Made In England

From small beginnings in 1972 as a specialist photography gallery in York - one of the first in Europe - Impressions has established itself as one of the best places in the country to find what's new and exciting in photography. Thirty years on it's found a new purpose-built home in Bradford's Centenary Square. It will share its new building with the equally new Bradford 1 Gallery which aims to give visitors the opportunity to sample some of the city's rich art collection right in the heart of Bradford.

For Ann McNeill, Director of Impressions Gallery, it's a big move in the right direction: "I definitely think it's going to work here in Bradford otherwise I wouldn't have pushed for it. What interested me, and the trustees and staff of Impressions, was that Bradford is a city which is changing. It's on the verge of regeneration and things are happening in the city. It's something we want to be part of."

Ann adds: "This is a gallery with a national reputation but it's also for the people of Bradford." She is pleased that the Impressions' very first exhibition in its new premises will feature a Bradford photographer: "It doesn't matter where the photographer comes from. It's the quality of their work, it's the quality of the ideas and the vision within their work."

Impressions Director Ann McNeill

Sharpe's Wood is Liza Dracup's first solo show. Each a metre square, Liza's been told these large photographic prints look like paintings: "Someone mentioned the colours seem Pre-Raphaelite. They do have the intensity of those wonderful colours, very descriptive."

Liza has been photographing woodland on the outskirts of Bradford between sunset and sunrise, using only available light, whether from the moon, street lights or passing cars. She says: "I've always been interested in the landscape of Britain. I think as soon as I picked up the camera as a teenager I tended to focus a lot on landscape and woodland areas."

Impressions is about cutting-edge photography and Liza's work is very much experimental: "I'm going out at night working with a vintage camera...What I'm getting is what the camera sees. I don't see what the camera sees [with a camera that uses film you can't review or preview your work as you can with digital] and there's limited available light. It depends where I am in the wood...It's just working with what's there really. The currencies in photography are time and light, and that's what you're dealing with but you are dealing with it in the opposite way to how you would deal with it in the day. You've got less light at night so you need more time...Somebody once asked me when I went out at night did I know what I was going to get. I said, 'No, I don't know,' because each time I go out at night it really is a surprise."

Liza hopes that Martin Parr will find time to visit the new gallery. She says she feels very proud to have been picked for the opening show: "I've continually visited Impressions while developing my career. I've always had an affection for the gallery and I loved the space in York but I do love the space in Bradford. Also I feel excited it's going to open to the public and I'll finally have an audience for all the work I've been making over several years."

Does she feel the exhibition might help her follow in the footsteps of Martin Parr? "Who knows? I just like making work and that's my driving force because I feel it's the most exciting part. It's obviously good finding an audience for it." Liza hopes the exhibition will go beyond Bradford and will be seen by a wide variety of people but she's is curious about what different audiences may make of her photos. Woodlands, she believes, are very much part of North European culture: "We are all kind of collectively entwined with Tolkien and fairy tales...It's within our collective memories and you can't escape that."

A view of Sharpe's Wood (c) Liza Dracup

But Impressions is not just about exhibitions. There will be a resource area where people can just relax and find out more about photography, not to mention taking part in one of the many activities on offer. As Ann points out: "Many different parts make a gallery and one of these parts is engaging with photographers in Bradford and Yorkshire. We definitely see it as a dialogue." Keen photographers are offered expert advice at regular Sounding Board portfolio review sessions. Ann adds: "We are not a 'white cube' gallery. We're free and we are for everyone. We're not scary!"

Of course, people particularly interested in photography may alreadyhave made the trip to Bradford to visit the National Media Museum but now they have somewhere else to go while they are in town. Ann says: "We are a gallery and we show emerging contemporary photography. They are a museum and are there to collect for future generations. I think there's a really good synergy about what we do."

Liza believes Bradford has a lot to inspire anyone who is interested in the visual arts: "I've always loved going up to the [National Media] Museum, going to Saltaire to see the Hockneys and to Cartwright Hall...I think it's just a fantastic place to be in that respect and there's the landscape itself. I love West Yorkshire skies and the West Yorkshire landscape. It does for something for me, the West Yorkshire light and the dark stone walls and the moors." 

Impressions Gallery and the Bradford 1 Gallery opened in 2007. Sharpe's Wood was the opening exhibition at the Impressions Gallery.