CreativeUEA has paired up with Great Yarmouth artist-led organisations Original Projects and Utter Nonsense to present a new show at the University of East Anglia.
Artists and curators Kaavous Clayton and Julia Devonshire worked alongside photographer Mark Cator at the 2021 Finding Emerson Photo Festival, during which residents and visitors of the Great Yarmouth were invited to document a portrait of the town. The result is a crowd-sourced image of a place.
Peter Henry Emerson was a pioneering Victorian photographer and naturalist, extensively documenting East Anglia.
Winners of the competition are displayed alongside Emerson's work at the show.
Kaavous Clayton and Julia Devonshire live in Great Yarmouth and have been involved with arts projects across the region for over 20 years. Kaavous says: "We find it really inspiring. So many different things happening here - it is a place of real extremes, it is quite exciting."
Kaavous Clayton talks of the show, saying: "It highlights the importance of photography and how it can be used as a tool to reflect society and create social history.
"The idea of the competition was to use Emerson as inspiration to invite people to respond to Great Yarmouth.
"Seeing a portrait of a place can make people see the beauty in things. The images are about beauty and honesty and reality, removing preconceptions."
Students at the university are responding to the show with written prose after curators hoped the show would inspire.
Finding Emerson is on show until December 14 at the Enterprise Centre on the UEA campus.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here