extra{ordinary} - Photographs of Britain by The Caravan Gallery
Selected from The Caravan Gallery’s huge archive of images, extra{ordinary} offers an honest insight into everyday life in 21st century Britain. In an alternative to the picturesque and often clichéd images found in tourist information brochures, The Caravan Gallery seek out and celebrate the curious, unusual and absurd in the places they visit.
The creation of artists Jan Williams and Chris Teasdale, The Caravan Gallery itself is an innovative photography gallery-on-wheels. Since 2000, Williams and Teasdale have travelled thousands of miles taking their iconic 1969 mustard-coloured caravan to hundreds of locations across Britain, from London’s Tate Britain to the small fishing port of Peterhead in the North East of Scotland, in a quest to share their photographs and inspire others. Always keen for local insights, the artists delight in talking to the many visitors drawn to the caravan, and seek out their recommendations of people and places worthy of investigation. extra{ordinary} is the result of a fifteen year study of contemporary leisure, landscape and lifestyle, documenting our, at times, imperfect present and capturing the reality and surreality of everyday life. Taken as a whole the exhibition and associated publication redress what is traditionally ‘worthy’ of documentation, celebrating the mundane and elevating the overlooked.
extra{ordinary} is one of three components of a citywide project by The Caravan Gallery. It is complemented by a participatory Cardiff Pride of Place Project at The Abacus, Wood Street and a mobile Cardiff Caravan Gallery Tour.
This project is generously supported by an Arts Council England Strategic Touring Grant and delivered in partnership with Northern Galley of Contemporary Art, Impressions Gallery, Ffotogallery, Museum of Lancashire, mima and Solent Showcase.
