University News Last updated 28 May 2015
Celebrity chef and restaurateur Glynn Purnell will join a host of well-known Birmingham names next month when he is highlighted as part of a photography exhibition hosted by Birmingham City University.
Photographed and curated by Birmingham City University lecturer Emma Love, the ‘Mr Birmingham’ exhibition celebrates the work and achievements of some of the city’s most celebrated personalities, including Trevor Francis, Jasper Carrott, Glynn Purnell and UB40’s Astro.
Passionate about the city and its people, Emma embarked on the project as a means of showcasing some of the personalities that make Birmingham so distinctive.
Glynn Purnell, Michelin-starred owner of Birmingham restaurant Purnells, said: “This exhibition of photography and the debate afterwards will offer a great chance to focus on just some of the ways people from Birmingham have contributed to British life.
“Birmingham is a terrific and often under-recognised city and I look forward to being part of an event that will continue the work going on all across the city right now in shifting perceptions of what we have to offer.”
Emma Love said: “I love Birmingham and am conscious that we Brummies are generally very humble people, all too often unable or unwilling to celebrate how great we are. I decided I wanted to change this and decided to track down and take the portraits of men who, in a variety of ways, have achieved great things in the name of the city.
“This wasn’t about promoting the personalities themselves but was and always will be about the great city of Birmingham and the amazing, diverse people who have come from here. It’s a work of love and loyalty for a place I believe is the best city in the UK.”
Emma will be joined by Glynn and others at a special private view reception on Thursday 11 June at Millennium Point.
Following the private view, Glynn will join a panel of other Birmingham stars, including former world kick boxing champion Kash ‘The Flash’ Gill, for the next Birmingham City University City Talk: What Birmingham means to me. The panel will share their own anecdotes from living, growing up and working in the city.
BCU City Talks: What Birmingham means to me – takes place on Thursday 11 June, 6.30pm, Cinema Screen, Millennium Point.