Mark Power's Black Country Stories

Mark Power’s Black Country Stories is a series of photographs and short films that reveal much that is overlooked, as well the beauty of the everyday in an area hit particularly hard by the economic recession

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Mark Power’s Black Country Stories is a series of photographs and short films that reveal much that is overlooked, as well the beauty of the everyday in an area hit particularly hard by the economic recession. The work seeks to ask questions about perceptions of beauty and the importance of looking good in spite of it all.

Whilst making a series of urban landscapes of the Black Country, Mark Power noticed the array of thriving beauty salons and gentlemen’s clubs peppering local shopping arcades. Investigating this further, he discovered a number of historical precedents for the success of beauty and sex industries in times of austerity.

The project has been commissioned and produced by West Bromwich based arts organisation, Multistory. Mark Power‘s Black Country Stories is part of a long-term series of commissions by Multistory with outstanding documentary photographers, film-makers and authors.