The Exiles Exhibition Launches at The New Art Gallery Walsall
The Exiles has opened at The New Art Gallery Walsall, running from 11 November 2022 to 6 February 2023 — following its acclaimed run at the New Art Exchange, Nottingham.
The Exiles is now showing at The New Art Gallery Walsall, running from 11 November 2022 – 6 February 2023, following its highly successful run at the New Art Exchange, Nottingham (23 September 2022 – 7 January 2023).
About the Exhibition
The Exiles works deeply with regional communities to make them stakeholders not only in the genesis of the stories portrayed, but also as key members of the cast and crew. The project creates a local spectacle and enters folklore in a way that revivifies aspiration and deepens the conversation of origin and migration.
In Conversation Event
An In Conversation event was held on 28 January 2023, with Billy and Head of Exhibitions, Deborah Robinson, for an interview and informal tour of the exhibition.
RBSA Photography Prize
Two pieces from The Exiles series — Dayshift and Seamstress — were entered into the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists Photography Prize Exhibition, for which Billy was awarded first prize.
Judge Jaskirt Dhaliwal-Boora commented:
“The level of skill and care taken to make these images are outstanding. Birmingham and its surrounding areas have in modern history been built on the back of migration, and Billy’s work is fitting in celebrating and sending a positive representation specifically of the South Asian and Panjabi community of Birmingham and the Black Country. A wonderful nod to our forebearers, and something that resonates deeply with me personally as my mother worked in the sewing factories in Handsworth and my grandfather and father both worked in the foundries in Smethwick. Thank you for this beautiful depiction Billy — the intense detail in these images mean you could study them for hours.”