The Hitcher

From Chris Coekin's exhibition The Hitcher

Ever felt like hitchhiking around Britain?   well if you have then I suggest you visit Chris Coekin's exhibition at the City Gallery, Leicester.   The exhibition is made up of a series of images that Coekin, a lecturer at the University of the Creative Arts, made whilst undertaking this incidental expedition around the highways and byways of the country at other people's expense. 

The exhibition is spaced around three walls at the rear of the gallery.  One wall are self portraits of Coekin in different locations.  He used a small digital camera to capture these images.  Above and below the photographs are quotes from people who picked him up.

The second wall records the detritus Coekin in verges and roadsides on his travels.  The third wall of photographs are portraits of some of the people that picked him and agreed to have their photograph taken.  To my surprise quite a few were women - not what I expected.

The a small wall protrudes into the galley floor and on this there is a collection of the signs that Coekin made to indicate where he wanted to travel to.  Many of these appeared in the photographs.

The exhibition is a fascinating record of the mundane.  The inconsequential road junctions, the rubbish and the everyday people you meet on the road.  It is also a record of the charitable and open spirit still to be found in this country.   Despite the tabloids screaming about the latest crimes there are people out there who are willing to put these suspicions aside and offer a ride.  In someways it records the same people as Chaucer did all those years ago.   An exhibition well worth a look if you get the chance.