University News Last updated 31 October
BCU Alumnus Garry Jones, who graduated with an MA in Visual Communication in 2019, is exhibiting a collection of photos of Team GB Skaters’ journey in his hometown of Coventry.
“OBELISK” is a photographic documentation of the Skateboarding Olympians and their journey to the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Jones started his career after getting his Bachelor's Degree in Photography at Southampton Solent University. After years of working freelance, he decided it was time to get his Master's Degree in Visual Communication.
He said: “I decided to go back into education and do my masters. I met Rob Gibb who was the then course leader of the MA of Visual Communications at BCU. I instantly warmed to him, and we had a one-on-one and I instantly wanted to come on to the course. I hold my master's very fondly. I think because I had time away from undergrad.”
The alumnus understood the importance of work and educational experience after five years of freelance work, which went hand in hand to contribute to his success as a photographer.
He said: “Working freelance helped me move to the next phase of my career. Coming back to education is weird at first because there is such a formula to how things work. Working as a freelancer, you’re building your own path and set your own rules. The first few months on my MA were interesting, as I had to change the way I’d work for years, whilst digesting everything being that had been given to me.”
The graduate expressed that one of his biggest assets was the university. He reflects on his project during his degree: “Once I got those first couple of projects out the way I slipped into the notion of what I wanted to do. I started working with design and photography and used all my contacts.”
Jones’ extensive work in photography gave him the foundation to excel during his course. Projects that were important to build his portfolio went above expectations for a graduate student, as he would push the envelope and use his resources to create larger than life concepts.
He said: “I used my master's as a way to use all the facilities at BCU to pull things together, from using the dark rooms to studios. The wealth of knowledge that all the lecturers had was great.”
From the beginning, the alumnus recounts his interest in shooting live events from his time in the Coventry music scene. He was able to kickstart his career as a photographer in his hometown, which continues to have an impact on him today.
He said: “I was super young, and it grew from there. When I moved away, I took the ethos of working in your community and knowing the scene you’re interested in, which for me, was dance music. Over the years, it slowly built and was very much the bread and butter of my career for a long time; shooting festivals, tours, and things like that.”
Jones revealed that his ties to skateboarding didn’t only come about with the opportunity to shoot Team GB for the Olympics. He used to skateboard and take photographs of other skateboarders very early in his career.
He said: “During my master's I was sort of trying to go down every avenue of exploring new and old stuff, trying to get my career into the next step. At that time, skateboarding was announced for the Olympics.
“I love sending cold emails and I sent the governing body called Skateboard England at the time, which turned into Skateboard GB an email. I was like ‘Hey I shoot skateboarding; I do events and portraits.’”
For this exhibition, he didn’t want to only focus on the final images during the competition, he also wanted to show the bond between the team.
He said: “I’m trying to just make a nice documentation of everyone’s time there and not just the tricks being done. But you know, everyone’s interaction and being in that space at the Concorde in Paris.
“I never really saw the Olympics on the cards for me and then to get a new fresh experience like that felt amazing. It sort of felt like when you’re a kid and its summer holidays and you feel like it goes on forever. But it's only a few weeks. That’s how the Olympics felt for me because it was everything.”
The alumnus also has a long history with the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum in Coventry, bringing his love of his hometown and local gallery, together with his love of the skateboarding community, for the first time.
He explained: “The wealth of art that’s happening in the West Midlands and around this area through different people's projects is amazing It’s nice to see a gallery support something like skateboarding, as it doesn’t always happen.”
“OBESLISK” will be open at Herbert Art Gallery in Coventry from January 7 – January 31, 2026.