Murray, AS., Stoppard, L., 2017.

North: Identity, Photography, Fashion

North: Identity, Photography, Fashion was an exhibition co-curated by Lou Stoppard and Adam Murray, first displayed at Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool from 6th January - 19th March 2017. There were a total of 28,634 visitors, the highest ever for an exhibition at the gallery. The exhibition will tour to Somerset House, London from November 2017 - February 2018 with the new title North: Fashioning Identities.

Murray, in a curatorial role, developed an original and innovative research proposal that examined the role that place has in the development of creative practice in an international fashion context. North explores the way the North of England is depicted, constructed and celebrated in select photographs, artworks and fashion collections from 48 internationally based contributors. The show brought together collective visions of the North, unpicking themes that regularly appear in design and media and consequently offering new interpretations and insights that have not been examined before.

The curatorial strategy of combining original photographic prints, gallery archive material, printed publications, fashion collections and interview films has had impact on institutional policy with regards the role that a publicly funded photography gallery has to develop exhibitions that relate to regional community and the type of work that they choose to exhibit.

A diverse range of audiences were engaged throughout the exhibition; those that would not usually visit the gallery, regular visitors were challenged with what they would expect to see from a photography exhibition and visits were made by a number of FE and HE institutions who made this a key part of their curriculum.

Adidas were lead sponsors of the exhibition, through which £20,000 was secured by the curators. The exhibition has been featured on BBC Radio 4 Front Row, BBC North West Tonight, BBC Radio Merseyside, The Guardian named it as one of their top exhibitions to visit nationally in 2017, The Financial Times, Dazed, i-D, The Creative Review, Hypebeast, Wallpaper as well as international titles such as W, Vogue Paris and V.