Fringe exhibition celebrates the art of stickers

Placed neatly within boxes in football books, stuck to the back of phones or stretched across skateboards - everyone has their own childhood memories with stickers.

Gideon Liddiard, a photographer based in Swindon, says he has never "grown out" of the hobby.

He has a new exhibition about stickers as part of this year's Swindon Arts Fringe (SWAF) which is a non-profit, artist-led festival which takes place until 28 June.

He said: "It's a celebration of an often overlooked art form and one of the earliest art forms that people start playing around with. When we are kids, we scribble with crayons and we stick stickers on absolutely everything - and some of us don't grow out of that."

While stickers are often associated with children, Liddiard noticed them crop up in many areas in his day to day life; such as on billboards or on cars.

"They are everywhere, we just don't necessarily realise they are everywhere," he continued. "They are used for such a wide range of things, from an artistic point of view to a promotional point of view for businesses and bands.

"The idea [for an exhibition] came to me when I was making a cup of coffee and I just thought 'I don't think anyone has done an exhibition, certainly in Swindon, about stickers before."

After an appeal for stickers, Liddiard gathered hundreds to place in the exhibition at 19 Canal Road, the old Argos building in Swindon.

Spongebob SquarePants, trains and a Hermes collection sticker are among the ones on display.

Liddiard's grand-children helped to lay the stickers out on items including road signs and skateboards which form part of the exhibit.

Lisa Lowe is a curator and organiser for SWAF which is now in its third year.

Other free events as part of the festival include an accessible dance workshop, and an exhibition about the art of sleep.

"We work with various venues and places around town to set up beautiful art exhibitions," she said.

"I think it is really important for everywhere. Art is the first thing which gets cut but here we've built such a lovely community of people and there is something for everybody here."

Follow BBC Wiltshire on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630.