From the very start, Photo|Frome’s mission has been to fill Frome with photos, bringing the power and benefits of photography to the local community.
From 24th June to 12th July, 15 venues across town will host international artists, photography exploring the Southwest’s history, local student and amateur talents, all free, plus workshops, a two-day symposium, photo walks, book fair, student awards, portfolio reviews, curator tours and more.
Organiser Martin Bax said, “Following Photo|Frome’s 2022 successful launch, every aspect has been improved, starting with the theme. Decolonising Environments was chosen as topical and challenging for artists, speakers, and audience alike. It explores the complex and often conflicting relationships between human communities, places, and the natural world, to create an image-driven conversation about political, cultural and economic ideas about our world.”
As such, MPB @ Rook Lane showcases Gideon Mendel’s acclaimed Submerged Portraits; Christina Simons’s Australian Apocalypse; Leah Gordon’s Monument to the Vanquished; Gobinder Jhitta’s Xaku; Jacqueline Ennis-Cole’s Beneath Us; Jesse Alexander’s The Digging Season; and Keerthana Kunnath’s Aval. Additionally, the finalists of our UK-wide Student Awards will be exhibited.
Black Swan Arts premieres Oscar-winning Sir Roger Deakins’s 1970s’ work, together with documentation on Ash Dieback by artist-photographer Robert Darch.
The Whittox Gallery presents Arteh Odjidja’s Rise for Bayelsa, and the UK Black Female Photographers group’s Living the Dream.
Gallery at The Station features Intersectional Matter: Waste curated by Jacqueline Ennis-Cole with internationally renowned photographers, and introduces local Clementine Wilson’s No Fixed Abode.
Makers’ Yard hosts Moon, beautiful and thrilling work from the global Women Photograph collective, whilst Italian group T House stage thought-provoking outdoor exhibitions.
An inspirational, weekend-long symposium at The Assembly Rooms will feature talks from, amongst others, documentary photographer Jenny Matthews, visual artist Joanne Coates, and photojournalist/The One-Armed Chef Giles Duley.
There will also be local artists Rod Higginson and Anjalika Baier at Of Cabbages & Kings; an international Open Book display and a Frome College x UWE Bristol exhibition at the Library; Frome Wessex Photographic at the Town Hall; a university student-curated show at 23 Bath St; the Faces of Frome pop-up studio project returning to The Frome Independent; community-focused camera-less workshops; fun photo walks; guided curator tours; and the town’s best cafés also exhibiting photography.
Martin said, “It’s a line-up that engages the local and regional community whilst establishing Frome and the South West as a key contributor to the promotion of photography within the UK.”
Offer for readers: code ‘NEWS’ unlocks a 10% discount on all ticketed events. Booking links via photofrome.org
Supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.
