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Constellations

Extraordinary worlds in the Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art collection

Throughout 2024, a selection of work from the Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art (NGCA) Collection were on display across National Glass Centre.

The photographs were originally displayed as part of exhibitions held at NGCA during its time at Fawcett Street, Sunderland and now National Glass Centre.

This selection delves into extraordinary worlds. Mapping the contours of Alpine glaciers. A 3D model of a tree surrounded by a blanket of millions of individual crystals. A series documenting the lives of stage entertainers across the world from Las Vegas to India to Blackpool.

A bright art gallery with white walls displaying four photographs in a row. The photos show different people and scenes. A gray padded bench sits in the middle of the room for visitors to sit and look at the art. The gallery has tall ceilings with visible metal beams and a dome-like structure visible at the top. Large windows on the right side let in natural light. The space is clean and simple so the focus stays on the artwork.

Donny Edwards with Leila the Promeranian, Las Vegas
Nick Page and Tanya Tetheroe, Blackpool
Maria Dias with her cousin Erica Sequiera, India
Mary, Jennifer and Esther, Blackpool
Bridie and Kelda, Blackpool Pleasure Beach

Alice Hawkins

2007 – 2009

Lambda prints diasec mounted

Alice Hawkins moves between the worlds of fine art and fashion. Hawkins’ images are always portraits, and her sitters occupy a range of social situations and geographical locations. Her photographs have been shot over four continents, in cities from Las Vegas to Blackpool.

The photographs include images of people who would normally never appear in fashion photography – whether because of age, appearance, status or geography. Hawkins asks what the limits of our idea of ‘beauty’ are, and who is excluded from the space of the mainstream media.

A framed black and white photograph of rocky mountains or ice formations hangs on a white wall. The image shows jagged peaks and ridges that look sharp and textured. It has a wide white mount and thin metal frame. To the left of the artwork is a small information card with text about the piece. Sunlight creates diagonal shadows across the wall. There's also a small white box on the wall that might be a light or sensor.

Continuous Topography

Dan Holdsworth

2018

Photographic print edition

Since 1996, English artist-photographer, Dan Holdsworth has explored extreme territories that characterise humans’ changing relationship with the natural world.

Since 2012, Holdsworth has worked alongside academic geologists to map the exact contours of Alpine glaciers and rock formations. Accomplished using drones, lasers, photography, and high-end software employed by the military and climate scientists.

This print is taken from the resulting series Continuous Topography. The series comprises images created from millions of points marked in space. Each images is a millimetre-perfect registration of the precise contours of a rapidly changing landscape. This landscape is the Argientière glacier in the Alps.

A gallery hallway with two large framed photographs on a white wall. The main photograph on the right shows what looks like an old missile launcher or military equipment sitting in a grassy field under a cloudy blue sky. The left photograph shows a misty or foggy scene with water. Both have black frames and wide white mounts. To the right of the main photograph is a small information card. On the left side is a glass door leading to another room with bookshelves. The floor has small paw prints just visible at the bottom of the image.

Rocket Launcher & Invisible

John Kippin

2000 & 1989

Two photographic prints

John Kippin has been a central figure in the emergence of photography as an independent art form, in the UK, from the 1970s through to the present day.

Kippin’s work has contributed to debates about the nature of post-industrial landscapes, national and regional identity, forgotten spaces, and the power of the state and commerce to reshape the world.

Since the 1980s, Kippin has created billboards for public spaces that directly intervene in the social realm. The billboards respond to messages of advertising with counter-cultural propositions, and questions.

A large framed black and white photograph of a bare tree against a dark background hangs on a white wall. The tree has no leaves, just twisted branches reaching upward, and looks ghostly against the black background. The photograph has a thick black frame. To the left of this is a small information card with text. In the background, on the far left, you can see part of another colourful framed picture. On the right side of the image is a doorway leading to another room.

Pillars of Dawn

Kelly Richardson

2018

Photographic print

Kelly Richardson is an internationally recognised Canadian artist. She is one of the leading representatives of a new generation of artists who use digital media creatively, to craft alternative landscapes.

Over the last decade, Richardson has begun dialogues with climate scientists on both sides of the Atlantic who aim to predict the various future scenarios that the planet may face. Both in our own lifetimes, and in the more distant future.

Although the still image here is two dimensional, it was created as a 3D model in virtual space. Richardson digitally sculpted every branch of the tree and populated the landscape with millions of crystals. There is one crystal in each of the landscapes for every species still alive today.

A section of a café or dining area with a white wall displaying three framed photographs. The one on the left shows several people running or playing outdoors with trees in the background, the one in the middle features a dimly lit interior with vertical bars, and the one on the right shows an indoor swimming pool. Below the photographs are dark chairs around wooden tables, with menus and small lantern-style centrepieces on the tables.

For the Elevation of Man

Michelle Allen

2013 – 2016

10 photographic prints

For the Elevation of Man documents the changes to public space due to cuts to council budgets in North East England. It exhibited for the first time at Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art in 2016.

The series examines the competing ideas of what roles we might hope the State to perform, and what our civic responsibilities are to one another.

The title is taken from the inscription on a Victorian drinking fountain, donated by public subscription to celebrate a group of philanthropists who secured an area of parkland in Elswick. The inscription on the fountain reads: “They saved this park for public use, for health, beauty and happiness, to elevate man and honour God.”

A gallery hallway with three framed photographs hanging on a white wall. The photographs have black frames with white mounts. The leftmost one shows what looks like a busy scene in a textile factory. The middle shows people sitting amongst a colourful pile of fabrics. The third photograph is obscured by reflections on the glass. To the righthand side is a glass door and window that leads to another room with coloured chairs and tables. The words

Clothing Recycled

Tim Mitchell

2019

Three photographic prints

Clothing Recycled explores the birth and death of our clothes. Created with anthropologist Dr Lucy Norris, the body of work tracks thousands of garments emigrating from the UK to the Indian subcontinent.

We see the garments herded together in warehouses, stripped of their identities and marks of distinction, to be broken down and recycled.

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