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A Blank Wall

@blankwall.uk

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A world to be discovered. 80,000 unseen photos, taken over 40 years & 40 countries by my grandad I never met. ‘Almost Home’ prints: 2 days left! ↙️

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Details on the next exhibition in my bio!👇The crazy thing about discovering a collection of tens of thousands of unseen photographs is that I’m still finding new things I’ve never fully looked at.

So when we finally got round to looking through, preserving and cataloguing the hundreds, if not thousands of handmade darkroom prints my grandfather Herbert made over the course of his life, I opened a whole new world of discovery.

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✨ Comment ‘print’ to sign up for news, updates and info on an upcoming event showing colour works from my grandads collection in London. More info inbound!✨

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I never met my grandad, having passed in 1987, and so this is how I’ve got to know him - through his work and his travels.

Within this drawer are hundreds of handmade B&W prints, some in folders, some backed, almost entirely shot on Ilford film and printed on Ilford silver gelatine paper. There are jaw dropping images from Galapagos to Morocco, as well as stacks of early prints, as far back as pre-WW2, often still held in their original Ilford folders.

I’ve only recently discovered the true extent of these with my Dad, and they show a lifetime of craft, commitment and passion to an art form, and who he was artistically.

He considered B&W to be a true photographic art form, with his colour work mainly shot on slides and never printed.

The majority of the prints are painstakingly produced test prints, the result of careful photo editing done in his home darkroom, showing his choices of crops, dodging and burning and giving me a rare insight into his creative process. He never left notes or reasoning behind his work, so this is invaluable as it is emotional.

Stay tuned for updates on an upcoming private view this month in London of my grandfathers work…

Head to the link in bio for more. 📸 by @blankwall.uk

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a month ago

⚡️Photographs of a lifetime of travel : Prints go live to the mailing list first 27.09 @ 1pm BST.

If you don’t know by now my grandad took 80,000 unseen photos on film. They were left unseen for over 30 years after he passed away in 1987. I discovered them a few years ago all meticulously labelled and dated in these boxes. A Blank Wall was born

The next print edition and event is the result of spending much of this summer digging through thousands of positive slides, building my own narrative (and getting pretty lost multiple times) in the images that has helped me build a picture of who my grandfather was.

At the end of hot, sun soaked summers across a thirty year period, these are photographs taken as he returned home from abroad, an intimate curation in this project that can often seem to be about overwhelming size and scale. The curation, printing and space in which they will be shown are all designed to reflect this.

- Come celebrate and have a drink (on me & @twotribesbrew ), at the private view - 24th September, 5:30pm - 8pm upstairs at @plastermagazine , 20 Great Chapel Street, London.

- RSVP open to all - the space is small so if you’d like to see it in your own time it will be on show until early October

- The online limited print edition will be available to the public Sunday 27th September. Prints will be available for two weeks only, or whilst the edition lasts. #35mm #photographer #filmisnotdead #print #travel by @blankwall.uk

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21 days ago

Travelling home, from the 1950s-80s on 35mm film.

A wider selection of the photographs curated in the recent exhibition ‘Almost Home’, taken by my grandad Herbert as he returned from abroad to the UK on Kodachrome and Agfachrome film.

Some of these images were hidden around the gallery at @ in Soho, did you spot them?

They show people in transit, at the end of summer of a 30 year period. Quiet, nostalgic and slightly wistful, a peek into the mind of the man I never met.

‘Almost Home’ (1959-85) is a series of photographs available for just four more days only via the link in my bio. All funds go into supporting further projects like this, and sustaining it into the future!

The exhibition has now finished, so head to the link in bio to check out some of the works and to purchase the bespoke works on display.

Details:

- Available for four more days!
- Signed using a restored signature from my Grandfather, and my own.
- Prints come with authenticity certificates and edition numbers.
- Global tracked and insured shipping.

Link in bio🔗 by @blankwall.uk

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3 days ago

👨‍🍳 As someone pretty new to exhibiting work, putting on an exhibition was a learning process. This was totally self funded and self produced around my day job, so here’s a few things I’ve picked along the way.

‘Almost Home’ (1959-85) is a series of photographs available for one more week only via the link in my bio. All funds go into supporting further projects like this, and sustaining it into the future!

The exhibition has now finished, so head to the link in bio to check out some of the works and to purchase the bespoke works on display.

