Harry Palmer
Signature
Signature.
A series of 4 films by folk artist Harry Palmer.
On Friday March 23rd 2007 at 3pm, Every Moods card and gift shop tragically closed down forever.
Owner, Bharat Mehta, had established his business over 27 years and as he describes it – ‘I brought this
shop up almost like a child.’ He was given only 4 weeks notice to vacate the premises situated in
Auchinleck Square, Five Ways, Birmingham. His signed lease provided no security by way of
compensation. That Friday afternoon he finally locked the shop door and gave the keys to the security
guard for the last time. What was a beautiful shop that had served generations of local shoppers was
now empty, all gone. Every Moods now qualified as tragic and upsetting.
Harry Palmer’s series of 4 short films entitled ‘Signature’ convey a very simple message - attempting to
authentically present biographies concerning four different accounts of people’s lives that mean
something genuine, touching and powerful.
‘My test has been to convey a genuine document that may stay with us as a legacy of change and
transformation. Whether it concerns a recent marriage, shop closure or socialist values – I’m trying to
portray normal life straightforwardly avoiding any resemblance to spin or gain,’
Harry was extremely successful in his approach, the engagement and involvement of his participants at the core of his work was there for all to see. More than once people told me that the work brought a tear to their eye, a genuinely moving piece of work which was as effective as it was unpretentious.
Harry Palmer is a folk artist, eccentric researcher, writer and producer, on a long journey of many varied artistic creations. He d evelops, devises and involves himself in site related projects; public spaces & places ‘actions and activities'. These have included locations such as car boots, banks & bridges, allotments, village halls, rivers & canals, streets and squares, the countryside and festivals. He also writes, publishes and has worked in a variety of education capacities – from consultation to workshops. More recently, he now reports on enthusiasts in the form of radio and text.
In 1998 he created the largest outdoor allotment illumination having initially worked with the National Allotment Champion (Mr Bernard Ostler), namely - The National Touring Arts and Allotments Project (Bloom98). In 1996, he spent four daytimes attempting a world record at reverse pedestrianism over the then largest suspension bridge in the world – the HumberBridge.
In 2000, Harry lived and worked for 7 months in a rowing club after 5 years devising creations from his mill. He continues to create and spin many yarns from street agit-prop storytelling to working on the Birmingham Canal Navigation lines (mythological research vessel (a seven day circumnavigation of Smethwick in the West Midlands, UK)). He has just completed a four year residence at HMP Frankland maximum security prison. Radio Knex3 is his latest adventure where he reports on fellow Human Beings enthusiastic activity (www.knex3.org). He's just co-published The Eccentric City - the world's first dedicated eccentric newspaper and hopes to go on a long walk over two months later this year. Scart Trio is one of his latest collaborations whereby two films are simultaneously treated in real time through a series of AV semi-redundant technology.
