Award-winning photographer Michelle Sank’s images show the preparation, delivery and enjoyment of Rugby World Cup 2015 games at Sandy Park stadium.

Urban and rural landscapes complement portraiture to give a comprehensive visual record of the preparation for the Rugby World Cup in Exeter. The photographs of signage, organisers, players, spectators and fans reflect the diversity of interest and importance of Rugby in Exeter’s communities.

Michelle Sank’s photographs have been exhibited and published nationally and internationally in major galleries and magazines. Winner of the National Portrait Gallery’s 2007 Photographic Portrait Prize, a Unicef award in 2012 and Gold in the 2013 San Francisco International Photographic Exhibition Awards, she has undertaken commissions for prominent organisations including The Photographers' Gallery, London, Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool, Belfast Exposed, Northern Ireland and Rakyo Photo Center, San Francisco. She has three published books to date and is a Senior Lecturer in Photographer at Falmouth University, Cornwall.

Touch-Line is supported by the National Lottery through Grants for the arts and Exeter City Council. Administered by Arts Council England, Grants for the arts support activities which engage people in arts activities and help artists and arts organisations carry out their work.

Michelle Sank was born in Cape Town, South Africa. She left there in 1978 and has been living in England since 1987. Her images reflect a preoccupation with the human condition and to this end can be viewed as social documentary. Her work encompasses issues around social and cultural diversity.