Introducing John Angerson

Starting this week we will be introducing the photographers who will be taking part in the life.still exhibition. We hope this will give you an insight into the work that will be exhibited and entice you to come along. First up is the award winning and Bristol born photographer John Angerson.

John's work explores the different languages of documentary photography. His images are concerned with changing cultural landscapes and address definitions of community - focusing on how specific communities form, shift and develop. His critically acclaimed personal work has been exhibited at major art institutions and he has worked across the world on photographic commissions for a variety of international publications.


Work in progress: English Journey.

Cardiff Cobras versus Bristol Bullocks during an American football match at the sports ground of the British Aerospace welfare association. British aerospace built the supersonic plane Concorde that was in service from 1976 and continued for 27 years. Concorde’s ‘final retirement’ flight landed at Bristol Filton Airport.

Since its publication 75 years ago, 'English Journey' by JB Priestley has become a benchmark for writers, social historians and photographers. George Orwell's 'The Road to Wigan Pier' and much of the work of photographer Bill Brandt bear its influence; it was even mooted that it played a part in the policy-making decisions of the Labour Government in 1945.

This contemporary photographic journey embraces the spirit of Priestley's ‘English Journey’, by using the subtitle of the book: ‘Being a rambling but truthful account of what one man saw and heard and felt and thought during a journey through England.’

"As my journey has taken shape, another global economic downturn similar to that of the 1930s has taken hold. 'Americanisation' and homogenisation seem to penetrate almost every town and city. The England I discovered is manufacturing less and has become highly reliant on technology. Celebrity culture and its media stronghold is fast becoming a national obsession. The perceived threat of global terrorism means new laws have been created curtailing the freedom to photograph in public places and PR departments are increasingly stringent as to how their organisations are portrayed.

However, the open-hearted spirit of the people I have encountered while wandering across England has made me believe, as JB Priestley did, that we work as individuals towards a common goal of cooperation never forgetting that we are all dependent on one another."