Exhibition inspired by photographer's home town of Scarborough to open at Woodend

An exhibition inspired by his home town opens at Woodend in Scarborough

Mick Fattorini was born and brought up in Scarborough and has a particular affection for the years between 1963 and 1970 when, as a young boy and teenager, he began to explore the town.

In Mick Fattorini: Scarborough 1963-1970, Mick revisits what he calls the special places of his boyhood wanderings.

“It was a fantastic time for me: an intrepid explorer in my own town, hidden amongst the holidaymakers and day-trippers,” he said.

“These images are not intended to be a record of what was and I have tried to avoid the merely nostalgic. Rather they are images made of what I see there today and what captures my eye now and excites me through the filter of decades.”

Mick attended Scarborough School of Arts from 1974 to 1975. He trained as a photographer at North Staffordshire Polytechnic in the 1970s, following which he worked as an independent photographer, teacher and arts organiser.

After working away in the 1980s, mainly in the North West, he returned to Scarborough and worked from the Crescent Arts Workshop, where he was honorary co-ordinator from 1983 to 1986 and chair from 1986 to 1987. During this time he exhibited work locally, nationally and internationally in solo and group shows including at The Photographers’ Gallery London, and in a Scarborough/Düsseldorf collaboration at the University of Wisconsin, USA.

He was photographer-in-residence at the Posterngate Gallery, Hull in 1986 and 1987 and established the Posterngate Photography Workshop, of which he was director until 1990.

He subsequently ran arts and media organisations in Birmingham and Coventry before moving on to arts and heritage development and management in Leicestershire. Throughout all of this time he continued to make images and since 2013 has returned full time to photographic practice.

He is working on four projects of which the work in this exhibition is one. His next project has been commissioned and involves exploring the architectural detail of Leicester General Infirmary.

Mick Fattorini: Scarborough 1963-1970 is at the gallery at Woodend from Saturday September 7 to January.

The gallery is open Mondays to Fridays from 9am to 5pm, and Saturdays and Sundays 10am to 4pm.

Entry is free.