Back Streets & Bright Walls

This international collaboration celebrates over 75 years of cultural connection between Stuttgart and St Helens — a shared yet independent reflection on how place and people shape one another.

 This exhibition invites you to see St Helens anew — through the eyes of photographers from both St Helens and its twin city, Stuttgart. Together, they've explored the town's overlooked architectural corners and unexpected beauty: alleyways, painted walls, textures, colours, and the traces of everyday life.

 During their visit, the Stuttgart artists collaborated with local creatives to capture not just places, but feelings — atmospheres, interactions, and fleeting moments that speak to the character of the town. The photographers were encouraged to experiment freely, embracing abstraction, humour, and the poetic potential of the ordinary.

 
"Architectural photography can be much more than just an overview of a building. We're looking for surprises, peculiarities, cracks in convention, the hidden and mysterious — and if possible, a feeling for the town through the motifs. Let creativity simply take over."

— Thomas Herrmann
 

Twinning through cultural and artistic exchange helps communities share ideas, celebrate creativity, and build stronger, more inclusive local relationships by helping people learn from each other with councillor murphy stating-

 
"I'm delighted to welcome the Stuttgart photographers to St Helens. St Helens has a long history of twinning projects with Stuttgart, and I look forward to seeing this wonderful collaboration with St Helens photographers, the Arts in Libraries Team and the World of Glass."

— Councillor Sue Murphy MBE, Cabinet Member for Localities, Culture and Heritage.

The exhibition opens on Saturday 4 October, 12-2pm at The World of Glass. Free to attend, the exhibition will run from 5 October to 15 November and is open Wednesday to Sunday, 10am-4pm.

The project has been funded through Stuttgart Council's Cultural Department and Arts Council England, thanks to funding from taxpayers. The exhibition is delivered by the World of Glass and St Helens Borough Council through the Arts in Libraries programme, supporting artists to showcase and develop their work.

Exhibiting photographers:

• Thomas Herrmann
• Tanja Duszynski
• Gavin Wallace
• Angela Wilkinson
• Paul Simms
• Mark Peachey
• Nicola Bolton
• Chrissie Becket
• Kevin Crooks
• Jef Gilgannon
• Tillman Kleinhans

All images are available to purchase from The World Of Glass

Image Credit : Thomas Herrmann