BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.4.5//EN TZID:Europe/London X-WR-TIMEZONE:Europe/London BEGIN:VEVENT UID:12244@artinliverpool.com DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260918T100000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20261101T170000 DTSTAMP:20260928T144711Z URL:https://www.artinliverpool.com/events/coming-soon-next-up-2026/ SUMMARY:Open Eye Gallery: Next Up-2026 DESCRIPTION:Launch: 17 September / 6–8pm / Open Eye Gallery / free\, RSV P\n\nNext Up is an annual graduate exhibition of work from the MA in Soc ially Engaged Photography course\, a joint programme Open Eye Gallery has run with the University of Salford since 2018.\n\nThis year\, it features work by four early-career photographers: Yaqeen Amir\, Ella Horniman\, Jac k Smith\, and Helen Constantinou (Contemporary Fine Art MA) in partnership with Homotopia.\n\nTadhg Devlin\, Open Eye Gallery’s Head of social pra ctice\, said: “This is a great opportunity for the students to show the ir work as a culmination of their MA course in Socially Engaged Photograph y at Salford University. Their projects highlight certain aspects of socie ty today that can often be overlooked\, and hopefully this exhibition acts as a springboard for future opportunities for all involved.”\n\nThe Gat hering: Stop the Clause by Helen Constantinou\, in partnership with Homo topia\n\nThis work brings together twelve separate photographs taken at th e beginning of the anti-Section 28 protest march on 30 April 1988. By comb ining these individual frames into a single image\, the work resists the f ragmentation of memory and reasserts a moment of collective resistance aga inst legislation rooted in prejudice. Revisiting these photographs is not simply an act of looking back\, but a reminder of the profound and lasting consequences that suppression and censorship have on individuals\, commun ities\, and society. Section 28 was born from fear\, ignorance\, and hosti lity\, seeking to erase LGBTQI+ lives from public visibility and cultural discourse.\n\nToday\, these images resonate with renewed urgency. The rhet oric employed by contemporary far-right political movements echoes many of the narratives that underpinned Section 28\, once again questioning the l egitimacy and visibility of LGBTQI+ people and communities. By returning t o this moment of protest\, the work insists that these histories are not c losed chapters but ongoing conversations\, reminding us that visibility it self can be an act of resistance and that remembering is inseparable from the struggle against erasure.\n\nWithout A Map: A Journey of Displacement\ , Identity\, and Belonging by Yaqeen Amir\n\nThis work brings together ph otography\, personal memory\, and participant contributions to explore how identity is preserved and reshaped through displacement. Rather than focu sing only on outcomes\, the portfolio traces the process — the choices\, challenges\, and reflections that shaped the work. It highlights the use of self-portraiture\, symbolic objects\, and the involvement of participan ts\, showing how these elements gradually came together.\n\nPrint’s Not Dead by Ella Horniman\n\nThe work is based around the printed publications : ‘Print’s Not Dead’ and ‘1922.’\n\nFor ‘1922’ the artist ra n the workshops with and for people of North Manchester who are underrepre sented in Manchester’s creative success story and lack access to creativ e opportunities which is the same ethos as the magazine.\n\n‘Print’s N ot Dead’ is a collaborative zine made across different workshops in Nort h Manchester. Participants were invited to attend sessions where they got a chance to collage and make moodboards\, do some creative writing and hav e a go at both film and digital photography while creating their own perso nal magazine concepts. They talked about class\, identity\, neurodivergenc e and creativity – and most of all they had a laugh.\n\nAnti-Charity by Jack Smith\n\nA series based on the environment\, which focuses on dumpin g and fly tipping around the North West\, giving a dystopian but hopefully fun look at the issue and to encourage discussion amongst the audience.\n \n \;\nAbout the artists\nHelen Constantinou. Working with photography as both image and material\, Helen Constantinou explores the cyclical nat ure of history and the ways the past resurfaces in the present. Drawing fr om a 40-year personal archive\, they transform photographs through varied materials and processes\, creating works that invite viewers to reconsider what photography is\, what it remembers\, and how it shapes our understan ding of the world.\n\nYaqeen Amir is a socially engaged photographer base d in the UK\, who recently completed an MA in Socially Engaged Photography at the University of Salford. Her work explores themes of displacement\, identity\, memory\, and belonging\, drawing on her own lived experience as a refugee. Through self portraiture\, personal objects\, and interviews\, she creates work that challenges stereotypes and encourages dialogue abou t migration\, culture\, and resilience.\n\nElla Horniman is a photographe r and writer based in North Manchester and have recently completed her MA in Socially Engaged Photography.Her work explores class\, identity and the barriers working class creatives face\, inspired by her own lived experie nce of living in poverty and returning to creativity as an adult carer. Th rough photography\, creative writing and her self-published independent ma gazine 1922\, she creates work intended to platform underrepresented ar tists\, their work and their stories. She is  heavily inspired by the res ilience\, innovation and strength of working class communities.\n\nJack Sm ith is a photographer based in Wigan\, who focuses on the environment\, e specially along the Leeds and Liverpool canal. With the work they want to raise awareness of issues surrounding the environment\, in a fun and inter active way.\n\nGallery images by Helen Constantinou\, Ella Horniman\, Jack Smith. ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.artinliverpool.com/wp-content/upload s/2026/09/YaqeenAmir_SelfPortrait_Quotes-1.jpg CATEGORIES:Exhibitions LOCATION:Open Eye Gallery\, Mann Island\, Liverpool Waterfront\, Liverpool\ , L3 1BP\, Liverpool\, United Kingdom GEO:53.40423;-2.994412 X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Mann Island\, Liverpool Wat erfront\, Liverpool\, L3 1BP\, Liverpool\, United Kingdom;X-APPLE-RADIUS=1 00;X-TITLE=Open Eye Gallery:geo:53.40423,-2.994412 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/London X-LIC-LOCATION:Europe/London BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20260329T020000 TZOFFSETFROM:+0000 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:BST END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20261025T010000 TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0000 TZNAME:GMT END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR