Running until the 23rd December, a new exhibition at The Open Eye Gallery on the Liverpool waterfront features photographs and testimonies from businesses on Chester rows.

For the past two and a half years, photographic artist Suzanne St Clare has been working with business owners trading on the Rows. Featured traders include Niki Davies of Chester Health store, Paul Boyland of Chester Model Centre, Will Powell of Powell’s/Lowe’s and others. The exhibition features some honest and sometimes provocative audio recordings capturing the traders thoughts on how they came to Chester, their community, challenges, the quirkiness of independent trading and their love and passion for the city.

In addition , traders were provided with disposable film cameras and given the task of documenting their working lives and businesses These images accompany the audio taken from interviews.

Alongside the video works and portraits in the gallery, visitors can also view adapted black and white photographs that bring together the customers aspirations and traders’ visions for the Rows. Three key areas that relate to the issues the Rows continue to face have been photographed. These areas have been removed in Photoshop, and local artist Cathryn Lowri Griffith has drawn inthe ideas from customers and traders, including: the revival of greengrocers in the centre: reinstatement of antique shops ,restoring missing flooring and flaking paint; -adding effective signage, and a gated element to the Rows for good security at night for those sleeping rough to be accommodated.

The historic nature of the rows can present complexities for shops and small businesses that are trading here. The Chester Rows High Street Heritage Action Zone programme, led by Cheshire West and Chester Council, has recently invested in the Rows. The programme is designed to attract people back to the high street and benefit the local economy, alongside engaging with and looking after the heritage of the Rows.

This exhibition is part of the national Picturing High Streets project commissioned by Historic England and delivered by Photowork as part of the High Streets Heritage Action Zones Cultural Programme. The project is also part of Chester’s High Streets Heritage Action Zone Project scheme led by Historic England, in partnership with Arts Council England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund and in collaboration with Cheshire West and Chester Council.

The gallery is open 10 til 5 ( closed Mondays)

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