Published by Punch and OOM Gallery, Birmingham based photographer Pogus Caesar is releasing a book entitled ‘Musik Kinda Sweet‘, which collects his iconic photographs of black performers over the last twenty five years.

This evocative and nostalgic book captures candid snaps on the city streets, along with the contrasting vibrant energy by the stage, including photographs of Stevie Wonder, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, Grace Jones and Jay-Z. All of his images were shot on 35mm black and white film, with each negative developed by hand – a far cry from today’s heavily digital performance photography.

The book launch will take place as part of Birmingham Book Festival on 15 October on 6.45pm at mac‘s Terrace Gallery.

Signed copies of the book will be available to buy via the Punch website from 16 October.

Three White Walls Art Gallery in the Mailbox in Birmingham will be displaying photographs by renowned artist, photographer and filmmaker Pogus Caesar, 28th August until 7th October 2008.

Info about the exhibition on the Three White Walls Gallery site.

Info about Pogus Caesar himself on the Oom Gallery website.

An exhibition currently running at the Wolverhampton Art Gallery showcases the photography of Pogus Caesar, one of Birmingham’s most important visual artists.

The exhibition, That Beautiful Thing, features 43 photographs selected from a portfolio that runs into several thousands taken over a 20 year period both in the UK and abroad.

Putting the breadth and importance of Pogus Caesar’s work in perspective is a tricky thing – he’s well known for his photos of 1985’s Handsworth riots (the pic above being an example) but his experience, travels and areas of work are all incredibly wide. Roger Shannon does a good job of pulling it all together in this Birmingham Post article.

The exhbition runs until 12 July.  In addition, on 3 July from 6-8pm at the Light House, Caesar will celebrate

20 years working in Television and Film with a screening of selected highlights from his award winning career, including work produced and directed for Central TV, BBC, Channel 4 and Carlton Television.

Throughout the screening he’ll be in conversation with Prof Shannon.  Entrance is free.