West of the Sun: Exhibition at Silverprint

I have been buying materials on and off from Silverprint since I was at college in Brighton in the early 90s. I remember taking trips to London specifically to visit them.

The arrival of internet shopping helped, but I always felt cheated, having missed out on being there in person.

Then came the explosion of digital photography and shops like Silverprint were dropping like flies. Each time I rang, visited their website or went to the shop I expected it to be gone.

But it hung on and, almost miraculously, started flourishing.

In 2010 I wrote this piece about it and soon found myself eyeing up the small wall they used to exhibit work on. It was barely big enough for three images, but I wanted to see my work there.

Before I got around to applying for an exhibition however, I heard the news I was dreading. The shop was moving. I assumed the worst – that they were downsizing.

I needn’t have worried.

In 2013 they moved into their new premises on London Road, between Waterloo and Elephant & Castle. It was at least three times as big, included a fantastic darkroom in which to host workshops and best of all had a brand new gallery.

In early 2014 work begun to renovate the gallery and build internal walls to increase the hanging space. The lighting was redone and walls painted. The opening show for the new space – which is aiming to become one of the leading photographic galleries in London – was by Tim Rudman (3rd April – 10th May 2014) and West of the Sun has been chosen to follow it, between the 15th of May and the 12th of June.

The opening night will be on Thursday 15th of May between 6 & 8pm. Please spread the word and come along.

The finissage will be on Friday the 6th of June and will include an evening of networking alongside Be Smart About Art members and a Q&A session with myself, Fraser Miles (curator of the gallery) and Susan Mumford (founder of Be Smart About Art). Again, please spread the word and come along.