Saturday 21 November 2015

A day off.


It's my day off so I am going through images for the upcoming Third Floor Gallery exhibition. In the first stage Claire Kern and I flick(r) through all the images available to us. Easy and fun. Second part will be a tough one. Well have to cut down this initial edit to about 30 images... I hope we will not have to call Houston.

The Apollo Archive

The Apollo Archive

Friday 20 November 2015

After 'The Wall of Silence'

I'm at it again. Working on a project about immigration in Poland. As far as I am concerned, the work shapes differently than The Wall of Silence. While I plan to continue to make more portraits for this series, my new work will offer a different angle and a new perspective on the subject. 

Picture of Paul and Amani Runiga taken in 2010 was unused before. 



Friday 16 October 2015

Bluebird Jones exhibition opens tomorrow.


I'm pretty exited about the Bluebird Jones exhibition. Not often Cardiff City and comics come together!

It opens tomorrow, 17th October at 7.30pm at the Andrew Buchan Bar in Albany Road in Cardiff 'and will feature a host of original strips from the fanzine, which documented the trials and tribulations of being a Cardiff City supporter in the lower leagues'.

Unfortunately I will not be able to come to the opening, but I couldn't stop myself and asked few questions to the creator of the comic and man responsible for the show - Mike Urban


BN: Where did the idea of a comic about Bluebirds supporter came from?


MU: Back in the 90s, Cardiff fans had a terrible reputation, with the press always keen to portray them in the worst possible light. Much of the stuff focussed on the actions of a tiny minority and I wanted to tell the story of the football experience that I enjoyed.
The catalyst for the comic came when Cardiff were playing a crucial match that had attracted a big crowd. For the first time, I heard racist abuse from three guys behind me which pissed me off. Mindful of the fact that I'd probably get my face filled in if I challenged them directly, I decided to ridicule and attack them via a comic strip, and so the first character was born: 70s Man. 70s man was a compendium of these three idiots, and the story was that he was a hooligan from the 70s who had woken up from a coma and returned to football only to find that his racism, homophobia and sexism was no longer in step with the times.





BN: Was the strip in a way autobiographical?

MU: It's fair to say that the Bluebird Jones character - the bloke with dreadds who goes to festivals, takes drugs, dances about at all night raves and is politically active - does have the odd hint of me inthere ;)



BN: You mentioned on your website that each issue was printed in the number of 1000 copies and always sold out. How did you managed to do that? 


MU: I used to drag up a massive bag of comics and sell them inside and outside the ground. Five hundred A4-sized, 32-page comics weigh a bloody ton to carry about!







BN: How did the idea of the exhibition of the original artwork from the strip came about?

MU: John, the manager of the bar, was a big fan of the old Bluebird Jones comics, and when a mutual fan introduced us to each other, the idea of an exhibition was born!




BN: Tell us a little bit about the show and any additional events you are planning to host.

MU: The exhibition is going to run until Feb 1st, and we're looking to relaunch the exhibition with new strips and a DJ night in November. Anything that gives me an excuse to play music, drink beer and talk about football is just fine by me!



About the exhibition:
BLUEBIRD JONES: CARDIFF CITY FC – COMICS AND ACTIVISM
The Andrew Buchan Bar
29 Albany Road,
Cardiff CF24 3LH

Exhibition runs from Saturday 17th October to February 1st 2016.
Admission Free
Opening times:
Mon-Sun 11am-11pm.
Sat 17th October
BLUEBIRD JONES Gallery Talk 7.30pm
I’ll be giving a short talk at the Andrew Buchan Bar and spinning some tunes later.
Please come along!


Saturday 25 April 2015

Respect and understanding.


   I was about to post an interview with Craig Bernard and my selection of images from his project Sweat and Hype, but because it is rather a bigger article it may take a little bit more time.



   I couldn't however stop myself from commenting on Craig's photography. Recently he picked up and shooting a lot of images for a project he started 5 years ago, called Recording in Progress. There is a pretty cool article about it on LBB so if you want to know what's the fuss about ---> read it.



   I always liked these pictures, I thought they are a very strong portraits, and I was always looking forward to see more. Then one day I walked home, and next street from my flat I saw the guy from the first picture I share here. I was surprised to see how young he is, I recognized him right away, but I never expected him to be the size he was, just a kid. Few days later, walking with Craig on Bute Street we met another guy I saw a picture off and I was blown away again, by this same observation.



  It is incredible how much respect and understanding Craig have for these kids. And more importantly, how he can express it visually. In my opinion this work is not only about the people on the pictures, it is a project about Craig himself.