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Archive of photographic 'trailblazer' featured in exhibition

Vanessa PearceWest Midlands
Rhonda Wilson Community Archive/The Old Print Works A black and white image of photographer Rhonda Wilson featured in a magazine, with some text to the left of the image. She is wearing a dark jacket and has short hair. Rhonda Wilson Community Archive/The Old Print Works
Rhonda Wilson spent more than three decades in Birmingham as an artist, cultural entrepreneur, journalist and activist.

The work of an artist credited with helping to reshape the photography landscape while campaigning for women's rights and fair pay is being celebrated through a new exhibition and community archive.

Rhonda Wilson spent more than three decades in Birmingham as an artist, cultural entrepreneur, journalist and activist, according to organisers.

The project, named Seeing Rhonda and hosted in the city, features photographs, letters, posters and publications alongside personal notes and sketches that offer an insight into her life and work.

"She was a photographer but didn't concentrate on her own practice because she was engaged so much in supporting others and creating different mechanisms for others to develop their careers," said Dr Annette Naudin, associate professor at Birmingham City University.

"She really was a formidable trailblazer," she added.

Rhonda Wilson Community Archive/The Old Print Works A poster entitle The Invisible Army features a black and white image of a cleaner standing over the Birmingham skyline. Text at the bottom reads: "Nobody knows the numbers of women who work as cleaners in this city. Their pay is so low their hours so irregular, that they have disappeared, even from the Government's own statistics - invisible, and that's official. Rhonda Wilson Community Archive/The Old Print Works
The artist's Worth Paying For campaign included images and testimonies of women highlighting low pay in Birmingham

The event at The Old Print Works in Balsall Heath also highlights women whose contributions have "too often been overlooked in formal collections, reframing Birmingham's cultural history through their work", Naudin said.

Among the highlights are posters from the Worth Paying For campaign - which included testimonies from women workers exposing pay inequality in female-dominated industries during the 1980s.

"Instead of making women look downtrodden because of their extremely low pay, Rhonda captured their positivity and energy - making them visible," Naudin said.

During this time she was also "very much engaged with female artists", setting up magazines and highlighting their work, the academic added.

Rhonda Wilson Community Archive/The Old Print Works A black and white image of a group of girls. The headline on the article is Jobs for the Girls. Rhonda Wilson Community Archive/The Old Print Works
The artist who died in 2014 was made an MBE for her services to photography and international trade

Wilson set up several organisations enabling others to thrive in the city and internationally, as well as herself writing about photography.

From co-founding Poseurs Studio and Gallery in the late 1980s to developing initiatives such as Seeing the Light and Rhubarb-Rhubarb, "she was always actively looking for funding and thinking about the next project", Naudin said.

"It is very fitting to have Rhonda's archive in Balsall Heath where, in 1989, she set up the Poseurs Studio with fellow photographer Ming de Nasty," she said.

"The process of uncovering letters of thanks, rolls of her photographs and her personal notes is both exciting and profoundly moving."

Puffin Alwarey Two women are looking through boxes of archive material. One is holding up a newspaper cutting. They both have short hair and are wearing glasses. Puffin Alwarey
The archive and exhibition is at The Old Print Works in Balsall Heath

The artist, who died in 2014, was made an MBE for her contribution to photography and international trade.

Seeing Rhonda runs at The Old Print Works from Tuesday 23 June to Saturday 27 June, 11:00 to 17:00 BST, and returns on Saturday 11 July as part of Balsall Heath Second Saturday.

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