A STRIKING photograph taken during the Black Lives Matter demonstrations in Coventry city centre last year is to become part of a new permanent collection at The New Art Gallery, Walsall.
Coventry street photographer and visual arts lecturer Neil McNaught is one of 33 West Midlands artists who has been chosen for the Twenty Twenty Collection.
He said: “I am thrilled to be one of several Coventry artists to be invited to add work made over the last year to the collection of this prestigious West Midlands Gallery.”
It follows an open call with more than 200 artists applying from across the region. The chosen artists’ work will be exhibited at the gallery in a dedicated exhibition in early 2022, then placed in permanent collection.
The works, spanning a variety of media from collage and photography to drawings and paintings, respond to world events over the last tumultuous year; from the pandemic and lockdown, to the Black Lives Matter movement and Brexit.
The New Art Gallery director, Stephen Snoddy said: “It is important for The New Art Gallery Walsall to acquire this collection to leave a legacy for future generations to document the events of the past year and also at the same time support artists in the West Midlands during this very difficult time.”
Over the last year the gallery has also supported five artists through remote residencies.
Coventry-born Neil, 57, who lives in the city centre, has worked as a lecturer in Visual Communication teaching BA and MA students across the West Midlands and Oxfordshire, and photographed people and places for more than 30 years in cities including Coventry, Berlin and New York.
He studied photography at Manchester Polytechnic (now Manchester Metropolitan University), graduating in 1987. Recent commissions include photographing service users for the Coventry ‘Your Future! Your Integration’ project, supporting city refugees in Coventry to integrate into the city with partners including Coventry Refugee & Migrant Centre, Voluntary Action Coventry, and FWT – see here
Neil’s work can be found online Instagram @newfactoryofghosts Twitter @factoryofghosts and website newfactoryofghosts.blogspot.com
