Coventry: Welcome to the [Concrete] Jungle

Asking Warwick students their thoughts on Coventry normally results in a chorus of groans. Let’s face it, Leamington in its regency glory is picturesque next to concrete Coventry. The reality is not many Warwick students, including myself, have actually seen Coventry beyond Primark, Kasbah, and Cosmo’s. Camera Principis, a photographic exhibition currently showing at the Roots Gallery in central Coventry, offers a new view of the city beyond it’s perceived identity as a ‘Concrete jungle’. The exhibition has been arranged by the Coventry Society in association with Roots Gallery. Local photographers Adam Mottershead and Lucy Daniel present photos from a variety of sites across Coventry. The aim of the exhibition is to showcase local projects supported by Coventry Society whilst boosting pride in the city. The photos seek to highlight “points of interest, beauty, individuality and significance in Coventry.” The issue here is finding these points.

The exhibition is split into four categories: Characters for sale, Beautiful history, Far Beyond Concrete, and Art for everyone. The highlight of the exhibition is Far Beyond Concrete, which presents views of Coventry’s parks and green spaces. Lucy Daniel photographs her young son enjoying a variety of parks and playgrounds. The charming array of photos brings warmth to the exhibition with their playful nature. Daniel cleverly photographs a variety of locations across the city. Instead of glossing over less desirable areas, Daniel manages to find fragments of beauty in the inner city. A feature rather lost on me is the inclusion of a guessing game in the display of the photographs. Visitors are invited to guess the location of each photograph, and then lift the photograph to read the answer. This felt childish and made the exhibition seem unprofessional. Crucially, I thought the height of the display on the walls would prevent the key audience, children, from playing.

Games aside, the photographs are good. ‘Whitefriars Gatehouse (The Old Toy Museum)’ stands out in the group. The photo shows a young boy clutching a bright purple balloon and a plastic bag. The background juxtaposes the old gatehouse with a modern office building on the right edge of the image. The contrast of colours and balanced composition make it interesting to view. The photo encompasses the aims of the exhibition: it gives The Old Toy Museum a context within modern day Coventry which helps to raise the buildings profile locally.

The other three groupings vary in success. Characters for sale looks at some of Coventry’s independent businesses in the hope of encouraging local investment. The topic is approached through a series of portraits of owners in their shops. The subjects are well chosen for showing the individuality and creative spirit of Coventry. The photos are colourful and their size, approximately the size of an A2 piece of paper, shows the details of the shop interiors well. Looking at the portrait of Ian West, the Owner of Vinyl Revival, you can’t help but try and spot records you know; the walls of the shop are covered by vinyl covers and pop culture knick-knacks. However, the photos fail to show off Coventry to investors, a Wiccan shop and reptile Emporium are hardly the best representatives of Coventry enterprise.

Beautiful History focuses on historic buildings in need of funding for redevelopment projects. But unfortunately the beauty of the sites is ruined by the use of high contrast. The resultant colours are garish, making it impossible to know the original colour of the subject. The main focus of Art for Everyone is presenting images of a newly rediscovered mural by German artist Hans Feibusch in St. Marks Church. The mural had effectively been forgotten for 40 years, but now a campaign is underway to gain access to it for the local community.

I was pleased to see another side of Coventry. The premise of the exhibition – to effectively show-off Coventry – had good intentions, but the quality of the photographs varies, with many straying towards mediocre. The key issue of the exhibition is in the hanging of the photographs. Some of the mounts are poorly applied, and the small size of some of many of the images lessened their detail. Other than the categories discussed there is no specific order to the exhibition; this thematic approach is limited. The lack of an introduction to the exhibition, explaining the links between the categories, leads to a disjointed viewing with each section feeling like a separate entity.

The structure of the exhibition has its weaknesses, but thanks to a few photographic gems the exhibition can hold the weight of its aim to boost civic pride. The photographers and Coventry Society have succeeded in showing a new side to Coventry and raising the profile of local heritage issues.

_Camera Principis is a free exhibition held at Roots Gallery, Coventry until the end of the week:
http://www.rootsgallery.co.uk/camera-principis-7113-1213_