"Words and Pictures" exhibition opens in Central Library

Morning Briefing: Thursday, 23rd April

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Nottingham-based writers and photographers have collaborated to put together a small exhibition in Central Library with a launch event this evening. Today is World Book Day, as well as Shakespeare's supposed birthday. What better way to spend it than in a library.

In the atrium of the library are sixteen pieces that one of the organisers has called a "conversation" between writers from a Bromley House Library group and the Creative Photography Group.

Each piece is comprised of a paragraph of prose alongside a photograph that was inspired by it.

This may sound familiar to users of AI image generators, where any arbitrary prompt can be given and a machine generates an image, with varying degrees of accuracy and realism. For this exhibition though, all the pieces are made by hand.

"There's no 'prompting' happening here," said Mervyn Mitchell, one of the organisers of this event. Each piece comes from the imagination of the creative pair.

Talking about the Creative Photography Group he helps organise, Mervyn said, "We don't do straight photography. We prefer creative photographs."

Even a still image of waves, which looks largely unedited, is charged with emotion. More so next to the written piece that gives the image more depth.

Some of the images on display are composites of other photographs, pieced together to make something new or maybe the colours have been shifted to make the artist's vision come to life.

This is the second iteration of this project. The first time around the roles were reversed: it was the photographers that provided the writers with the start of their conversation. The two groups enjoyed the collaboration enough to do it again.

The launch event is a good opportunity to meet some of the photographers, like Mervyn, and possibly some of the writers too. They will be there to discuss the art or their societies from 6:30PM for an hour.

The exhibition is available until 22nd May during Central Library opening hours.

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Morning BriefingShane P