Photography students celebrate success of pop-up art trail which led viewers on a walk through Southsea

The trail of 26 photographs, which led viewers on a coastal walk from South Parade Pier to Clarence Pier, was hosted by a team of photography students from a collective known as Middleman.

Artists in the collective are Ellie-Mae Burnside, Benjamin Carpin, Lucy Cobbett, Jemma Eyers, Bethany Gallagher, Ryan Hesketh, Sam Lloyd, Oskar Szemiot, Tizz Turner, Zoe Valentine, Thais Verhasselt, Bethany Wicks, and Lottie Wyatt.

The pop-up exhibition ran until May 2.

Vera Hadzhiyska, multi-disciplinary artist and curator and University of Portsmouth alumna, said: ‘A brilliant initiative by the photography students.

‘The art trail was a fantastic use of the advertisement spaces around Portsmouth and a wonderful way to put art into the public space in an accessible way.

‘Especially since galleries have been closed for a while due to the pandemic, it was lovely to be able to go out and see an exhibition again.

‘The trail led you on a beautiful walk along the seafront, felt a bit like a treasure hunt finding each location of the exhibited works.

‘I thoroughly enjoyed it and think the advertisement spaces should be used to showcase art more often.’

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Thais, team leader for the event, said: ‘The Middleman Art Trail was a success, we received lovely feedback from tutors and members of the public.

‘A few team members left free zines that we created as part of the Free Art Friday movement, and we are pleased to report that the zines were snatched within minutes or hours. We had spies! We would like to congratulate the lucky winners.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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