Always Forward Artists Edition
by Chris Neophytou

'Always Forward poignantly captures the honesty and sincerity that characterises Birmingham and its histories. If we are to discover a place, noted the cultural critic and essayist, Walter Benjamin, we need to go off the beaten track and look for its ‘dark and seamy sides’. Only then do we find the darkened doorway, alleyway, and underpass.'

Birmingham, known as the second city, is located in the Midlands. It is the city my grandparents made their home when they emigrated from Cyprus to the UK. I didn’t grow up in Birmingham but I now live here and spend much of my time in the city, much of that time wandering with a camera. The city is always in flux, a network of interactions and layers, the seemingly static streets and architecture, the interplay between the natural and the built environment, and the people navigating it. In the roughly two years making these photographs, I didn’t look to understand or survey the city but what I found was something complex. As these images came together there were layers of themes and narratives, contradictions and surprises. The last of these photographs were made in early 2020, just before the global pandemic.

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