JOSS COPEMAN, BA (HONS) PHOTOGRAPHY, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH WALES, CARDIFF

Playful with politics

Joss Copeman uses a range of photographic approaches to create conversations around queer identity.

By JACK HUTCHINSON

Southampton-born Joss Copeman spent his childhood in Devon before starting his BA Photography course at the University of South Wales in 2020. His work explores queer politics and notions of the self, using primarily lens-based and vernacular photography, and computer scans. Copeman places himself at the centre of his work, bringing into question and mocking the way we present ourselves.

What themes are you addressing in your work?

My work touches on ideas of the self and specifically my experiences. I tend to explore representatio n, gender and sexuality politics. My current project 21 Years –titled because I am 21 years old! – looks at a piece of legislation called Section 28 which came into effect in 1988 and prohibited the “promotion of homosexuality” by local authorities in Britain. I was born shortly before it was repealed in 2003, and my work examines the way in which it has cast a shadow over people my age who have grown up being part of the LGBTQ+ community.

Do you ever find dealing with such weighty themes problematic?

I try to make it as playful as possible, while still highlighting the importance of the issues. There’s a disposability to some of my work, for instance an image where I’ve literally printed out the Section 28 legislation, scrunched it up and rescanned it. Humour or playfulness is actually a way of drawing people in and then allowing them an opening to the conversation.

How does your work fit within the democratisation of photography?

There has been an odd development over the last 1015 years whereby people use photography to frame themselves on social media. It’s very much a persona that I present and I think that speaks to the way people present themselves now online. I wouldn’t say I made a conscious decision to do this in my work, but I recognise there are those connotations. It is something I’ve been trying to figure out how to address, and I still don’t think I’ve really mastered it.

How comfortable are you being the focal point of your photography?

One thing I’ve been trying to grapple with is the fact that my work is potentially too inward facing. It does centre around me and my face is featured heavily within it. I would say that the way I choose to present myself is slightly removed from everyday life – I obviously wouldn’t normally go out wearing a shirt that says “It’s All About Me”!

What technical processes do you use when making your photographs? Do you have a collaborator helping to produce the self portraits?

I use multiple approaches. Some images are more staged, where the studio is specifically lit how I want it to be. Then there are some that are more vernacular photography where I just point and shoot. Recently I’ve been introducing abstract images as well, which I think are the more personal ones. But typically I’ll be in the studio, set up the lights and camera how I want, and then work with my collaborator and fellow student Holly. We normally do all that stuff together, bouncing ideas off each other. I get her to stand where I’m going to be in order to get the lighting just right. I try to capture everything in shot, rather than doing much post-shoot editing. But equally I’m not one of those people that takes forever trying to get everything perfect. I like to trust my instincts.

What was it about photography that attracted you?

I have just always been drawn to photography. It is something that I’m really trying to experiment with but I haven’t necessary had the time to really do so. But I wouldn’t say I am limited to that medium. After I graduate I would love to experiment more with sculpture and mixed media and video. I think because I’ve studied photography throughout my time in education there’s been a focus on pure photography, but through doing this course I’ve definitely expanded my horizons and that’s something I want to take forward.

Degree show: 16-22 June (PV 15), BayArt Gallery, 54 Bute Street, Cardiff CF10 5AF. instagram.com/uswphotography

Connecting cultures

Savannah du Quercy’s practice combines sculpture, collage and photography to investigate interconnected cultures. In works such as Uprooted I,II, place and memory are explored through an ongoing engagement with the artist’s own mixed heritage/itinerant upbringing between Europe and the Middle East. Explaining how the work was created, du Quercy comments: “I worked with cardboard, paint, photographs, staples, and brass pins. I am interested in the associations we have with the material and the relationship with the preparations one makes for travel.” The result is work that juxtaposes, assembles and connects materials through systems of geometry, repetition and seriality. Jack Hutchinson cityandguildsartschool.ac.uk/ degree-show

Degree show: 24-30 June (PV 23), City & Guilds of London Art School, 124 Kennington Park Road, London SE11 4DJ.

ABIGAIL ROSE DOWNEY, BA (HONS) FINE ART PAINTING, UNIVERSITY OF BRIGHTON

Finely balanced

In the work of sculptor and performance artist Abigail Rose Downey, broken and reconfigured vases act as a stand-in for the human body. “When I smash a vase, I metaphorically smash a version of myself,” they explain. Downey uses the fragments of floral and patterned ceramics to create something new, such as a wearable headpiece with absurdist, large flopping ears that will form part of An almost tragic story of a Broken Bunny, one of three pieces in Downey’s degree show installation. Also featured will be gold painted ceramic carrots, as seen here in the standalone sculpture, 24 Carrots, a tottering tower of root veg that both plays with words and goofs around with our perceptions. Ellen Wilkinson

Degree show: 3-11 June (PV 2), University of Brighton, 58-67 Grand Parade, Brighton BN2 OJY. brighton.ac.uk/summer-shows/index.aspx

Christie Lau, BA (Hons) Fine Art, Chelsea College of Arts

UAL, London

Personal experience of navigating ‘a duality of culture and contexts between Hong Kong and the UK’ combine with collective histories in Christie Lau’s poignant paintings.

Degree show: 9-17 June (PV 8), Chelsea College of Arts, 16 John Islip Street, London SW1P 4JU. arts.ac.uk/colleges/chelsea-college-of-arts/whats-on/show

Dhama

Thanigasapapathy, BA (Hons) Painting, Open College of the Arts

Drawing on memory, imagination and cultural unease, Dhama Thanigasapapathy creates ghostly, semi-figurative landscapes of “future possibilities” in which “remnants of the past linger”.

Degree show: Already completed, 12-31 Jan 2023, The Questors Theatre, London W5 5BQ. oca.ac.uk 1