It is about migration to Sheffield, which is very current when we think of the huge amount of publicity around migration at the moment. The flow of people fleeing conflict and the free movement of labour within the EU have made us all aware of migration issues. Yet, as the exhibition reminds us, migration has always been with us; what seems to change are out attitudes towards it.
When photographer Jeremy Abrahams was a teacher he met Sue Pearson who came from Prague on the Kindertransport in 1939 and never saw her parents again. She shared her experience with Jeremy's pupils and was able to capture the natural empathy children felt for her to affect their attitudes to current migrants. Sue inspired Jeremy and sowed a seed that became 'Arrivals'.
Arrival is about migration, it's about people and it's about Sheffield in particular, although these experiences are shared across the world.
Jeremy Abrahams began his working life as an economist in London, before training to be a teach and later moving on to become an education consultant in Barnsley. On being made redundant in in 2013 he decided to take a foundation degree in photography in Sheffield and made a new career as a portrait and theatre photographer. He has lived in Sheffield for 28 years, but he feels that his contact with his subjects has brought him closer to the city.
The exhibition comprises very large prints mounted on foam board (or similar). They are striking portraits of people who have made their homes in Sheffield. All have found Sheffield a warm and welcoming city. Each portrait has been taken with a city landmark as the background. With each picture is a pen portrait of the subject, how they came to be in Sheffield and their feeling on the city and its people. This is a moving series of photographs. It is very current and shows immigrants and migration in a very positive way, which in a post Brexit world is very necessary.
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