Appreciate that couldn't be a more apt way to start this one because boy do I..... but we'll get into the what's and whys of that in due course.
Last night I was lucky enough to be invited to attend the opening night of the latest exhibit at HIVE by Appreciate.That.
Adam, an amazing street photographer, who not only has a great eye for aesthetics but also story telling, capturing those moments that chronologise the events of the world around us. The kinds of photographs that in years to come, people will look upon and remember the time when the world was about "that".
I first met Adam when he was doing a Talk at Photopool 2024, I don't even know what I was doing there really, although I have always loved being creative when taking photo's, never really looked it as anything more, I'd attended HIVEJIVE less than a handful of times so wanted to keep the momentum of my visits going and it just so happened, this event fell on one of those days and I'm so glad it did, it Also just so happens that a Protest had been arranged in Blackpool on that very same day.
From that and another great, hugely inspiring talk by Kim Scott, a woman empowering photographer and now founder of Big Ass Scoop, I left for my tram home to very quickly be met with huge crowds of people (ordinarily my worst nightmare) and to very quickly realise I would not be getting the tram home yet because they'd all been stopped due to the protest. Armed with my phone and bumbling with inspiration, an unknown amount of time to kill and a reinforced spirit of "Do it anyway", I started snapping away, eventually bumping into Adam and another man of many talents including photography, Ian Currie. Before I knew it, I was awkwardly tagging along, running around amongst vast crowds of moving people with my best brave face on, trying to capture the absolute chaos of the day without much deterrent, even during some genuinely scary moments. What a buzz.
I cant even begin to put into the words the feeling of pride in myself of that day but also the feelings of gratitude for the people mentioned, the inspiration, kindness, care and acceptance shown, towards this random woman that decided on that day to jump in feet first with no knowledge, experience or social skills was genuinely overwhelming, in the best way. Those things and more are what all the people from HIVEarts have brought to my life, consistently, for the last eight months.
There is good reason for my diversion of story telling, firstly Adams Exhibit included some of his images from that day which added some personal nostalgia for me but also due to some other happenings last night, it felt very full circle, you see, the people mentioned here and some other amazing HUMANs are all members of the HIVEArts Board and as of last night, so am I.
Me? little old me, I cant even..... who'd have bloody thunked it?
Well, as it turns out, everyone but me, standard really, to be honest. I think it's about time that the belief in myself needs to catch up with the belief others have in me, and match the life I live now, instead of the lives I've lived previously.
In true Zoe Style, I got very caught up in the emotions of the night and all practicality's left my brain, thus once again having no photographs of the amazing Adams opening night, I will steal beg and borrow to try and rectify this but way better than some stolen photographs of photographs, would be to go and experience this solo exhibit for yourself, Down stairs at HIVE, Church st, Blackpool, running for 6 weeks, which means plenty of time to grab a brew, some beautiful scran and peruse over these stunning images at your own leisure.
Massive congratulations to Adam for his exhibit and many mahoosive thanks to him and everybody else at HIVEArts for everything they do for the art community and me personally. You're all literally changing peoples lives, fucking magic and I think I can safely say that there many that do Appreciate.That.
I am genuinely excited and ready for whatever comes as being a part of this magnificent team.
Forever Humbled, Forever chaotic,
Zoe Siobhan.
Add comment
Comments