Multiple perspectives through a photographic lens

A new group exhibition curated by neuro-diverse curator, performance poet and visual artist Jacqueline Ennis-Cole will open at Martin Parr Foundation (MPF) on January 27.

Intersectional Geographies will showcase the work of a diverse group of photographers exploring social and climate justice and sustainability through a human lens.

“The exhibition advocates for a deeper understanding of multi-faceted overlaps between protecting and sustaining our planet’s ecosystems and the people situated within diverse geographical contexts, whether they be mining communities, rural landscapes, and/or home environments,” explains Ennis-Cole.

“Intersectional Geographies questions, opens dialogue, and stimulates conversations that are representative of our time; thus, creating a visual aesthetic and an atmospheric experience that will undoubtedly evoke empathy, knowledge, understanding and deeper insights.”

Ennis-Cole herself has a multifarious skillset encompassing drawing, photography, art history and curation, anthropology and social science. As a curator from a BAME background, she seeks to amplify underrpresented voices in UK society, bringing together many perspectives in one place.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CYW0GzZo_GF/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Photographers featured in the exhibition include: Ignacio Acosta, Rhiannon Adam, Lisa Barnard, Jacqueline Ennis-Cole, Darek Fortas, Roshini Kempadoo, Miranda Pennell, Judy Rabinowitz Price, Xaviar Ribas, David Severn, Aida Silverstri and Janine Wiedel.

Alona Pardo, curator from Barbican Art Gallery, London, was on the panel of judges who selected Ennis-Cole to present a photographic exhibition at MPF gallery. “Intersectional Geographies unpacks and addresses complex and timely ideas from climate and social justice to extractive mining practices and questions of gender through the work of a diverse and international list of photographic voices working across the conceptual and documentary mode,” she reflects.

Below are some of the images featured in the collection.

David Severn – Thanks Maggie and The Pits of Nations: Black British Coal Miners

Thanks Maggie – photo: David Severn

David Severn grew up in a mining community in Nottinghamshire, an environment which he returned to in his visual autobiography Thanks Maggie. Severn was commissioned by Norma Gregory to produce The Pit of Nations: Black British Coal Miners, giving voice to visual representations of the experiences of black miners in the UK.

Rhiannon Adam – The Rift: Fracking in the UK

The Rift: Fracking in the UK – photo: Rhiannon Adam

Rhiannon Adam’s work explores the community surrounding the resistance to ongoing fracking at Preston New Road in Lancashire. With climate campaigners winning support from local residents in their fight against invasive industrial processes affecting their environment close to home, the campaign also became a focus of national efforts to eliminate energy from fossil fuels.

Darek Fortas – Coal Story

Coal Story – photo: Darek Fortas

Coal Story is a photographic archive from Darek Fortas, documenting the work from coal mining giants of Silesia in industrial Poland, where he was born and grew up before moving to the UK. Fortas’ work shines a light on the role played by the coal industry in overpowering the former communist regime in Poland.

Intersectional Geographies curated by Jacqueline Ennis-Cole is at Martin Parr Foundation, 316 Paintworks, Bristol, BS4 3AR from January 27-April 3 on Thursday to Sunday 10.30am-5.30pm (closed Monday-Wednesday). The exhibition is free to attend.

Main photo: Judy Rabinowitz Price (Quarries of Wandering Stone: White Oil)

Read more: Bristol Photo Festival’s Autumn Showcase

Listen to the latest episode of the Bristol 24/7 Behind the Headlines podcast: