PHOTO LONDON x METRO: Tim Walker at Michael Hoppen

Metro is delighted to be collaborating with Michael Hoppen Gallery to produce bespoke framing and mounting for Tim Walker’s ‘The Gully Queens‘ to be shown at Photo London 2018.

The Gully Queens Jamaica, 2018 – is an exclusive limited edition of 30 signed prints with all proceeds (100%) donated to the Gully Queens Charity

“I found the notion of an aggression towards homosexuality in Jamaica sad and regressive. To me, the Gully Queens are emblematic of this injustice which is what led me to photograph them.” – Tim Walker says of this particular work.

Pop by the Michael Hoppen Gallery Stand C1 at Photo London fair to see this beautiful piece on show and chat with their wonderful team.

IMG © Tim Walker

The Gully Queens:

Health, Safety and Housing concerns continue to go unaddressed for a subset of the Homeless & Displaced LGBT persons who reside across Jamaica. Many have resided in the storm drains of the business district known as New Kingston have also repeatedly been displaced by the police and city council. They continue to be engaged in sex work as a means of survival which increases their health risk as higher paying clients often demand unprotected sex. There is also an increase in the use of alcohol and illicit drugs (shown by 85% of respondents who use alcohol and illicit drugs to suppress their depression) which can be sources of vulnerability. 99% of the clientele have indicated that their drug and alcohol use significantly affects their practice of safe sex.

The Gully Queens have both physical and mental scars as evidence of trying to survive on Jamaica’s volatile streets. Because they do not conform to gender norms, they have been disowned by family, threatened, stoned, attacked, and even shot. They are repeatedly evicted from spaces where they have sought refuge, and arsonists often set fire to their belongings. They are nomadic, and have in some cases have developed dysfunctional behavior as means of survival, disrupting the broader communities where they live. The majority express the desire for stability, and the need to see hope for the future.

Since 2015, the Gully Queens Charity has been able to secure a series of small grants that have allowed short-term/ emergency interventions by taking many of the homeless LGBT community off the streets. Larry Chang Foundation’s program is designed to reduce premature death and restore hope within our clientele by providing:

– Shelter; providing safe shelter in various models (group housing or independent living)

– Improve Health Outcomes; individualised care plans, meals that support diet plans & access to and retention in discrimination free healthcare

– Psychosocial support & Life Skills Training; Provide access to counselling sessions (group and one-on-one) based on care plans as well as Empowerment sessions utilising ‘you empowerment GPA’ model

– Improve Employability; remedial educational programmes, employability workshops, and readiness seminars & documentation such identification, TRN etc

We offer the following types of printing

Partial photo of a face covered in hundres and thousands printed on Fuji Crystal Archive Paper which is available in both gloss and a semi matt finish.

C Type Professional Photo Printing

We have been printing the highest quality C-Type prints for decades and digital C-Types produced on our Lambda have the archival and tonal benefits of traditional photographic papers, with the advantages of digital photo printing. C-Types are a conventional photographic print from a digital file, and as such is the most suitable option when printing a colour photograph.

Printing linking you through to our giclee printing service.

Fine Art Giclée Printing

We have Hahnemuhle and Canson Giclée Certified Studio staus and with over 30 years experience in photographic printing we use the most advanced inkjet technologies. Giclée is a gallery-quality inkjet print onto fine art watercolour paper. This is most suitable for art illustrations, but can also be used for colour and B&W photographs.

This a picture take of a very large black and white ilford fibre based print of two people.

Black & White Printing

We have worked in collaboration with Harman Technology to develop genuine B&W silver gelatin Fibre-Based and Resin-Coated photographic prints from digital files. The Resin-Coated is suitable for most types of B&W printing, and Fibre-Based is ideal for exhibition quality.

Metro called it Direct to Media. Essentially this is a UV printing machine that can produce very large, up to 3m x 2m prints on any flat material less than 10cm thick. So we can print on wood, metal, slate and pretty much anything you can think of.

Direct to Media Printing

Direct to media printing is exactly that; we print your image directly to a substrate of your choice. Be it paper, card, aluminium, Perspex, canvas, wood, slate… Our Jetrix UV inkjet flatbed printer can print on any flat surface up to 3m x 2m, less than 10cm thick. To ensure your material is suitable, we can print test prints around A4 in size.

This is a print on adhesive vinyl. The vinyl is on a roll and 1.2m wide, but it can printed in multiple pieces in order to cover a wall.

Vinyl Printing

Vinyl Phototex is chosen for its high-quality Giclée finish as well as its ease of application to wall or mounting material due to its self-adhesive properties. We can print on vinyl using our direct to media printer, in strips of 1.5m x 3m and these can be applied to the wall in the fashion of wallpaper to cover a complete wall or interior.