In Conversation: Hetain Patel and Julian Germain

Event description

Join us on Friday 21 March for an In Conversation event between artist Hetain Patel, whose exhibition Come As You Really Are opens in our main gallery on Saturday 22 March, and renowned photographer Julian Germain.

Come As You Really Are, commissioned by arts organisation Artangel, celebrates people across the UK who dedicate their spare time to activities they are passionate about. It explores how individuals express their identity, character and creativity through their favourite pastimes. The inaugural exhibition took place at The Hobby Cave at Grants, Croydon, London in Summer 2024, and is followed by presentations at partner venues across the UK throughout 2025 – 2026.

Julian Germain’s 2023 project Sunderland ’73: The People’s Visual History celebrates under-represented aspects of heritage relating to Sunderland’s 1973 FA Cup run, win and jubilation on Wearside afterwards.

Through a series of events and wider call for participation, visual material – photographs, hand-made and personalised memorabilia – reflecting upon the personal experiences and emotions of Sunderland supporters of the Cup winning era were rephotographed and presented as a new publication and exhibition which toured community and public settings in Sunderland.

Tickets are free and limited to four per person. Book now to avoid disappointment.

About Hetain Patel

Hetain Patel is a London based artist and filmmaker. His films, sculptures, live performances, paintings and photographs have been shown worldwide in galleries, theatres, and on iconic public screens including Piccadilly Circus, London and Times Square, New York. His works have been presented at the Venice Biennale, Ullens Centre for Contemporary Art, Beijing and Tate Modern, London to Sadler’s Wells, where he is a New Wave Associate.

Patel’s work exploring identity and freedom, using choreography, text and popular culture appears in multiple formats and media, intended to reach the widest possible audience. His video and performance work online have been watched over 50 million times, which includes his TED talk of 2013 titled, Who Am I? Think Again.

Patel’s works are in public and private collections in the UK and internationally, including Tate, British Council, Arts Council England, Government Art Collection, Manchester Art Gallery, M+ Museum Hong Kong, KNMA New Delhi, and Fondazione In Between Art Film, Rome. Patel is represented by Chatterjee & Lal, Mumbai, is a supported artist at Copperfield, London.

About Julian Germain

Julian Germain was born in London in 1962. He studied at Trent Polytechnic, Nottingham and the Royal College of Art, London. As a photographer, Germain is interested in the documentation of diverse social groups and in the notion of the amateur.

He often utilises vernacular photographs, collected from archives, catalogues and family albums, lending his work an anthropological quality and indeed it can be seen to reflect on photography’s place in society as well as record the passage of time.

Join us for Hetain Patel: Come As You Really Are Preview

The preview event runs from 6:30pm – 8:30pm at Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art.

View Come As You Really Are before it opens to the public on Saturday 22 March.

Find out more

Image: Come As You Really Are by Hetain Patel & Artangel at The Hobby Cave at Grants Croydon. Photography: Thierry Bal.