Movers & Shakers – 20th Anniversary

Movers and Shakers – Faces of a changing city.

Photography exhibition – Symphony Hall  2005 – Lorentz Gullachsen

Portraits in Birmingham at the beginning of the 21st century .

( Image – Prof Carl Chinn, Historian, Author, broadcaster, Brummie)

In 2000 I was aware that my home city Birmingham  was going through a transformation that I wanted to respond to and celebrate, Birmingham was also hoping to get the City of Culture award  and so with the support of Pete James head of photography at Birmingham Central Library I started to photograph a series of environmental portraits of many who were changing the city.

The resulting collection of 100 portraits was exhibited at Birmingham Symphony Hall , opening in September 2005 and extended to April 2006, the exhibition finally seen by an estimated 60.000 and then became part of the Birmingham library collection and archive.

The subjects were invited to be photographed at a location that was relevant to them, and though the images were portraits they also provided a context and celebrated the history and contemporary environments of Britains second city.

The subjects were chosen to represent the change is the city and its diverse work and culture, it was originally aimed at helping the bid for the city of culture , but grew into a much larger project .

It was always intended to be shown to the public in an accessible location and the new Bull Ring that was under  construction was the initial choice, however costs and schedules made this difficult and the Symphony Hall became the host.

The initial number of subjects was going to be 50, but it became apparent that this would not cover anything like to number of subjects that needed to be represented. The target of 100 took 4 years to achieve as I was working mainly in London and abroad for my advertising commissions.

Nominations came from many sources, some were obvious choices like Prof Carl Chinn and the then bishop of Birmingham John Sentamu, the band UB40, Jasper Carrot and many key cultural players were chosen as well as Politicians and key community leaders.

I certainly missed many key people, and would have loved to continue the project and take the number to another century, but costs and logistics made that ambition impossible, my career continued heading toward teaching so  I went back to BCU to gain my MA and that changed my practice and my portrait work became the main area of practice.

The project was originally hoping the receive funding from Arts & Business , however this did not transpire and the cost of the project was something that I had to absorb, I was grateful for the great support and guidance that Pete James at the Central Library gave me and the help from suppliers such as Colin Alford and the amazing support from friends and family, however the expense was certainly a major issue that impacted my business.

It is now 20 years since the exhibition, the city has continued to grow and I am proud to say Brum is my home city, I am still photographing the Movers and Shakers in the city for commissions especially in the expanding financial sector and diverse projects.

The Movers and Shakers that are currently making the city of Birmingham a new hub for financial services as well as the great creative industry that has grown in the last few years, recent interest in TV and Film production shows that the UK is no longer London centric. I am now working not only with my usual corporate portraits for marketing and comms, but also actively seeking out the new areas of creativity and hopefully new subjects shall be found.

It would be wonderful to start the project again, ideally with a generous sponsor, the city has certainly gone through changes, there is an energy and vibrancy that makes Birmingham special, a city that has changed throughout its history sometimes with difficulty but it has always bounced back, it is the City of Movers and Shakers.

Movers and Shakers – Faces of a changing city – photography exhibition , Symphony Hall Birmingham 2005 -2006 photographer Lorentz Gullachsen

Subjects – included

  

Cannon Jermima Prasadam

David Bintley

Doug Ellis

Dr Brian Wood-Scawen

Sakiri Ormoro

Shefali Oza

Karen Brady

Adrian Bland

Adrian Goldberg

Andrew Jowett

Andrew McKenzie

Andrew Morris

Andy Howell

Barry Claverden

Bob Gilbert

Bernie Gray

Chris Monk

David Bucknell

David Amiss

Dorothy Wilson

Dr John Heeley

Dr P Mahendra

Dreadlock Alien

Ed Doolan

Fiona Alexander

Gary Taylor

Gisla Stuart

Glyn Purnell

Graham Vick

Ian Squires

Jim Crace

John Dowlan

Jasper Carrott

John Hemming

John James

John Overton

John Towers

John Watkinson

John Emery

Jonathan Bryant

Jonathan Watkins

Jonnie Turpie

Kalid Mohamad

Karen Brady

Karl George

Kay Cadman

Krysia Rozanska

Lynn Jones MP

Marcello & Kay Manca

Mark Ball

Mark Britell

Mike Whitby

Neil Rami

Nigel Craig

Paul Keynes

Paul Udende

Pete James

Prof Michael Stirling

Rebecca Bateman

Pia Ray

Remo Papini

Rev Jemima Prasadam

Richard Heard

Richard Burden MP

Richard Green

Richardson Bros

Roger Godstff MP

Ronda Wilson

Rt Rev Dr John Sentamu

Sakiri Ormoro

Sarinder Singh Sahota

Shefali Oza

Simon Topman

Sir Albert Bore

Sir Bernard Zissman

Sir Digby Jones

Sir Michael Lyons

Sir Peter Ripley

Sir Richard Knowle

Sue Battle

Sue Beardsmore

Tariq Ismail

Terry Davis MP

Tim Watts

Tindall Press

UB40

Uni of 1st Age

W Wing Yip