Service Description

Join us for a photowalk with Tom Hicks: artist, writer, and curator best known for his ongoing photography project 'Black Country Type.' His work explores the post-industrial landscape of the region, focusing on words, typography, handmade lettering and signs. Starting at the Stirchley Printworks studio, Tom will guide participants on a photowalk around Stirchley. This is an opportunity to try your hand at urban photography and to gain an insight into Tom’s wider art practice. Afterwards, you will return to Stirchley Printworks where you will have a go at screen printing, a popular artistic process where a design is transferred onto paper using a mesh screen, ink and a squeegee. With the guidance and support of SPW Director James Turner, you will have the chance to print your own 'Black Country Type' artwork, using a selection of Tom's photos of Stirchley, Birmingham and the Black Country. The event will be laid back - no previous experience of photography or printing is needed, simply bring along your smartphone or camera. This is a mostly outdoor event so weather is a factor and you should dress appropriately for the conditions on the day. Please note, adults must accompany children under 18. ---------------------- About Tom Hicks Tom Hicks is the artist behind the documentary photography project Black Country Type. His work explores the post-industrial landscape of the region, focusing on words, typography, handmade lettering and signs. Hicks also photographs ‘types’ of architectural features, objects and structures. Influenced by psychogeography, his photographs are taken on regular ‘drifts’ through the Black Country, typically by bicycle. Hicks intends to reveal the “sometimes hidden beauty” of the region in his compositions, as outlined in his new photobook  Black Country Type (2023), published by The Modernist. His work has been featured in Dezeen, Huck, The Guardian and The British Journal of Photography,

Contact Details

• Clonmel Road, Stirchley, Birmingham B30 2BU, UK

  stirchley.printworks@gmail.com