Transit - Exhibition & Seminar

The University of Wales, Newport hosts Hereford Photography Festival Seminar Transit
Wednesday 23rd November 2pm – 5pm

Lutasz Trzcinski, the curator of the HPF ‘Transit’ exhibition at Newport, and photographer Bartosz Nowicki joins Ken Grant for an afternoon of presentations and to discuss the work in the exhibition. The panel discussion will consider some of the influences and contexts that have shaped recent developments in Polish photography. There will be an opportunity to see the Tranist exhibition at the venue, 8 photographers from Poland, in association with Krakow Photomonth

The seminar is free and open to the public, but advanced booking required
Room A09, School of Film, Photography and Digital Media, University of Wales, City Campus, Usk Way, Newport, NP20 2BP

Kuba Dabrowski, Tomasz Liboska & Michal Jedrzejowski, Krzysztof Miekus, Tomasz Padlo, Wiktor Pental, Konrad Pustola, Lukasz Trzcinski.

School of Film, Photography and Digital Media, University of Wales, City Campus, Usk Way, Newport, NP20 2BP.
Monday 31st October – Wednesday 23rd November Monday to Friday 7am–9pm; Saturday & Sunday 9am–5pm.

The Globe at Hay, & The Crunch, Newport Street, Hay-on-Wye, Friday 28th October – Sunday 27th November Monday & Tuesday 9.30am - 5pm; Wednesday to Sunday 9.30am – 11.30pm

Shire Hall, St Peter’s Square, Hereford HR1 2HY. Monday 14th November – Wednesday 30th November. Monday to Friday 10am – 4pm

Krakow Photomonth, Imago Mundi and Hereford Photography Festival plan a series of exchange exhibitions, events and publications over 2011/2013, bringing artists, photographers, curators and writers together.

Transit, co-curated by Lukasz Trzcinski and Jaime Jackson is the first exhibition in this dialogue of images and ideas, featuring the work of eight Polish artists shown in three venues, including the Krakow Photomonth exhibition Dont Mess with Texas. The main body of the exhibition is at the new City Campus University of Wales in Newport, with work also at the Globe at Hay and the Shire Hall in Hereford.

‘Migration is both complex and mundane. Changes in geopolitics and economies move people to new experiences, to new articulations of the everyday. These mobilities can highlight difference and produce new ways of thinking about ourselves: migration histories are histories of encounter.

This exhibition comprises of a series of encounters with migration, addressing and demonstrating the numerous ways in which the movement of people and borders produce distinct ways of life.

Herefordshire has a Polish community with a long history. After the Second World War, a significant number of Polish settlers moved to the county: the Welsh Club in South Hereford was formerly the Polish Club. More recently, socio-economic changes such as changes in labour recruitment and intensification practices in some industries, alongside European expansion, has led to the arrival in the county of a new generation of people from Central Europe, who have come to Herefordshire for work, and to experience life in a different country.

Transit celebrates the links between Herefordshire and Poland that have been revitalised by the arrival of a new generation of Polish-born residents. It also aims to increase understanding between cultures through fostering a space of cultural interaction, knowledge and communication. The opportunities for cultural exchange and mutual learning that arise from migration and cultural encounter are beginning to open up in Herefordshire, especially as this new generation begins to settle and contribute to the social and cultural life of the city.

In highlighting some specific experiences of migration, and the rich and diverse migration histories of Poland, this exhibition acknowledges the connections between places, and draws attention to cultural encounters that flow from these political and economic changes. It also contributes to the recognition of Hereford as a European city, a city which is not left behind by change. Photographic images can act as powerful tools in promoting thought and reflection, for broadening understanding and for changing the way in which we conceptualise space, place and relations. We are arguably all migrants now, as migrancy becomes a state of mind that emerges from encounters with others.

From Tomasz Padlo’s work on post-partition borders, to Kuba Dabrowski’s consideration of the mundane aspects  of migration, the piecemeal and the everyday, these photographs invite thought on our own changing lives and the lives of others: the way in which economic and political change feed into the experiences of all of us, those of us who stay in one place and those of us who move. Organisational relationships such as the dialogue between Hereford Photography Festival and Krakow Photomonth add depth and richness to these encounters, and enable artists, curators and writers to travel and collaborate, and create thought-provoking and innovative projects in the future.’

Dr Leila Dawney 
Goldsmiths, University of London