Steve Forrest’s Exhibition 'What We See is Not Always Black and White' Comes to Warrington

A photographer who has worked extensively all over the world for more than 30 years will be bringing some of his most powerful and thought-provoking images to Warrington Museum.

Steve Forrest’s exhibition, What We See is Not Always Black and White, will open on Saturday, 18 January, and run until 20 March.

Delving fully into his archive, the showcase will collect together some of Steve’s most compelling photography – covering everything from foreign wars for major news organisations to the Hollywood celebrities such as Cate Blanchett and Natalie Portman, musicians, artists and politicians he has shot for The New York Times.

Steve has also worked for UK government departments, foreign governments and the United Nations, among others, to document significant events all over the world.

The Manchester photographer began to re-examine his work and career and explore new ways to look at contemporary issues affecting society after he recently received an Arts Council grant.

So for the Warrington exhibition, Steve will be displaying 34 photo-montages and eight photos from his archive presented in response to what he sees an ‘increasingly simplified and polarised narrative’ that dominates mainstream news and social media.

Through this retrospective of his own work, he wants to question the effect this ‘simplified dialogue’ has on our perspective on the world and efforts to build a more knowledgeable and fairer society.

There are no answers in this work, but Steve hopes visitors will take a moment to ‘challenge their own prejudices’ concerning the topics on display.

He added: “Are there different meanings behind each piece of work? Can they be interpreted differently than what the caption explains? You can form several opinions should you look hard enough at some works.”

Over three decades, Steve has seen photojournalism change significantly – and not always for the better.

He believes the complexity of issues can be lost within the rapid speed and narrow filter of news cycles and within social media algorithms which appear to steer users to the ‘type’ of news that reinforces their own beliefs without offering alternatives.

Steve said: “This reflection of the past has made me look more closely at the ‘grey areas’ that exist in today’s most hotly disputed topics.

“Despite having seen some of the worst of humanity while photographing wars, I see goodness and kindness all around me.

“My montages are a way of addressing the subtleties and complexities of a life lived through the lens.”

Steve initially trained as a graphic designer before moving to London to work as an art director for various advertising agencies.

Eager to see more of the world, he left advertising and retrained as news photographer.

Within a year, he’d gone from being a staff photographer at the Oxford Journal to catching a taxi in Jerusalem and going straight to the Gaza Strip that was under military curfew. One of his first experiences was a soldier threatening to shoot him dead.

Steve also faced death during Eritrea’s war with Ethiopia in 2000 when shells fell around him.

However, Steve’s diverse, intrepid career has had many brushes with fame too. He’s met many of his heroes such as Harold Pinter, Nelson Mandela, Muhammad Ali, Tariq Ali and Tony Benn, and one of his absolute highlights was being flown to Dublin to photograph U2 in their studio as they rehearsed.

Summarising what he has learnt over 30 years and despite how divided he feels modern society has become, Steve’s current work has actually made him more optimistic about the future.

The photographer added: “As shades of grey enter into my work, I see more possibilities to find common ground.

“Despite the world becoming more polarised, the debates simplified and personal, I believe that the majority of people will be able to ignore the media hysteria and narrowing of debate and form opinions more representative of their lives.”

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