CURATORS at a Southampton gallery are looking for a poet and photographer to make new work inspired by the city’s buses.

K6 gallery have been given cash from Arts Council England to commission work inspired by a project 25 years ago.

In 1993 Southampton City Council asked Carol Ann Duffy and photographer Nancy Honey to produce photos and poems while riding Southampton bus routes.

Ms Duffy, pictured, went on to become Britain’s first female, Scottish and openly gay Poet Laureate in 2009.

Ms Honey’s career led her on to become a Fellow of The National Media Museum and an internationally known photographer.

Now a new photographer and poet will be chosen and asked to spend three days riding the number 17 bus – which runs from the city centre to Shirley, the General Hospital and Lordshill.

The pictures will then going on show at bus stops along the route.

A spokesperson for K6 gallery - which is housed in two red telephone boxes on Town Quay - said: “2018 marks 25 years since this relatively unknown project took place; we’d like to celebrate the occasion by exhibiting the work again at K6 Gallery and re-commissioning the project, inviting two new artists to contribute.

“The aim is to reunite the public with the original works that provide a rare insight into local cultural and social histories, as well as delivering a new, contemporary reinterpretation of the project.”

Richard Tyldsley, Bluestar general manager said: “We’re proud to be part of Southampton’s close knit community, so we are delighted to be supporting this interesting local art initiative. We’re excited to see how it unfolds over the coming months.” 

The news photos and poems will be exhibited and published as a book.

As previously reported K6 gallery recently held an exhibition of aeroplane sick bags from around the world – including one signed by cult singer Nick Cave.

Founded in 2015, K6 Gallery is an exhibition space in the centre of Southampton that makes use of a pair of iconic grade II listed red phone boxes.

Designed by architect Sir Giles Gilbert Scott in 1935, the K6 (Kiosk 6) model was the sixth incarnation of the red phone box, a smaller and more streamlined version of the K2 model.

The deadline to apply for the commission is on Monday at midday.