Talking Shop Blackburn Rd, Accrington
Photography by b&p projects
This Talking Shop project was initiated along Blackburn Road, Accrington. Artists Louise Brooks and Brian Percival (B&P Projects) engaged with each of the shopkeepers documenting the shops. Their process of engagement was delivered through the '£1 project', where the artists asked shopkeepers to suggest what could be purchased for £1 from each of them. A series of informal narratives; photographic documentation and collection of objects bought formed an exhibition shown at Mid-Pennine Arts. A postcard pack of the images was also produced as a lasting record of the project.
Consultants King Sturge also undertook a retail study for Blackburn Road and Talking Shop (The artist’s findings) contributed to some of the information complied. MPA represented Talking Shop at a steering group complied of partners working within the HMR areas, Town Centre Master plan and Blackburn Road corridor developments. Lancashire County Council Developments Ltd and the Hyndburn Arts Development Team funded this phase of Talking Shop.
Artist Lucy Bergman returned to 4 shop keepers in August/September 2007 to capture the stories of the shopkeepers and produced a DVD. An off shoot has led to the potential involvement of artist David Burns to work with the businesses on shop frontage designs. This is highlighted in the Retail study.
