Riverside - Liverpool migrants in the frame

6 July 2009

Figures from the worlds of arts, sport and business will sit alongside refugees and the homeless in a photography exhibition at Williamson Art Gallery and Museum in Birkenhead.

Diverse City, which starts on Saturday 11 July, looks at Liverpool through the eyes of its migrants.

Social housing and regeneration organisation Riverside commissioned the exhibition last year to mark its 80th anniversary in Merseyside and celebrate Liverpool’s status as European Capital of Culture. Following successful stints at the Anglican Cathedral and City Exchange, the exhibition has crossed to the other side of the water. Recognisable faces such as playwright Alan Bleasdale and photographer Mike McCartney join other prominent Liverpool figures like Chief of Merseyside Police, Bernard Hogan-Howe and Merseyside Fire Chief Officer Tony McGuirk.

The exhibition also features words from the subjects about what the city really means to them. Students from Upton Hall School in Wirral carried out the interviews and six local photographers captured the subjects in their favourite locations.

Hugh Owen, Director of Policy and Communications for Riverside, said: “When we started out in 1928 as Liverpool Improved Houses, Liverpool was a city in decline, blighted by slums. Over the last 80 years we have been working hard to transform lives and revitalise neighbourhoods.

“The exhibition looks at the transformation of Liverpool through the experiences of people who were born and bred in the city and have moved away, or those who have come to the city to change their lives and are contributing to this revitalisation.”

Poet Levi Tafari, who was born and bred in Liverpool, features in the exhibition. He said: “We use the term Scouse which is a stew, and Liverpool culturally is a stew because there’s people from all over the world living here. Everybody has contributed some of the flavours that make Liverpool the city it is.”

The exhibition is the last in a series of arts projects commissioned by Riverside to celebrate its 80th birthday. Last year the organisation commissioned Belfast Loyalist Mark Ervine and Republican Danny Devenny to paint a Beatles themed mural on the gable end of a Riverside property in Litherland.

Diverse City is at Williamson Art Gallery and Museum on Slatey Road, Birkenhead, from 11 July to 6 September. Open Tuesday to Sunday 10am - 5pm. Closed Mondays except for Bank Holidays. Phone: 0151 652 4177.