Photographer Garth Ivan has highlighted the area's creative industries with a series of portraits displayed in his debut solo show at Greenock's Beacon Arts Centre. Garth likens Inverclyde to 1980s Brooklyn and 1990s East London due to the influx of artists and creatives occupying the area's former industrial spaces. His exhibition features portraits of the artists and craftspeople who live and work in the area.
He said: "One half of the show is a story about Inverclyde and the artists and craftsmen who live and work here. It’s a celebration. Greenock reminds me of Brooklyn.
"All these old buildings and deserted shop fronts are being repurposed into studios and pop up shops. "For those familiar with the area, Greenock and Inverclyde are often associated with poverty, crime and struggle - a ghostly reverberation of its former shipbuilding heritage. "But there is also very, very much to be proud of here - not least of which is Inverclyde’s burgeoning art scene.
"The artists have inhabited the old industrial spaces and empty shopfronts and created a wealth of colour, form and ideas out of the silence and the derelict." The exhibition also features a large-scale project combining fashion and celestial mythology. This, he explains, was born out of illness, and represents "the magical side of photography and celebrating my craft.
" The exhibition, which runs until February 15, is part of the Beacon's ongoing programme, overseen by guest curator Fraser Taylor. Fraser, an honorary.