Urban Gritty

'Urban Gritty' Large Acrylic (W 123 cm x H 55 cm) + Stories

'Urban Gritty' is a cool and edgy collection of 36 raw images juxtaposing the beautiful and the ugly of London - the modern colourful images telling a story through challenging times.

Here is Mandy Stacey's thinking behind the large size acrylic PhotoArt (W 123 cm x H 55 cm):

"I collected together the powerful images that told the story of me trying to stay optimistic through my troubles. It was not easy - between 2016-2018 it charted my feelings through divorce, job-loss and illness. The 'Urban Gritty' collection was tough and edgy, a reflection of hard times and stressful London living. A story of survival.

It's a big bold piece - with a monochrome colour scheme spiked with colour - Red from 'Red Series', Blue from 'Blue Series' and the geometric lines of 'Locked Up Series'. Each image tells a story (in an accompanying hard-book picture book and on audio) and throughout the hardship there is hope... and love."

In exhibition, this 'Urban Gritty' art experience featured light and sound. A red spotlight switched to bright cold white light while loud, edgy music played (the first minute of Radiohead's 'The Bends') to be replaced by a voice over by Mandy Stacey explaining the PhotoArt piece. In addition, each image has a 30 second story to listen on audio to or to read in the accompanying PhotoArt book.