Photographs by Andrew Brooks.
Click the image to read original writing from Jasmine Plumpton accompanying the exhibition.
© Curated Place 2024
Bringing together photographic artist Andrew Brooks and writer Jasmine Plumpton, Secret City: Newcastle sets out to research, explore, discuss and document the lost, hidden and forgotten spaces of the City.
Undertaking a series of residencies and explorations through the city during 2024 Brooks and Plumpton have created 18 new works across Newcastle commissioned for NOVUM. The project provides a platform and focus for explorations of both the built and imagined spaces of the urban environment, enabling everyone involved to experience and interrogate cities using photography, memory and identity. Running workshops and training events simultaneously as an integral part of the research the project aims to activate a sense of ownership in the city resulting in a celebration of place, embracing both official and unofficial histories to renew a sense of ownership for citizens so often lost in the increasingly privatised public realm of contemporary life.
The artists aim to create new notions of places within environments that may seem familiar to those native to a place. Working with participants from the host city they also aim to reposition the perception of where they work within the wider national and international cultural consciousness. Multi-layered yet accessible from many angles Secret Cities brings together arts, heritage, museology, social science, anthropology, urbanism, architecture and education by inviting communities and creators to take a fresh view of their physical and psychological environments. It breaks down social, economic and physical barriers to activate forgotten, neglected or ignored spaces. In doing so it allows both old and new meaning, memory and identities to take shape – both within local communities and in the minds of those further afield.
Established in 2008, Secret Cities is a Curated Place Project that has explored towns and cities across England, Scotland, Iceland and the Netherlands. To bring Secret Cities to wherever you are contact the team at Curated Place.
www.curatedplace.com
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Andrew Brooks
Andrew Brooks is a photographer, film maker and digital artist based on the edge of the Peak District. His photographs capture landscapes, cities and architecture in vivid, atmospheric detail. Through this work he shares the stories of these places, capturing their histories in ways that connect with our modern world. Working with Curated Place’s Andy Brydon since 2008 on the project Brooks has exhibited his Secret Cities exhibitions across the UK and the Netherlands and delivers workshops and talks where he shares his techniques for documenting places and landscapes.
Explore more of Andrew’s work: www.andrewbrooksartist.com
Jasmine Plumpton
Creating original written works to accompanies Secret City: Newcastle images, Jasmine Plumpton is a poet and writer-facilitator from South Shields. She is in her final year of study for an AHRC-funded PhD in Creative Writing at Newcastle University. Her practice-led research explores the interplay between poetry, photography, and trauma.
The Secret City: Newcastle team wish to thank:
NOVUM Programme Board Members – Anand Bhatt, Jo Burke, Tom Caulker, Kate Craddock, Kate Denby, Alison Flanagan-Wood, Gail Lawlor, Vikki Leaney, Andrew Rothwell, Lesley Strickland, Ben Whitfield and Kate Craddock; Newcastle City Council – Jon Bradley, Robert Hill, Nina Jensen, Laura Lindsay, Jim Mawdsley, Alastair Miller, Bill Nicholson, Jane Rose and Grainger Market Inspectors, Alastair Swan; Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums – Malavika Anderson, Dan Baker, Nick Butterley, Paul Fox, Adam Goldwater, Sheryl McGregor, Keith Merrin, Andrew Parkin, Baggy Singh; Nexus – Neil Giles, Huw Lewis, Michael Mason, David Punton, David Turnton; Newcastle Theatre Royal – Aynsley Cowan-Young and team, Nathan Reynard, Senior Leadership Team; Ouseburn Trust – Maria Baranowska, Emily Toth; Live Theatre – Michael Davies, Dave Flynn, Jacqui Kell, Ruby Taylor; Newcastle Castle – Katerina Gort Tarrús, David Silk and team; Newcastle Cathedral – The Very Reverend Lee Batson, Amy Carrithers; Newcastle United Football Club – Eddie Rutherford and team; Urban Green Newcastle – Diana Gates, Della Hadingham, Carol Pryah; Historic England; Igloo Regeneration – Insiyah Khushnood; Northumbria University – Julie Crawshaw, Patrick O'Doherty; NUCASTLE - Newcastle United Foundation – Clare Tucker; Robinson's Pet Store – Nick Robinson; Curated Place team – Alison Brodie, Ciara O’Connell, Teresa McNamara, Silvia Morelli, Valentyna Sturzova, Agusta Thorarinsdottir.