Humber Street Gallery presents You and Me in HU3, an exhibition of storytelling, community and friendship from photographers George Norris and Russell Boyce. Through combining analogue black and white photographs with ongoing collaborative work, the exhibition explores four decades of change across the community in Hull.
In 1983, Russell Boyce, a 21-year-old Hull College of Art student, was documenting his local community of HU3 when he met George Norris, a 19-year-old, third-generation rag and bone man. Russell would spend a few weeks around the Norris family, capturing George in various aspects of his trade.
Decades later, after the death of his mother, George discovered a box of old family pictures, one of which was a photo of him with his mother, taken by Russell in 1983. Having spent long periods away working on the oil rigs, George felt a profound pull back to his community. After rediscovering these pictures, he took up photography himself and went on to reconnect with Russell.
Since then, Russell has returned to Hull to re-imagine some of his original images, linking the bodies of work taken forty years ago in HU3, with new work today. George, now an established documentary photographer, presents a selection of ongoing imagery reflecting contemporary HU3 communities to go alongside this.
Marianne Lewsley-Stier, Creative Director of Absolutely Cultured, said: “You and Me in HU3 is a wonderful, place-based exhibition that we believe has great local significance to Hull. We hope visitors to the gallery can use it as a tool to connect with the communities of our past and present, whilst also following a story of friendship and belonging.”
Russell said: “I am very excited that our joint exhibition You and Me in HU3 is happening in Humber Street Gallery. What is most important to me is that this exhibition offers a living honest archive of the community for people to enjoy. My hope is it inspires young people from a variety of backgrounds to start to document their own community.”
George added: “What I’ve tried to show in my pictures is the diversity of what goes on in the city. I was trying to look for moments of happiness, but you’ve got to show what you see warts-and-all because it’s important to ensure it’s a true reflection of the city I live in and love. It’s very exciting for me to see how the images have come alive in the exhibition spaces.”
You and Me in HU3 will be open in both exhibition spaces at Humber Street Gallery from 9 February to 14 April 2024, with a public launch event on 8 February from 6-9pm.