Julian Germain's Photography Project GENERATIONS Comes to Birmingham 2022 Festival

Follow in the footsteps of Julian Germain's ground-breaking photography project, GENERATIONS, and tell your own family's story! GRAIN Projects is delighted to announce the Participation Project, a collection of pictures that puts the participants at the heart of the Birmingham 2022 Festival. Join in and share what family means to you through photography. Photographs can be uploaded here, while the full gallery of images can be accessed here. Some of the photographs will also be shared on their Twitter account.

A collaboration between GRAIN Projects, Multistory, and the Birmingham 2022 Festival, and supported by Arts Council England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund, GENERATIONS uses the format of the family portrait to craft a fascinating celebration of the people of Birmingham and the Black Country. The project includes pictures of 30 families, each with their own unique story and background. It is an exploration of universal human themes and offers an authentic portrait of a diverse region, acting both as an invaluable historical record and thought-provoking work of art.

Families from across Birmingham and the Black Country responded to a call out made earlier this year by the Birmingham 2022 Festival, looking for four and five generation families that showcase all different stages of life: new-borns, infants, children, teens and their parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and great-great-grandparents, many coming together for the first time since Covid.

The reactions of some of the families seeing themselves on the billboards for the very first time were featured on The One Show on BBC One. Emotional scenes grabbed the hearts of the nation as the families took in the scale of the stunning images of themselves prominently on display across their home city as part of the Birmingham 2022 Festival. Julian Germain - also present on the programme - reiterated the significance of a project that celebrates diversity and heritage like GENERATIONS, especially in the contest of the upcoming Commonwealth Games. Now, thanks to the Participation Project, everyone can take part in the project and show how their family has been part of the community that makes Birmingham the vibrant city of today.