As part of the Great North Run Million celebrations, Matt Stokes was invited to take up an artist-in-residency post with Great North Run Culture, the first of its kind for the cultural organisation. The fruits of the residency are in Objects to See Further, a multi-faceted exhibition featuring carefully curated limited edition newspapers, an exhibition of unusual and significant objects chosen from the Tyne & Wear Archives, as well as a new film - all of which will be exhibited together for the first time at Discovery Museum from 15 August.

Objects to See Further has taken Matt Stokes on a journey from Tyneside to Athens and the film, along with the supporting exhibition of objects, tells the story of some prominent Great North Greats. Set during the Victorian era, in the year 1871, industrialist Robert Stirling Newall, Nine Hours movement advocate John Burnett, champion rower James Renforth and songwriter Joe Wilson (played by Newcastle based folk musician Richard Dawson) are visionaries in their fields. The film tells fragments of the, often overlooked, lives of these men, highlighting the threads that tie them together as a quartet who changed both the people and world around them.

Richard Dawson takes on the role of Geordie songwriter and concert hall performer Joe Wilson, considered the most prolific of the era Wilson began performing in 1864 and could be regularly seen at the Wheat Sheaf in the Cloth Market. Dawson, who is famed for taking inspiration from Tyne & Wear archives to create his music, similarly hails from Newcastle and has received critical acclaim for his 2014 album Nothing Important.    

See the film at the Discovery Museum from 15 August - 18 October, free entry. 

See some more photographs from the film