Obsession: work by Esther Johnson solo show

To coincide with Ways of Looking, a new festival of photography in Bradford, South Square will be presenting artist filmmaker and photographer Esther Johnson’s Analogue Kingdom. This short film is a poetic portrait of Gerald Wells, founder and curator of the British Vintage Wireless and Television Museum.

Wells’ stole his first radio, a Belmont, in 1943 at the age of thirteen. He was immediately sent to an ‘approved’ school, whose psychiatrist diagnosed ‘an obsession’ with wireless and electricity – an obsession that continues today. The house Wells was born in and still inhabits is now home to over 1,500 wireless objects and 45,000 valves - the UK’s largest such collection. Analogue Kingdom reveals the charm of Wells’ world, where radio relics and their attendant stories fill every nook and cranny. As the digital switchover fast approaches, Wells’ analogue collection is a reminder of the magic that may soon be lost.

In addition to Analogue Kingdom, Johnson will exhibit a selection of photography taken at the British Vintage Wireless and Television Museum