As Photographer in Residence in Coventry, specifically based within the Heritage Action
Zone of the Burges for one year, artist Tim Mills has worked alongside diverse communities, each a part of the town and transport infrastructure, to create new work.
Coventry Transport Museum will present photographic outcomes co-created with participants as the legacy to this Picturing High Streets project.
A third of the shops in the Burges are occupied by fast-food restaurants and takeaways, with bicycle delivery riders forming a significant community of people that provide food courier services throughout the city. Coventry has a significant and unique bicycle manufacturing heritage. From the first velocipedes built in 1868, the city went on to become the home of the British cycle industry and at one time produced the greatest output of cycles in the world.
Tim Mills has explored the history of this industry whilst involving the delivery riders on The Burges to produce a contemporary portrait that highlights their lives and work. The project includes stories of migration and of refugees in relation to Coventry’s role as a city of peace, reconciliation and sanctuary, interpreted in the photographs.
The installation that can be seen at Coventry Transport Museum relates to the themes embedded during Tim’s Picturing High Streets Residency: exploring industries that defined the city of the past and those that shape it today; examining ideas of arrivals, departures and transience; and working with an important community of people that provide goods and services in the area.
The visitor will find contemporary interventions relating to the delivery riders, the taxi rank drivers and student residents of the Burges, all part of the city’s Heritage Action Zone.
Artist Tim Mills says; “Working with the Coventry Transport Museum to place contemporary responses amongst historical collections is a really exciting opportunity to highlight the stories of people and communities who provide key services in the city today”.
Rosie Addenbrooke, Head of Exhibitions and Events, Culture Coventry said: “We are delighted to be working with Tim Mills and GRAIN Projects to bring this relevant and empowering project to our audiences at Coventry Transport Museum. Positioned right next to The Burges, the museum is the ideal place to celebrate the stories of the people who work, shop and travel through this busy and important part of the city. Tim Mills has brought into focus the everyday lives of our communities and how they shape the city today.”