Home of Metal: Hand of Doom

Home of Metal shines a light on the global phenomenon of Heavy Metal with a series of blockbuster exhibitions devoted to the music that was born in and around Birmingham. Music that turned up the volume, down-tuned the guitars, and introduced a whole new meaning to the word ‘heavy’.

Hand of Doom features a collection of portraits of Black Sabbath fans wearing the ubiquitous battle jacket. The jackets are embellished, handmade and embroidered by the fans themselves, and worn to tell the story of their fandom and gig-attending history.

The photographs were created with Black Sabbath fans from across the globe and show the diversity of the fan base for the influential music genre that originated in Birmingham. The exhibition features a small selection of portraits curated from a collection made over the last three years in Botswana, Brazil, Indonesia, Japan, Egypt, Lebanon, Netherlands, Spain, US and the UK.

Home of Metal would like to acknowledge and thank the following photographers and producers for collaborating on the international Fans Portrait Collection; Robin Malau, Katja Ogrin, Michael Holmes, Sara Kaplan, Jon Furlong, Zorah Olivia, Lee Allen Nando Machado, Daniel Dystyler, Lina Khafib, Sanna Charles, Molefi Seithek, Tshomarelo Mosaka and Juan Jose Garcia.

This exhibition was part of Home of Metal, a celebration of Birmingham's history of music conceived and produced by Capsule, supported by Arts Council England.

Supported by Arts Council England and players of People's Postcode Lottery.

Artwork: Home of Metal, Nick Van den Ende, Hand of Doom, Midlands Arts Centre, 2019.