light at Hartlepool Gallery
BA (Hons) Photography students recently collaborated on the exhibition John Bulmer:Northern Light showcasing the work of celebrated British Photographer and Film-maker John Bulmer, at Hartlepool Art Gallery. John has worked for The Sunday Times Magazine amongst others and during his long career he has traveled to over 100 countries around the world to document historic moments.
Shortly after in the winter of 1962 he visited Hartlepool for Image Magazine, a publication he had co-founded while studying at Cambridge University. Despite the obvious hardships that the people of Hartlepool were enduring at that time, Bulmer’s photographs have been reviewed as conveying ‘a sense of fortitude, humour and even optimism. Although the landscape appears bleak and hard, Bulmer remembers the people he met being friendly and welcoming.’
Hartlepool Borough Council have acquired the set of photographs took over that winter of 62 & 63 for the galleries permanent collection which will be included in this upcoming exhibition. Northern Light opened on the 27th January to 4th May 2024. This will be the first time the photographs will be showcased in the town. Speaking to ITV the John said “it’s wonderful to see them here, when I took them the conditions were pretty terrible. It was freezing cold, it had the highest unemployment rate in the country and some how it’s not something you would particularly want to look at. The fact they are now on show and looked at is a sign that things have come in a complete circle.”
Not only will visitors be able to view the original images depicting Hartlepool’s history, the exhibition also seeks to re-visit modern-day Hartlepool. Contributing student photographers from our school had the opportunity to convey their contemporary view point of the town to be displayed alongside the 1960’s images in the exhibition. Students presented their images to the galleries curator in response to the brief that questioned how would the same photographs look today?
Hartlepool Gallery Curator Angela Thomas worked with our students and selected the final images, she commented, “It has been wonderful to work with the students on this project, their professionalism and talent has shone through. They have truly captured the spirit of Hartlepool, just as John Bulmer did on his first visit more than sixty years ago.”
The gallery was so impressed with the student work that they opted to exhibit more images that originally expected, contributing student Jenny Batchelor said “Initially, we were expecting to have fewer prints selected from our group, so it was exciting to learn that the gallery had chosen a lot more prints from us than expected! I felt very proud of the whole class, and it was great to see so much hard work rewarded.”
Commenting on working on the brief Jenny said that it allowed her get to know the town better, it was “challenging but fun, as I do not know Hartlepool well aside from the School’s campus so took the opportunity to explore the wider city and coastline. Having been shown Bulmer’s prints prior to the exhibition was helpful for this as it gave me an idea of the character of the city and how it could be photographed. I submitted 10 digital images, 4 appear in the exhibition, I documented how the beach from Hartlepool to Seaton Carew is being utilised in 2024. I focused on the people using the beach for sightseeing, contrasting that with the remnants of various industries that rely on the beach – such as discarded crabbing pots.”
Speaking of having her work exhibited and working with the gallery she said “Working with the Hartlepool Gallery was an exciting endeavour for me personally as a student with an interest in curation and gallery work. The experience has cemented my interest in this area of the industry. Having prints in a gallery feels incredible. Especially one so beautiful as the Hartlepool Gallery and it was so interesting to see how a professional gallerist makes selections for exhibitions.”
Live briefs like these underpin our degree course at the school, when asked about how she was enjoying our photography degree Jenny remarked “I’m having a lot of fun on the course. Its a good feeling to see yourself tangibly improving day by day which is not an experience I’ve often had with other academic pursuits.”
Don’t miss out take a walk through Hartlepool’s history and see the John Bulmer: Northern Light exhibition! If you are interested in studying photography at degree level make sure you head to our website page to find out more about the course and how to apply!
