Ronnie Ackling

Ronnie Ackling is a digital photographer from Birmingham. He grew up in Ladywood between 1970 and 1990 and spent his formative years exploring the derelict factories, Birmingham Mainline Canal, and concrete subways that Birmingham was built on. These early experiences of inner-city life, and his love of graffiti and graphic design, encouraged him to obtain a Bachelor of Education Degree (Hons) specialising in art and printing. On and off, a camera has always been with him.

His work explores the quiet tension that exists between structure and emptiness. Ronnie’s images often probe the overlooked spaces of the urban landscape – where architecture, atmosphere, and solitude meet. Ronnie’s images are less about documentation and more about presence – the liminal space between stillness and disappearance.

Ronnie has been part of several exhibitions at the RBSA and collaborated with other independent creatives. He has self-published two photography books There and Back and Origins which explores his relationship with his home city of Birmingham.’