Men having shaves and their hair cut in a barbershop.
The Barbershop Quartet © Anu Gamanagari
The Barbershop Quartet © Anu Gamanagari

Picturing Walsall

Three winning images of Walsall high street were chosen and displayed in Gallery Square outside The New Art Gallery Walsall from 2 September to 1 October 2023. The pictures, taken by members of the public of contemporary Walsall high street life, were selected from over 400 entries to GRAIN Projects’ and Historic England’s Picturing Walsall competition. 

Photographs by 3 winners and 7 runners-up were chosen by a panel of judges including: 

  • Annabel Clarke, Senior Communications and Marketing Executive at The New Art Gallery Walsall, 
  • Stephen Burke, Project Producer at GRAIN Projects, and  
  • Tamsin Silvey, Cultural Programme Curator at Historic England. 

The selected photographs reflect the unique character of Walsall and celebrate the people who make its high street so special, from market traders to shoppers.

Take a look at the winning Picturing Walsall images below:

Picturing Walsall collection

The winning photographs have entered Historic England’s Archive, the nation’s archive for England’s historic buildings, archaeology and social history as part of the new Picturing High Streets national photography collection.

View the collection

The Smiling Merchant - Alishah Iqbal

A wonderful portrait. His smile is infectious!
Annabel Clarke, Senior Communications & Marketing Executive The New Art Gallery Walsall

The Barbershop Quartet - Anu Gamanagari

Anu Gamanagari’s beautifully composed shot captures the intimacy and speed of this busy barbershop in Walsall. This photograph is both a portrait of the barbers and their clients and of a business that continues to thrive on the high street. You can’t get your hair cut online!
Tamsin Silvey, Cultural Programme Curator Historic England

Local News for Local People - Jay Mason-Burns

This humorous photograph brings a smile to my face and captures a nostalgic moment on Walsall High Street. The text on the newsstand 'Local News for Local People' is a reflection of what a high street can and should be.
Stephen Burke, Project Producer GRAIN Projects

Runners-up

Please click on the gallery images to enlarge.

A person in a mobility scooter, flying Union Jacks and England flags, driving passed market stalls. Young girl browsing a rack of clothing outside a shop. A person lying face down on a table having a tattoo applied to the forearm. Woman singing into a microphone. Overhead view of people at Walsall market View looking up at an atrium roof Silhouettes of people walking along a high street.

More about Picturing High Streets

There was an error - Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

Supported by

GRAIN
The New Art Gallery Walsall
Walsall Council