I was lucky to be invited to the opening night of the final show for two photography degree programs – Documentary, Photography and Journalism, and Photography Arts. The setting was a rather amazing large warehouse space which somehow appeared to also be heated.
My friend and ex-colleague from the OCA degree program had prime position for his installation at the entrance to the show. He has been researching colonial property and its links to the slave trade, finding inspiration in the recent controversy over the National Trust’s reports into its links to slavery. Upon abolition the UK government paid huge compensation, not to the slaves but to their owners. The work revealed details of the immense sums received by those who were rich and well-connected, used as a wallpaper backdrop to an array of images of their imposing front doors.
The grid worked well as a visual aesthetic to offset the serious message behind the work. The use of the door (suggesting a place only some can enter, those with the keys to the kingdom perhaps or the old-fashioned notion of an Englishman’s home is his castle) as a motif was very effective. I was pleased by the fortuitous inclusion of the artist’s hand in my iphone snapshot of the display, which looks as if he is holding one of his images.
The catalogue to the show as interesting in that it was printed from both directions to accommodate both shows, allowing them to meet in the middle (i.e. one half was upside down relative to the other). I particularly liked the Photography Arts title Look Again, which of course photography allows us to do and it carries the additional meaning of urging the viewer to reconsider what is being shown. Unfortunately my copy at least was bound in the wrong order, so some of the names and context were not adjacent to the correct images.
Large scale works by Adrian Lloyd-Thomas of tree silhouettes printed on aluminium highlighted challenged the proposed destruction of forest to build atomic power stations at Sizewell. As I noted at a recent exhibition in Brighton, the light interacts with the aluminium to create different effects from different angles and different times of day, giving the work a kind of extended life in a space.
Laura Chen’s installation evoked a crime scene investigation, enlivened by the use of props. It reminded me of my own #forestcrimescene series for Context & Narrative. A large b&w print of a tree trunk was very striking.
Several of the works recalled pieces by well-known artists – perhaps most directly Michael Farra’s Stansted Raceway which strongly suggested Chloe Dew Matthews series Banger Boys of Britain to me (although I did enjoy the use of huge print laid on the floor and up against one wall which pushed the “boundary” of the corner the photographer had been allocated).
I also liked Yousuf Sarfaraz’s series Want a bit more off? which took a more straightforward approach to colour documentary of a barber shutting up shop after 58 years, carried by a respect for the subject captured beautifully.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
- Fletcher, D. (2022). All I want is a nice day out. Installation image by me.
Level 3.1 Learning Log 