The Street & Modern Life (2015) / Hans Eijkelboom

For his Black Country Stories commission, Hans Eijkelboom turned his lens to the area surrounding the Bull Ring shopping centre in Birmingham, between July 2013 and September 2014. The result is a scrolling tapestry of shoppers, structured around visual themes identified by Hans such as gestures, clothes or accessories. The work celebrates the city’s social and cultural diversity but also suggests the predictable conformity inherent in consumer ‘freedoms’, driven by commercial and corporate interests. Hans’ photographic work explores the construction of identity through clothing and personal appearance and, in turn, the relationship between individual and social identities in an increasingly globalised culture. The photographs are the most recent addition to Hans’ ongoing series of ‘Photo Notes’ that was recently brought together and published as People of the Twenty First Century and which includes work made in Amsterdam, New York, Paris and Shanghai. Multistory and Hans Eijkelboom have produced a photography book in partnership with Dewi Lewis Publishing. Here, the work is presented as a series of moving images that capture the feeling of walking along the high street. It follows seamlessly the pages of the publication of ‘The Street and Modern Life.’ We are delighted that Hans' work was screened at the Gas Hall (BM&AG) as part of Flatpack Film Festival, 2016. Hans also talked about his work during an 'in conversation event.'