Details:

- prints available for one week left!
- Signed using a restored signature from my Grandfather, and my own.
- Prints come with authenticity certificates and edition numbers.
- Global tracked and insured shipping. by @blankwall.uk

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6 days ago

🔗Almost Home (1959-85) Selected Works in Colour… PRINTS NOW LIVE in the link in bio: five
photographs taken by my grandfather Herbert in the U.K. and Europe, available for the first time, for two weeks only.

Titled ‘Almost Home (1959-85)’, five prints from the exhibition are now available online, along with the special edition bespoke framed prints on show in the gallery

Taken in the last lights of three decades of summers between the 1950-80s, as the photographer returned home from abroad, these are a personal curation of images taken in transit.

Summers coming to a close, clothes drying and people on their last holiday before Autumn falls, these are less about a time or a place as in previous editions, and more about a moment between home and afar. The temporary in transit state of neither here nor there.

The prints are on display at Plaster at 20 Great Chapel Street in Soho, London for another week. Go check them out - it’s free!

Details:

- Available for two weeks only!
- Limited editions of 100 total.
- Signed using a restored signature from my Grandfather, and my own.
- Prints come with authenticity certificates and edition numbers.
- Global tracked and insured shipping.

Want to know more?

Link.

In.

Bio🔗 by @blankwall.uk

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12 days ago

“Jack is at his day job when we call, grabbing an hour during his lunch break to speak with me. In the lead up to the launch of ‘Almost Home’, Jack’s as busy as ever. With 250,000 followers, A Blank Wall’s Instagram is a full time job in and of itself. Everyone’s a photographer on Instagram, so what allowed Herbert Smith’s work, an artist who presented the platform, to cut through the noise?”

For his exhibition ‘Almost Home (1959-85)’ in the Plaster Backroom, Jack Smith caught up with Livia Magyar to discuss his grandfather, Herbert, and the 80,000 film photographs he left behind.

The exhibition is open at Plaster until Saturday 3rd October.

Read the full article at the link in bio.

Words: @livmagyar
Photography: @mekdes.zk
@blankwall.uk by @blankwall.uk

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10 days ago

✨📸🤝❤️ More photos from the Private View of ‘Almost Home’ @plastermagazine last Thursday, which is on show until this weekend.

This was a rare chance for me to show a more intimate narrative within a huge body of work taken by my grandfather Herbert Smith FRPS.

In a project that is so often about size and scale, restoring, discovering and curating my way through tens of thousands of pieces of film taken over decades and continents, these are the events that mean the most.

So many people came down who I’d never met or were new to the project, and my favourite comment was

‘I expected something bigger’

This exhibition was intentionally small. Printed, framed and shown in a small space, meant to bring this massive undertaking down into a personal framing that shows my relationship with the man I never met.

The result of literally hundreds of hours of work all by myself around my 9-5 day job, it was amazing to see the reactions to the work, which are on show for a few days only.

If you haven’t seen it yet, get down to Plaster HQ on 20 Great Chapel Street, Soho. And yes, that is my dad.

Prints are available for purchase via the link in my bio for a limited time only.

@amberpollackphotography with the brilliant photographs on the night by @blankwall.uk

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10 days ago

❤️❤️Thank you to everyone who came down the private view of ‘Almost Home’ at Plaster Magazine in Soho this Thursday.

It was really beautiful to see the reaction of friends and strangers to what has been months of intense work pretty much all by myself to get to this point.

Sooooo this project is all me - I manage everything from top to bottom pretty much on my own and it’s totally self funded, so this exhibition is something only I’ve really seen until now. Sharing it with so many people had me crazy nervous and working silly hours for a few weeks but we got there…

We packed out the gallery and the street, which was as humbling as it was overstimulating, so all I can say is a huge thank you to everyone who came down, helped set up and offered their thoughts and advice.

Drinks (and fridge!) were flowing all night by the brilliant @twotribesbrew and alchohol-free cans by @luckysaintbeer

I’ll post more about the curation and works in due time, but if you want to see or purchase the framed prints on display, see some of the original film and learn about the very personal story behind the curation, come down to:

- Plaster Shop, 20 Great Chapel Street, Soho, London
- The prints are upstairs and someone will show you in - just ask!
- The work is on display until next Saturday, so be quick…
- The space is open all week and on Saturdays

Massive thank you to @lolaguerinmercier , @amber_pollack , Liv and the team at @plastermagazine , @jjbeckle ✨, @kxi222 and last but not least my Dad!
📸Photographs on the night by the brilliant @amberpollackphotography by @blankwall.uk

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15 days ago

✨PRINTS IN THE LINK IN BIO NOW LIVE🔗

If you don’t know by now my grandad took 80,000 unseen photos on film. They were left unseen for over 30 years after he passed away in 1987. I discovered them a few years ago all meticulously labelled and dated in these boxes. A Blank Wall was born

The next print edition and event is the result of spending much of this summer digging through thousands of positive slides, building my own narrative (and getting pretty lost multiple times) in the images that has helped me build a picture of who my grandfather was.

