A Lecture Upon The Shadow brings together new work by six artists from the North West and Shanghai.

Using different approaches, the artists play with light, shadow and form to re-imagine familiar situations, exploring photography’s relationship to illusion and the everyday.

The exhibition takes its title from a poem by the English Renaissance poet John Donne. It is a unique collaboration between Open Eye and ShanghART.

American artist Mark Morrisroe was 30 years old when he died from an AIDS-related illness in 1989. In the final years of his short life Morrisroe produced photograms using x-ray imagery of his own body alongside cuttings from pornographic magazines and other ephemera.

This archive exhibition forms part of Liverpool Biennial 2012 – The Unexpected Guest.

Image: courtesy of The Estate of Mark Morrisroe (Ringier Collection) at Fotomuseum Winterthur.

First exhibited in Tokyo in 1979, Kohei Yoshiyuki’s (Japan, b. 1946) twin projects 'The Park' and 'Love Hotel' ignited furious debate about photography’s relationship with voyeurism and surveillance.

In The Park, as observer, and with his camera loaded with infrared flashbulbs and film, he photographed in three different Tokyo parks over several years. The resulting body of work captures heterosexual and homosexual couples engaged in sexual activity, and the peeping toms who stalked them.

This multi-venue celebration of art from West Africa features significant photographic content.

At Manchester Art Gallery:

Hélène Amouzou Abraham Oghobase, Charles Okereke, George Osodi, Nyaba Léon Ouedraogo, Nyani Quarmyne.

At Whitworth Art Gallery:

Charles Okereke, Nii Obodai, Francois-Xavier Gbré, Romuald Hazoumè.

At Platt Hall, the Gallery of Costume:

Malick Sidibé, Abderramane Sakaly, Soungalo Malé, Hamidou Maiga.