Beacon Arts Centre in Greenock is showing photographer Garth Ivan’s first solo show, a large-scale project merging fashion and celestial mythology (pictured above). Ivan explains, ‘I was very sick and couldn’t make anything. When I started feeling better. I gave myself free rein to go into the studio and just do anything. It is really about the magical side of photography and celebrating my craft.’
The show is accompanied a series of portraits of artists and craftmakers (see below) who live and work in the Inverclyde area. Ivan has compared the area, some 40 minutes from Glasgow, to Brooklyn in the 1980s and East London in the 1990s because of the way artists and creatives have moved into old industrial spaces and deserted shop fronts.
Fraser Taylor, guest curator at Beacon Arts Centre, has said, ‘Garth’s work highlights the cultural richness of the area and the sheer number of artists who are living and working here. The arts are playing a critical role in the economic and social regeneration of Inverclyde – and this exhibition perfectly captures our mission at Beacon to light up lives through the arts and celebrate their power to delight and help you see the world a bit differently.’
