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A North East based artist is to have display her first solo exhibition in the National Glass Centre next month – and it should interest enthusiasts of art and motorcycles alike.

Jade Sweeting is an artist-photographer, printmaker and researcher. She will host her Sunderland exhibition, called 900 miles (from Home), at the Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art (NGCA), which is based in the Glass Centre.

It begins on Saturday, September 16 and runs until Sunday, January 21. The free exhibition explores motorbike culture and communities in the North East.

Jade has been embedded within the regional motorbike scene for many years and her exhibition features a series of intimate 8 x 10 inch black and white gelatin prints.

Some of the biker fashion on display at the photographic exhibition at the Glass Centre. Images courtesy of Jade Sweeting.

Elsewhere within the exhibition are photographs from Norman Hartley’s archive. Norman Hartley, or Norm as his friends call him, was a rider and campaigner for rider rights through his role as Motorcycle Action Group’s North East regional rep.

There are also images from back issues of Harley Women, founded in 1985 and the first national magazine devoted to women motorcycle enthusiasts.

Jon Weston, curator of NGCA, said: “We are delighted to be presenting Jade’s first solo show in the UK here in the North-East. Jade has become a pivotal emerging figure within the North-East’s rich photography landscape.

“Leading on from successful group shows, research-led projects, workshops and events this is the perfect time to present a wider (but still small) cross section of Jade’s incredible photographs.

The exhibition will be held in the National Glass Centre. Sunderland Echo image.

"We are looking forward to welcoming visitors to experience Jade’s photography maybe for the first time or in a new light.

“Jade’s unique position as a queer woman within a typically male dominated world spills out in her photographs which turn the focus onto the rider’s second skin – their biker jackets and leathers.

“The photographs are erotic, sensual and tender. Carefully choreographed the ‘alternative portraits’ study the zips, pins and chains on biker jackets and leathers.

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"Akin to still life photography the images balance light and shadow to reveal the personal effects, wear and tear and bodily presence of the owner.

“The exhibition is built from community and provides a unique and informative snapshot into the North-East’s biker culture and living – and riding – with freedom.”

Motorcycle photography exhibition coming to Sunderland's Glass Centre