🏭 ON NOW in Paisley: “Industrial Epic”.

Photography and film from the AmberSide Collection trace the working landscapes of North East shipyards, factories, refineries and mines.

📍 Refractive at The Liberal Club
📅 Until 7 Nov
🎟️ Free

🔗 sidegallery.co.uk/whats-on/...

🎬 Starting tomorrow and running all weekend: “Voices From Here” brings six decades of Amber Films to Durham Folk Festival.

📍 Redhills Durham Miners Hall
📅 18 to 20 Sept
🕐 1 to 4pm daily
🎟️ Free

More info: sidegallery.co.uk/whats-on/...

I like to think there's a small but significant percentage of the world's population motivated solely by any new opportunity to hate on Ed Sheeran who are now fiercely devoted to Palestinian freedom.

A few stills from our musical adventure yesterday, going around 'The Pitman Poet' Tommy Armstrong's old haunts and singing his songs - with the fabulous Bethany Elen Coyle and Jude Murphy.

Got to work with some incredibly talented filmmakers to turn End Times Fascism into a ten minute video essay. Check it out below.

There’s nothing like hearing the derangement directly from the doom profiteers.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=aK2n...

@harrycollinsphoto.bsky.social captures a loon calling out from a lake: 🔊 #AGoodPlace

It's feeling autumnal, so here's a magnolia blossom from the spring

A gentle plea for a small change to the way we describe the place we call home. I've written about why "deindustrialised" is more honest than "post-industrial" - and why, as AI data centres arrive in the North East, we're not "post" anything at all.
mattjamessmith.com/blog/post-in...

Looking back at 2025, and forward to 2026.

A year of progress on Ghost Train, client work I actually believe in (Point North, No More Nowt, Durham Miners’ Gala), the Durham Creative Community Fellowship, and the start of something new…

Full post on Substack

open.substack.com/pub/mattjame...

A few stills from our musical adventure yesterday, going around 'The Pitman Poet' Tommy Armstrong's old haunts and singing his songs - with the fabulous Bethany Elen Coyle and Jude Murphy.

A murder in the snow and a parade of giants. Above Esh Winning, Dec 2010.

The Shows at Esh Winning, Oct 2024

My current project Ghost Train is a collaborative film about the landscape and communities of the West Durham Coalfield. It follows a route along the network of disused industrial rail lines that ran throughout the region mattjamessmith.com/ghost-train