It’s easy to take our region’s public sculptures and monuments for granted, not really noticing the wide variety and detail of the works of art that we pass as we go out and about. ‘Mementos and Masterpieces’ is an exhibition that has provided the opportunity to look closer, through the lens, at these masterpieces.

The results are creative responses by local photographers, amateur and professional, who have tried to capture in two dimensions the interesting aspects of the familiar three dimensional forms around us. As well as the more well-known, and controversial, pieces such as the Hay Hill sculptures, the artists have gone out of their way to track down more obscure works, or to look at familiar art in a new light.

Sometimes it is to do with the way the photograph was taken, the way it was manipulated afterwards (processing or digital) or the way the sculpture is shown relating to its surroundings and the people passing by. With each approach that has been used, it is a chance to take a new look at the historic and contemporary artworks that we can enjoy everyday.

One of the exhibitors, local artist Leo Reynolds, explains his involvement: “I'm highly delighted to have had photographs chosen for the Mementos and Masterpieces exhibition. The photographs took a long journey to get there. I photograph anything and everything. The results are uploaded and arranged in sets on a website based in San Francisco called Flickr (www.flickr.com).

Anyone in the world can view and search the photographs so it provides me with a global photo album. Staff at the Norwich Arts Centre found my Norwich sets and left an announcement for the exhibition in the comments section. I responded by e-mail. The NAC technician was then able to choose and download the full size files from the US servers for printing and framing. For a local exhibition some of the photographs have travelled thousands of miles!”

The Exhibition was supported by the Recording Archive for Public Sculpture in Norfolk and Suffolk. The archive is funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and administered by the University of East Anglia and the Public Monuments and Sculpture Association.