University staff and students’ work in focus at Chester Photo Festival

Chester Photo Festival is taking place until May 22 at six venues across the city, with the theme of ‘Making Voices Heard’.

Among the exhibits is a moving image artwork by Dr Cian Quayle, Associate Professor and Programme Leader for BA Photography at the University, which captures a ferry journey on the Irish Sea between Liverpool and Douglas in the Isle of Man – where he was born and grew up.

The film is titled The Voyage (that Never Ends), with a soundtrack by Manx Canadian musician Richard Quirk and a final edit overseen by Liverpool-based film maker Jah Jussa.

Cian explained: "This iteration of the film has been digitised for cinema projection as part of a showreel of moving image works curated by Erik Knudsen, and can be seen at the Chester Picturehouse during the festival.”

The film was originally shot on Kodak Tri-X, Super 8, black and white, reversal film and transferred to play as a 16mm film loop in the exhibition Under the Volcano – An Exhibition for Malcom Lowry at the Bluecoat, Liverpool in 2009.

Cian is also exhibiting darkroom printed colour and black and white photographs, which manifest a retrospective narrative of the past in the present related to journeys, time, place and memory. The black and white work is at the Castlefield Gallery New Arts Space: Chester, which is the principle focus for the festival, and the colour stills are at the Chester Picturehouse including a lightbox artwork.

Cian’s role in the festival extends to being invited to be one of its trustees and he has worked closely with the Festival Director and Arts Organiser, Dr Alexandru Modoi, in bringing a curated selection of the festival work to the University’s Creative Campus, Kingsway.

Meanwhile current BA Photography students Abbie Robinson, Adi Gorman, Ella Beckett and recent graduate Emma Petruzzelli have responded and been accepted for the festival's Open Call on the theme. Participants have been invited to submit up to five images for selection as well as provide a narrative to what their images personally represent and what feelings or memories they evoke. Their work, along with that of Visiting Lecturer Paola Leonardi, is on display as part of the main exhibition at Castlefield Gallery New Art Spaces: Chester. In addition, graduates of the University will be performing at the festival.

Cian said: “We’re excited to be part of the festival, in exhibiting work as well as supporting the planning and hosting.”

Alexandru, who has curated the festival, shared more on its aims and origins: “I wish to expand my PhD work and expertise into a festival – the Chester Photo Festival – where  people from all over the world and at all levels of experience use photography as a creative practice to share their feelings, stories, and folklore to create better relationships between people through democratic photography ways.

"Following the methods and working models from my PhD, Re-Imagining Romanian Culture from Afar through Still Life Photographic Images of Wolf Myths (2023), people, like myself, who have experienced it, could potentially gain the confidence to have their voices heard through their own culture and myths, and photography interests.”

The 2025 festival was launched at Castlefield Gallery New Art Spaces in Chester’s Grosvenor Shopping Centre. It is running this year after a pilot event in 2024. A closing exhibition event will mark the collaboration between Chester Photo Festival and the University at Creative Campus, Kingsway on Wednesday May 21, from 4.30pm to 6.30pm.

For more details of the locations, line-ups, and opening times, please visit: https://chesterphotofestival.com/ 

Main image: Adi Gorman with his work at the festival.

Image 2: Cian Quayle, The Voyage (that Never Ends). Super 8 film digitised for cinema projection with a soundtrack specially composed by Richard Quirk.

Image 3: Cian Quayle, Ocular View. Hand printed, silver gelatin black and white photograph.

Image 4: Cian Quayle, Princes Landing Stage, Pier Head, Liverpool. C-type colour photograph.

Image 5: Ella Beckett with her work at the festival.

Image 6: The cover of the catalogue publication edited and designed by Chester Photo Festival trustee and participating artist, Ian Clegg.