Light House Media Centre, Wolverhampton's photostream

Mission Statement

Light House aims to increase the enjoyment and understanding of film, video, photography and creative media and to emphasise their importance to the cultural, social and economic life of Wolverhampton, the West Midlands and further a field.

Exhibitions at Light House

Exhibitions are a major part of our ‘public face’ as they can be seen in several places throughout the building. Not only do we show professional photographic work in the main gallery we also have a space dedicated to showing work by emerging photographers and a cafe bar with a small space to show all levels of photographic work.

History of Exhibitions at Light House

Staff have organised and curated Light House exhibitions for over 20 years, including a high profile touring programme in the 1990s. From the founding days of the company in 1986, before the gallery space existed as it is now, staff programmed photography exhibitions for a space within Wolverhampton Art Gallery & Museum. In 1991 Light House designed its own gallery space as the company expanded and moved into the newly redeveloped Chubb Buildings. Exhibitions continued to have a strong photography bias although film and ‘new media’ shows were also included. Seven years later the gallery was extended to show more work and allow higher profile artists to exhibit, including: multi media artists such as Paul Granjon and Harrison & Wood; video performances by Franko B and Joshua Sofaer, and photography by Suky Best, Rosie Martin and Caroline Coon. In 2005 I became Exhibitions Coordinator and, with essential support and guidance of Arts Council West Midlands, I began to take the gallery back to its photography roots and decided to specialise in documentary photography. We saw the importance of documentary and it seemed under-represented in other photography galleries around the UK and yet there was so much important work that needed to be seen. It remains a choice that has served us well by enabling me to programme exhibitions of a high standard and high profile photographers (including John Davies, Rhodri Jones, Edmund Clark, Michelle Sank, Tessa Bunney), and maintain good relationships with photographers, audiences and sector partners.

How we define documentary photography

The exhibitions we show are about representing particular ways of life, preserving a place or time, and empowering communities. We are interested in both the lives and histories of people and the ‘environments’ with which they are associated, as well as location as a subject matter in its own right. We are equally interested in exhibitions which investigate or involve historic photography or photographic archives, because once a generation are gone or a location changes, photographs remain to prove their existence and place in history.”

We think it’s important to exhibit existing work as well as new work. We want to not only bring exciting and dynamic work to a West Midlands audience but also continue to offer opportunities for photographers to exhibit. We also think it’s important to work with photographers who have a high standard of work but who are not yet a recognised name or who are just beginning to build a strong back catalogue of work.


Kathryn Kliszat, Curator