The Exiles (ongoing)
The Exiles series recreates scenes from the 1960s in my hometown area, using tales drawn from local folklore, research, and visual inspirations.
The first image was an enormous production in 2019 for what was in principle a single shot movie. The remainder of the series was shot in 2022 after a series of pauses due to lockdown.
Using filmic principles - elaborate, large scale lighting, set builds, and cinematic references - to make an original photographic series, The Exiles creates scenes from the 60s and 70s, when thousands of male economic migrants arrived in Sandwell, a blue-collar region of the Black Country, in the last throes of its industrial might.
A great team got together to make it happen, including many inspired locals. Involving my home community in these kinds of work is rewarding; to go on voyages together into our ancestral lines, to summon our parents experiences, and honour our lineage as a group, this is the magic we stir. By working with cast of newly arrived migrants today too, we are able to explore the circularity of the experience of non-natives merging with local life, of history on loop.
The title is inspired the Kent Macenzie docu-drama of the same name, chronicling a day in the life of a group of 20-something Native Americans who left reservation life in the 1950s to live in the district of Bunker Hill, Los Angeles, California.
Read Hammad Nasar’s critical essay, “Billy Dosanjh and the Quest to Settle”, about the NAE exhibition in Nottingham.
The Exiles Exhibition’s and Awards
Earth Photo, Royal Geographic Society, London. Two photos from the Exiles series were selected and featured in this exhibition - June - August 2023. The photos are also part of a national and international exhibition tour at the following locations:
2024 - Feb - March - Earth Photo tour, Lost Gardens of Heligan
2023 - December - Earth Photo tour, Lishui International Photography Festival - China
2023 - July - September, Earth Photo tour, Sidney Nolan Trust
2023 - June - Jan 204, Earth Photo tour, various Forestry England sites
The RBSA Photography Exhibition - MARCH 2 - APRIL 9. Winner of the GMC Trust First Prize for Dayshift and Seamstress, both on display.
The RBSA Photography Prize Exhibition is hosted biennially to celebrate photographic art. Now in its fifth year since launching in 2015, the Photography Prize invites entries from all artists creating work using photographic processes.
Click here for more information.
[TRAVELLER, YOUR FOOTPRINTS] - New Art Exchange Exhibition
23rd September 2022 - 7th January 2023. Featured a series of works, including the newly commissioned film, Indi (2022), and The Exiles (2019 – present) photo series. More information about the exhibition can be found here.
The video features Billy and Melanie Kidd from the New Art Exchnage in conversation about the exhibition.
Pay Day
Billy talking about the photo Pay Day to Deborah Robinson from The New Art Gallery, Walsall.
The images below were taken in the lead up to the shoot by NFTS team, or locally sourced images as inspiration, stills taken on the day whist filming “Dayshift”and images and fun videos from the various launches in Sandwell.
Exiles Commissioned by:
© 2022. All images and films on this site belong to Billy Dosanjh. All work is protected by copyright.