True Stories

True Stories was exhibited at Wolverhampton Art Gallery, UK; Museu de Arte Contemporanea, Sao Paulo, Brazil; Waterhall, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery 2003/4 True Stories featured the work of four artists responding to two significant photographic archives held in the West Midlands; the Vanley Burke archive and the Sir Benjamin Stone archive. As Wanjiku Nyachae observed in her catalogue essay, critical and cultural distance is the context in which the work for the exhibition was created. “It is the distance that allows us to stand back from an event and look beyond the obvious to the mysterious impact the story had on our lives.” (Wanjiku Nyachae) The artists, Bharti Parmar, Barbara Walker, Vanley Burke and Peter Grego sought to utilise and recontextualise aspects of the archives, which now form part of the Library of Birmingham photographic collection. They set out to question narratives of identity and belonging. An exhibition catalogue with an essay by Wanjiku Nyachae was published by Wolverhampton Art Gallery. An additional event, True Dance, took place in Wolverhampton and Birmingham. This involved the jazz musician, Soweto Kinch and performers Sean Cope and Maxwell Golden and was funded by ACE and Black Country Touring. The exhibition was funded by: Arts Council England, Wolverhampton City Council, Birmingham Libraries, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Museu de Arte Contemporanea, Sao Paulo, Black Country Touring, Wolverhampton University, University of Central England. The Lighthouse Media Centre, Wolverhampton staged a solo exhibition of Vanley Burke’s photography to coincide with the Wolverhampton show. Reviews and articles on the exhibition include: The Guardian G2 and Guide, The Birmingham Post, Birmingham and West Midlands What’s On, Pride magazine and BBC radio and television coverage.