‘SHIPS in the SKY’ – Professor Esther Johnson’s arts project launches at Hull Central Library on Wednesday 27 February

A launch for Professor Esther Johnson’s arts project SHIPS in the SKY will take place on Wednesday 27 February at Hull Central Library.

Led by artist and filmmaker Esther Johnson in partnership with Hull Libraries’ oral history project Untold Hull, SHIPS in the SKY is a film, oral history and exhibition project that will uncover peoples’ memories of a treasured Kingston-Upon-Hull city landmark.

The focus for the project is the former Hull & East Riding Co-operative Society
store in Jameson Street, later ‘BHS’, and the murals on and inside the building by
artist Alan Boyson, who died in 2018. The Three Ships mural in particular – one of the largest pieces of public art in the UK – has been loved by Esther from childhood.

The central theme of the SHIPS in the SKY looks at how architecture shapes and is shaped by local and cultural identity, and on how public art can effect peoples’ navigation and
memories of the public realm.

The life of this iconic building has had many lives – a department store, an indoor market, a dance hall, a music venue and nightclub. Memories were made there and the building has played a part in the lives of so many in Hull. On closure in 2016, the building canopy acted as shelter for the homeless and now lays empty awaiting redevelopment or demolition. During Hull’s 2017 City of Culture, the building acted as backdrop to numerous public events.

SHIPS in the SKY aims to tell some of these stories and will culminate in an exhibition travelling to venues around Hull in late 2019, and a final project exhibition including film installation and symposium in late 2020.

SHIPS in the SKY – Launch Event
Hull Central Library, Albion Street HU1 3TF
Wednesday 27 February 2019, 6PM – 7.30PM
The launch has already sold out twice and has now been moved to a larger venue with further Tickets available HERE.
Enter the Launch Event Giveaway Competition HERE.

The launch evening will include a panel consisting of:
Philip Andrew (architect of the former Hull Coop/BHS building);
Ann, Sandra and Carole (Hull Coop Window Display Artists);
Leigh Bird (project research assistant);
Paul Dakeyne AKA Tinman (Romeo’s & Juliet’s DJ);
Esther Johnson (project artist/filmmaker);
Dave Lee (Hull writer and filmmaker) and
Christopher Marsden (Alan Boyson expert).

Find out more and follow the project:

https://shipsinthesky.weebly.com  · Twitter @shipsinthesky63 · Instagram @shipsinthesky63  · Facebook @ShipsInTheSkyHull

SHIPS in the SKY is funded by the James Reckitt Library Trust in partnership with Hull Libraries’, with the support of the Art and Design Research Centre, Sheffield Hallam University, and Hull Trinity Old Boys’ Association.

Esther Johnson is Professor of Film & Media Arts at Sheffield Hallam University. Find out more about Esther’s work here.