Benjamin Barra

Scrolling through the Iranian-British artist Parham Ghalamdar’s Instagram, I stumble across an image caption in Arabic from Surah Ar-Rahman of the Quran, which, when translated, reads: ‘Then when the sky is split open and becomes rose-red like molten oil.’ Almost instantly, it recalls for me the hellish imagery of Tehran ablaze in early March due to overnight Israeli and American bombardment of oil facilities.

The Art Schools of Yorkshire represents the latest stage of artist Matthew Cornford and writer John Beck’s sprawling project documenting England’s historic art school buildings. Central to their endeavour is Cornford’s striking photographic survey of the facades of these buildings – or, where they have been demolished, the spaces in which these buildings once stood. I never went to art school, but art schools have long been central to my life.

Corridor8 will be at Bound Art Book Fair again this year – stop by to pick up your copy of our new book Barkle and Tranklements, one of our previous print publications, or just to say hi! More about Bound: ‘The North’s biggest and boldest annual event for arts publishing returns to the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, from 25-26 October 2025.