Just Say Hello with MJCP
The exhibition space on the day. The volume of printed vinyl was quite amazing.
Recently, MJCP collaborated with photographer Duncan Raban to produce a massive exhibition of prints celebrating the ‘Everyday Heroes’ of Great Britain.
It featured hundreds and hundreds of large format vinyl prints. Portraits of people from all walks of life were shown, from mega celebrities to nuns and the children of Great Ormond Street Hospital. The exhibition saw famous faces such as Freddie Mercury, The Rolling Stones and Tina Turner alongside retired couples travelling Scotland.
Alongside the exhibition, we showcased some premium quality framed photographs. MJCP also gifted some of these to raffle winners.
Raban's decades long study of the people of Great Britain was to be displayed in a scale that reflected the vast amount of work Raban has done over his career. This was a massive undertaking for us. It was hosted at our new office at City Road, where work is underway for our move in June. This presented more challenges, as we had to prepare the Factory to accommodate our guests, and prepare the surfaces for installation.
The event, fully sponsored by MJCP, was put together in a matter of weeks. It was a test of our ability to work together, and of our materials and installation knowledge. Printed vinyl was used to showcase many of the images. Colour was particularly important to Duncan, so we took extra care to ensure we used the best machines for the job. It was all printed on our Canon Colorado using UV inks. Producing gallery-quality vinyl prints can be difficult because of the folding, stretching, and fitting of the material, but we made it happen.
If you’re thinking about holding your own exhibition, or would like to see our range of artwork for your office space, you can get in contact with us via our email talk@mjcp.co.uk, or via phone on 0207 837 8666.
Because of the massive scale of the exhibition, exceptionally large artworks were created by tiling prints together to create a single piece. Thanks to vinyls self-adhesive properties, we were able to install 3 walls of 2.5m directly to the surface of the wall as the Raban envisioned. After fitting, Raban handwrote all the stories and captions with marker pen.
As well as the exhibition artworks themselves, MJCP was also tasked with creating small format materials. We printed invitations, and hundreds of postcards which were given away as gifts. We printed the smaller postcards on our HP Indigo printer.
An array of the small format prints we made. The larger printed postcards were given as gifts alongside the invites.
About the Artist
As a young man Raban worked a variety of jobs in illustration and photography for ad agencies and sports publications. Unfortunately, he was not happy with the position he found himself in and decided to make a change. In 1997, Raban discovered the work of Bill Avery, a photographer for the New York Times. This was the catalyst for Raban to find his photographic style, photographing extraordinary people doing ordinary things. He spoke to Tina Turner’s manager, and photographed a series called ‘A Day in the Life of Tina’.
From there it snowballed, and Raban was able to shoot stars such as The Rolling Stones and Lionel Ritchie. For 25 years he had photographed some of the most famous people on earth, but he was still not satisfied. Finally, in 2006, he received a phone call that would change his life and lead him to become the man he is today.
The call was from the director of Great Ormond Street Hospital, asking him to come in and photograph the people that worked, lived and were being treated there. When he visited, there were 15 children waiting on new hearts. Raban met them, their families and had the opportunity to work with the doctors and nurses who were working themselves to the bone to give the children a second chance at life.
This was when Duncan finally discovered his true calling, photographing ‘everyday superstars’.
Raban founded ‘Just Say Hello’ around this time, a movement based on kindness and creativity. He focused on the extraordinary mundanity of everyday people, and the incredible stories they tell. You can clearly see his values imbued in his work. All around are happy smiling people, complete strangers to Raban. The exhibition featured images of hundreds of people, boys, girls, men, women, blue collar workers, white collar workers, students, educators, creatives, and professionals.
The Great Ormond Street installation. Some very impactful images were featured.
He continues to add to this body of work, and MJCP intends to work alongside Raban and help him achieve his artistic vision. In the future, we intend to host another exhibition, as Raban holds the values that we are working towards as a company, such as kindness and being creative.
You can contact Duncan or join his JustSayHello campaign here.
If you need a reliable, hardworking printer that will always go the extra mile for you and your projects, get in touch by calling us today on 0207 837 8666 or email us at talk@mjcp.co.uk. One of our team members will be more than happy to find a suitable printing service to suit your company.
Get in touch by calling us today on 020 7837 8666 or email us at talk@mjcp.co.uk. One of our team members will be more than happy to help walk you through your businesses needs.
