A small city gallery is to throw world politics into focus in a powerful exhibition which will mark its reopening from lockdown.
From Wednesday, images taken by photojournalist Tom Stoddart will be on show at Side Gallery where they had made their debut before it was forced to close, due to Covid restrictions, in November.
Finally, more visitors will have a chance to see the striking scenes he has captured during his career when the gallery, just off Newcastle quayside, reopens its doors.
And the exhibition, Extraordinary Women, is now to have an extended run there until June 26.
It features a selection of photographs by the award-winning Stoddart, who is from the North East and has travelled worldwide; producing photo-essays of some of the stand-out issues of our times such as the fall of the Berlin Wall; election of Nelson Mandela as president; the siege of Sarajevo and wars against Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
In 2006 he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship by the Royal Photographic Society.
Talking about the exhibition, which focuses upon the everyday lives of women coping in the most difficult of circumstances, Stoddart told the Amber team that having visited the likes of Beirut and the Lebanon he wanted to show examples of the courage and resolve he witnessed.
"It's women who face up to the odds," he said. "I wanted to highlight that ordinary woman are extraordinary."
Among the scenes on show are, for instance, Kurdish refugees fleeing from Sadam Hussein.
Others capture small details, such as the fact women wear flat shoes because they often have to run.
The phoTographer added of his subjects: "I think every one of these women are heroines to me because of what they go through on a daily basis."
The Side exhibition will be complemented by a season of films to be screened online, beginning with work produced by a recovering film industry in Syria.
From May 19, Side Gallery's opening hours will be 11am until 5pm from Wednesdays to Sundays.
While it is still free to visitors, tickets now will need to be pre-booked to ensure safe social distancing.
Laura Laffler, collections manager and co-director of AmberSide, its renowned local image and film archive, is proud of the thought-provoking digital content that it has been able to provide during the gallery closure but said: “We are so excited to welcome our audience back to Side Gallery.
"We have worked hard to make sure that the gallery is Covid-secure with extra cleaning, hand sanitiser available and masked staff."
She called Stoddart’s exhibition "important work" and added: "We have great plans for our future programming and we can’t wait to share them with the public.”
Free tickets to visit the gallery can be booked here and for information about its upcoming online film season, Collective Now, see here.
This showcase of work by international collectives begins on May 17 with a week-long showing of four films by the Rojava Film Commune, made up of filmmakers from that autonomous region in the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria who are working to rebuild the local film infrastructure.
It also will include a virtual discussion on May 20 at 7pm.
