Pogus Caesar - Career

Career

During the early 1980s Caesar became director of the West Midlands Ethnic Minority Arts Service. He was also the first Chairman of Birmingham International Film & Television Festival. For the Arts Council of Great Britain he has curated and contributed to major shows by black British artists including Into the Open (1984) and Caribbean Expressions in Britain (1986).

During the late 1980s Caesar started working in British television - originally as a journalist on Channel 4's Black on Black then as producer and director of entertainment, sport and multi cultural programmes for Central Television, Carlton Television and BBC. Radio programmes include Mr & Mrs Smith BRMB Radio and The Windrush E. Smith Show BBC West Midlands. In 1993 he formed his own production company, Windrush Productions. His productions include I'm Black in Britain, Respect, Drumbeat and the award winning multicultural series Xpress.

As a photographer and artist Caesar has worked in Spain, India, South America and Sweden and Denmark, South Africa, Albania and Jamaica. He has documented the artists, musicians, poets and politicians that he met and with whom he collaborated - including Stevie Wonder, Archbishop Desmond Tutu Jesse Jackson and Paul Robeson Jr. Caesar's images acquired by the Victoria & Albert Museum Mappin Art Gallery, Sheffield, Wolverhampton Art Gallery and Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery represent important visual documents recording key figures in black British history. Caesar's first publication Muzik Kinda Sweet, is a photography book featuring legendary black musicians including Lee "Scratch" Perry, Stevie Wonder and Grace Jones. The foreword for the book was written by Paul Gilroy and it was published by Punch / OOM Gallery Archive in 2010.

Selected exhibitions include:

• "Pogus Caesar Paintings" Cartwright Hall, Bradford, 1985 Solo exhibition
• "Instamatic Views of New York" National Museum of Film and Photography, Bradford 1986 Solo exhibition
• "Into The Open" Mappin Art Gallery, Sheffield, 1984, (As Curator/Exhibitor) Group exhibition
• "Caribbean Expressions In Britain" The Leicestershire Museum and Art Gallery, 1986 Central Museum and Art Gallery, Northampton 1986 Cartwright Hall, Bradford, 1987 (As Curator/Exhibitor) Group exhibition
• "Break In The Seal" Herbert Art Gallery, Coventry, 1988 Joint exhibition
• "Sharp Voices, Still Lives" Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, 1990 Group exhibition
• "Vibes: The Roots of Urban Music" Herbert Art Gallery, Coventry, 2004 / Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery 2005 Group exhibition
• "Burning Images - Revolution Through The Lens" The Drum, Birmingham, 2005 Group exhibition
• "Handsworth Riots - Twenty Summers On" OOM Gallery / BBC Mailbox Birmingham, 2005 Solo exhibition
• "Muzik Kinda Sweet - Photographs 1985 - 2009" OOM Gallery, Birmingham, 2005 Solo exhibition
• "Muzik kinda Sweet - Photographs 1985 - 2009' British Music Experience, O2, London 2011 Solo exhibition
• "From Jamaica Row - Rebirth of the Bullring" OOM Gallery, Birmingham, 2006 Solo exhibition

• "Seeing Slavery" Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent, 2007 Group exhibition

• "Religion, Slavery and Diaspora" Horniman Museum & Garden, London, 2007 Group exhibition

• "Trespassers Will Be Shot - Survivors Will Be Shot Again - Images of Joburg & Capetown" Friction Arts, Birmingham, 2007 Solo exhibition

• "The Art of Ideas", Birmingham, UK, 2008 Group exhibition

• "That Beautiful Thing" Wolverhampton Art Gallery, Wolverhampton, 2008 Solo exhibition

• "That Beautiful Thing" Three White Walls Gallery, Birmingham, 2008 Solo exhibition

• "From Jamaica Row - Rebirth of the Bullring" Kinetic AIU, Birmingham, 2008 - 09 Solo exhibition
• 'Muzik Kinda Sweet - Photographs 1985 - 2009" Fazeley Studios, Birmingham, 2009 Solo exhibition

• "Pattern Recognition" City Gallery, Leicester, 2009 Group exhibition
• "Participation - The film and workshop movement 1979 - 1991" VIVID Birmingham Exhibition and archive project, 2009

• "South Africa - Brighter Flame" Symphony Hall, Birmingham, 2010 Solo exhibition

• "Muzik Kinda Sweet" British Music Experience O2 London, UK. 2011 Solo exhibition

• "Reggae Kinda Sweet" Trinity Centre, Bristol, UK. 2012 Solo exhibition

Throughout the years Pogus Caesar has provided support and development for a host of educational and cultural initiatives throughout the city of Birmingham and The Midlands regions.

Caesar's photographs and extensive archives documenting Birmingham Black History is held in Birmingham Central Library Archives, Digital Handsworth and Connecting Histories. He has exhibited widely, his work held in public and private collections in the United Kingdom, Europe and USA. OOM Gallery a Birmingham-based gallery, represents Caesar's work worldwide. Their archives include Caesar's extensive photographic record of the Handsworth riots of 1985 and the redevelopment of the Birmingham Bull Ring 2000 - 2003. OOM Gallery also showcases limited-edition photomontages, films and organises contemporary exhibitions. Caesar has lectured on media, photography and art related issues at Birmingham University and Wolverhampton University.

Images from OOM Gallery Archives have been used by BBC TV, Carlton TV, Macmillan Publishers, Outside Left Magazine, University of Warwick, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Wolverhampton University, Digital Handsworth, Birmingham Central Library, The History Channel, Connecting Histories, What's On Magazine, Fused Magazine, Teachers TV, The Otolith Group, Birmingham City Archives, Sunday Mercury, Dollee.com, IOnOne Magazine, FACT, Punch Records Liverpool University Press