STOURBRIDGE artist Luke Perry’s latest exhibition puts the varied pursuits of Black Country workers in the frame to highlight their diversity and dispel stereotypes.
His mounted two foot tall photographs with opaque text will be on display at Cradley Heath Library until the New Year, when they will go on tour around Sandwell’s other libraries.
The arts works have been created as part of the Black Country Echoes Project, an artistic archiving of the region’s current and past.
Mr Perry, who has made many public art works depicting the rich industrial past, said the project had allowed him to explore a more intimate subject matter.
His examples show how workers, often doing manual jobs in heavy industry, can have quite intellectual and highly skilled pursuits outside their work.
Among those included is a drop forge worker who breeds bullfinches and a mild-mannered looking company director who is an intrepid mountain climber at weekends.
Mr Perry said: “It has allowed me to explore something I have never been able to do in public art projects.
“It is quite an intimate subject because of the very personal nature of Black Country workers and their humanity – everyone has very much their own story.”
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