At the end of hot, sun soaked summers across a thirty year period, these are photographs taken as he returned home from abroad, an intimate curation in this project that can often seem to be about overwhelming size and scale.

The prints are on display at Plaster at 20 Great Chapel Street in Soho, London for another week. Go check them out - it’s free!

Details:

- Available for two weeks only and early access to the mailing list first.
- Limited editions of 100 total.
- Signed using a restored signature from my Grandfather, and my own.
- Prints come with authenticity certificates and edition numbers.
- Global tracked and insured shipping.

Want to know more?

Prints available to the public 1pm BST Monday 28.09.26.

Link.

In.

Bio🔗 by @blankwall.uk

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13 days ago

Excited for you to come celebrate the next print edition ‘Almost Home’ (1959-85) and see some of my grandfather Hebert’s photography, up close and extremely personal.

The Backroom upstairs at @plastermagazine is small and things will be busy so don’t be late…if you want to see the prints in your own time, come any other day!

Come for a drink kindly provided by @twotribesbrew , amble in the shop downstairs stocked with art world chaos and come *upstairs* for the photography.

I’ve literally spent the last month working 24/7 on this, so I’m super excited to show you what I’ve been working on solo round the clock around my 9-5 job 🫠

Key things:

- All the framed prints on display will be available through the gallery, email or my website - the link will be in the space
- Prints are on display until early October (daytime hours)
- Shop closes at 8 but drinks can be had out front
- The main print edition goes live this Sunday at 1pm via the link in bio.

- the gallery is upstairs and not wheelchair accesible - if you have difficulty with walking or mobility - drop me a DM and we’ll get you a private view x
- Make sure you grab the info sheet!👀
- See if you can find all the hidden prints in the shop…
- RSVP in the link in bio!

See you tomorrow x

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If you don’t know by now my grandad took 80,000 unseen photos on film. They were left unseen for over 30 years after he passed away in 1987. I discovered them a few years ago all meticulously labelled and dated in these boxes. A Blank Wall was born

The next print edition and event is the result of spending much of this summer digging through thousands of positive slides, building my own narrative (and getting pretty lost multiple times) in the images that has helped me build a picture of who my grandfather was.

At the end of hot, sun soaked summers across a thirty year period, these are photographs taken as he returned home from abroad, an intimate curation in this project that can often seem to be about overwhelming size and scale. The curation, printing and space in which they will be shown are all designed to reflect this. taken in London, United Kingdom by @blankwall.uk

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17 days ago

RSVP IN THE LINK IN BIO. Super excited to announce the upcoming exhibition and print edition ‘Almost Home’ (1959-85), a self-curated selection of colour photographs taken by my grandad Herbert over half a century ago.

The five photographs from the upcoming release, plus an extended curation of prints will be exhibited in London, with the private view on Thursday 24th September, upstairs at The Backroom at @plastermagazine in Soho.

‘Almost Home’ is my most personal curation of colour images from my grandad’s lifetime of work yet, and was from its inception designed to be enjoyed close up and in person.

I spent much of this summer digging through thousands of positive slides, building my own narrative (and getting pretty lost multiple times) in the images that has helped me build a picture of who my grandfather was.

At the end of hot, sun soaked summers across a thirty year period, these are photographs taken as he returned home from abroad, an intimate curation in this project that can often seem to be about overwhelming size and scale. The curation, printing and space in which they will be shown are all designed to reflect this.

- Come celebrate and have a drink (on me & the good people at @twotribesbrew ), at the private view - 24th September, 5:30pm - 8pm upstairs at 20 Great Chapel Street, Soho.

- RSVP essential & in the link in bio.✨

- The online limited print edition will be available to the public Sunday 27th September. Prints will be available for two weeks only, or whilst the edition lasts. 📆

Come early, stay late - the space is small and will likely be busy.

If you’d like to see the exhibition pieces in your own time, they will on view until early October, and available to purchase via my website from the following Sunday, or at the private view.

More information to come. ❤️ taken in London, United Kingdom by @blankwall.uk

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a month ago