Black Swan Arts | 2 Bridge Street, BA11 1BB
10:00–16:00 Saturday 5 April to Sunday 27 April
Tim Smith
Canadian photographer Tim Smith has spent 17 years documenting life on the prairies including 15 years photographing the Hutterites; insular Anabaptists who live communally on colonies in Canada and the United States. In addition to long-term documentary work, Tim is a passionate speaker on topics relating to slow journalism, photographing sensitive communities or subjects, mental health in journalism and the heartbreak and joy of being invited into people’s lives.
Tim’s project ‘In The World But Not Of It‘ provides the most comprehensive, contemporary and nuanced view of the Hutterite colonies – delving into complex decisions at the heart of the everyday. His documentation offers a glimpse into the continuously negotiated sites of Hutterite life. Many of the images focus on the youth culture in the colonies, where expressions of rebellion, respect for tradition, and maintenance of strict gender roles all create a sense of dual resistance – at once against the pressures of the outside world and against tradition.
http://www.timsmithphotography.ca
Evgeniya Strygina
Evgeniya Strygina is a London-based artist who specialises in landscape and architecture photography as she captures urban and natural environments to highlight their relation to and their autonomy from human beings. However, in ‘Home from Home’, Evgeniya tells the stories of people who were forced to leave their homes when the war in Ukraine began in February 2022. The stories presented in the project demonstrate the complexity and reveal the personal toll of geopolitical tensions, as families are torn apart and lives are uprooted – both for Ukrainians and Russians. Many ended up in the UK. Whether it is temporary or permanent is uncertain, but they are all trying to make this place their new home.
Photo|Frome returns in April 2025 with the theme ‘inEquality’. Through photography from internationally acclaimed, national and regional artists, we reflect on stories of global and local justice and equality. Running from 5 April – 27 April, the festival team are following two successful editions with their most ambitious event yet, cementing Frome’s reputation as a vibrant national hub for photography.
- The third edition of the festival includes 14 free exhibitions (indoor and outdoor), talks, workshops,
portfolio reviews, pop-up portrait studio (Faces of Frome), curator tours and more. - Susan Meiselas, recipient of the Outstanding Contribution to Photography of the Sony World
Photography Awards 2025, will be showing her signature colour reportage work from Nicaragua. - One of Photo|Frome’s principal installations features Joss Barratt’s photography taken whilst working
on set with acclaimed director Ken Loach alongside documentary photographers independently
working on similar issues as the films, including Susan Meiselas, Nick Hedges and Tish Murtha. - Photo|Frome will again offer an international Open Photobook Award and the MPB Student Awards.
In 2025, we will also have a new Open Call on the inEquality theme, which has received entries from
across the world. - MPB Student Awards prizes are vouchers worth up to £500. Photo|Frome is also offering a cash prize
for local entries.
Rook Lane Chapel, the festival’s central venue, features Joss Barratt’s photography taken whilst working on set
with acclaimed director Ken Loach alongside documentary photographers independently working on similar
issues as the films. There are major themes drawn from Loach’s films: colonialism and resistance, living
conditions and the human spirt, refugees and the welfare state. The “constructed reality” film stills aim to start a
conversation with photographers who have covered the same themes in their own way. This includes
documentary photography by Susan Meiselas, Nick Hedges, Tish Murtha, Jim Brogden and Roland
Ramanan, conceptual work by Paul Seawright and interpretive work by Fast Forward: Women in Photography
curated by Anna Fox.
Rook Lane Chapel will also play host to a unique event with acclaimed director Ken Loach and renowned
photographer Susan Meiselas. Ash Khanidikar, Frome resident, magazine editor and arts journalist, will host a
conversation with Ken, Susan, and professional photographer Joss Barratt to discuss how photography serves
issues be they through fiction or journalism. Expect a fascinating evening, insightful anecdotes and a sharpwitted
exchange from some of the very best exponents of their art.
Susan Meiselas notes:
“I’m really looking forward to seeing my Nicaragua pictures exhibited during Photo|Frome 2025 and
talking about them with Ken Loach”.
Further exhibitions take different creative approaches to the theme. This includes Joanne Coates whose work
explores rurality, hidden histories, and income-based inequalities, Valentina Sinis’ ‘Were Afghan Women to
Unveil their tales‘, Sujata Setia’s ‘A Thousand Cuts’, Sarah Palmer’s ‘Wish You Were Here’, Evgeniya Strygina’s
‘Home from Home’ and Tim Smith’s ‘In The World But Not Of It’. Students from Falmouth University,
Boomsatsuma, Bristol and Frome College will also be exhibiting, as will the local collective Frome Wessex
Photographic.