UNDERGRADUATE PHOTOGRAPHY DEGREE SHOW 2012
INTRODUCTION SIGNS OF THE TIMES EUROPE PLEADS DON’T SELF-DESTRUCT - PLEDGE TO KEEP GREECE IN EUROZONE OLYMPIC COUNTDOWN – DIAMOND JUBILEE PARTY As we emerge from the wettest spring of the last hundred years, endless banks of grey cloud finally giving way to summer, the newspaper headlines today are engaged in a war of metaphors over the collapse of the eurozone and the crisis in Greece – Temple of Doom, Endgame nears, Hit the panic button – reflecting the continuing reverberations of the financial meltdown of 2008. We live in what could certainly be called ‘interesting’ times and as we see another cohort of students about to move beyond the confines of university life, inevitably wonder both how their work responds to those times and how well equipped they are to deal with the hurdles they face in that ‘outside’ world. The undergraduate photography courses at Westminster – BA Photographic Arts and BA Photography – are unique. The programme at Westminster is acknowledged as the most academic of its type, providing students with both the vocational skills required for a career in photography and related media, together with a rigorous academic education in the history and theory of their chosen medium. One of the great strengths of the programme is the integration of the theoretical within the practical, a critical practice that enables our students to reflect intelligently on their own world. The work presented here reflects their concerns and responses to their environment and teaching – an acute curiosity and a critical intelligence run through much of that work and there is a great deal we can take from it. The enormous good fortune of being located in London, one of the most extraordinary and varied urban environments on the planet, provides the stimulus for many of these student projects. There is work here that carries us along into London’s liminal spaces, probing the psychogeographic fringes of the city, together with images that engage with the theatre of the street, probing the conflict between surveillance and the demand for privacy. We find a questioning of the division of urban space along the lines of ‘public’ and ‘private’ and of the ways in which such labels serve to determine the roles available to us, restricting our options as we wander around our cities. We also discover projects here that engage with contemporary concerns for our environment – with ‘light pollution’ in our cities at night, as well as with the impact of globalisation and the environmental impact of the production, transport and consumption of crude oil. We find a range of work here that engages with some of the urgent social issues of our time, as with the nationwide riots that followed the shooting in Tottenham of Mark Duggan, looking critically at the reporting of those events in the media. Another project explores the soured dreams of urban utopia on the Heygate Estate at the Elephant and Castle, an iconic site frequently figuring in films, TV and music videos, with their
stereotypes of drugs wars and gang violence. This concern with the social is shared by work exploring the theme of domestic violence, and by projects that focus on the lives and representation of the transgender community, providing insights that question our ideas of gender and identity. Our students have also travelled far beyond London, returning in some cases to childhood roots in Poland, to the expansive landscapes of Lithuania and to the Russian community of Latvia. Social documentation and the ways in which we think and represent the relationships between peoples, communities and places, is another of the strengths of our courses and has found a strong response in the range of imagery presented here. Memory, a faculty intrinsic to photography, underlies a number of the projects featured in this show. The family, core of all our memories, has drawn some back, exploring relationships within the family unit and the impact of separation or illness. Childhood memories and the early world of school figure in the work of others, whether in rethinking the role of the family album – now migrated to the mobile phone and social website – or in collaborating with schoolchildren, where we again see the world with amazement through the eyes of a child. But photographs also destroy memory, substituting the image and the archive for lived experience, and there are works here that reflect on the medium’s ordering of memories in the archive and its construction of history. Running through much of this work is a strongly arts-based approach that has seen a recent turn toward installation and to video, as well as the idea of photography as performance and of the photograph as a sculptural object. The inevitable triumph of the digital, not only in photography but also in TV, music and film, has seen a strong counter-reaction in a return to analogue photography, another of the strengths of our programmes, expressed in a new concern with materiality and a return to processes often abandoned elsewhere. Increasingly our students go on to study at postgraduate level, where again the training undertaken at Westminster provides the mix of practical and academic skills needed to open up a range of alternative career paths. On the evidence of the work presented here our students possess the talent, skills and resilience to survive and flourish in this new Age of Austerity – we wish them well. Neil Matheson Senior Lecturer in Theory and Criticism of Photography
EXHIBITORS
RICHARD ADAMS
LAURA GUY
FABIO AFFUSO
STACEY HARBOUR
VERONIKA ALBRANDT
ANTOINETTE HARDING
SVETOZAR ATANASOV
ALEX HARLEY
DOMINIK BIENKOWSKI
SARAH JANES
IRIS BREMBER
LUCI JONES
LINDSEY BROWN
PATRICIA KARALLIS
PANTCHIKA BUR
IWONA KARBOWSKA
LOUIS CASE
ESTER KEATE
KEVIN J. CLARKE
SANA KHAN
HENNY COLDICOTT
SELIM KORYCKI
SHERRY CUTTLER
BEATA KOSC
JACK DAY
VERA KRAMEROVA
SUZANNE DE GIORGIO
OLGA KUSNIERSKA
CAROLINE DORAN
ANDREW KYLE
EMILY ROSE ENGLAND
MARK LADIVER
BRENDON FRASER
ARENDI E LAMBRECHTS
JOANA LAWS LAUREN LEES
NICOLA ROSETTI
JENNA RUTANEN
ANNARITA LIVOTI
DEBBIE SEARS
LAUREN MARCHANT
SUNIL SHAH
JESSIE MARTIN
EDWARD SHAW
LAURE BERLAN MARTINEAU
ARAMINTA SHERIDAN
DANIEL MAYRIT
DAVID SPICER
NAOMI MENASHY
SALLY ANN STONE
THOMAS METCALF
ANDRZEJ STRZALKOWSKI
JAMES MILLER
SONIA TALINE
CHLOE MORDUE
ROBERT VIGLASKY
DEBBIE NAYLOR
GRETA WALLNER
TANIA OLIVE
RACHEL WEST
MONICA ELLEN RANDELL
JASPAR WYATT
TINA REMIZ
GIULIA ZUCCHETTI
SAMANTHA ROBERTS RYAN RODRIGUES
RICHARD ADAMS
Three and Four The title of this project refers to the London transport zones in which the images were shot. Found on the periphery, encircling central London, these sites are defined in equal measure by social factors and their topographic location. Will Self has called them ‘liminal spaces,’ those spaces on the edge of things, usually disregarded and of little aesthetic value. Through the photographic process however, overlooked spaces and vernacular details are renewed, and transformed onto the paper on which they are printed. Open space is found within the confinement of the city, a reflection of the search for a sense of the rural within the urban. The emptiness of these abbreviated landscapes is not intentionally bleak, but alludes to another time, revealing a beauty found in the absence of modern consumerism. The slower pace of this London is that of another era, and mirrors the attentive approach adopted to explore it. The spaces represented in the images are familiar, yet anonymous, the architectural patterns recognisable, but the locations unknown. Usually characterised by monotony, suburban space here is marked by a diversity that defies the strict boundaries outlined by London’s transport system. E: rtadams.photo@gmail.com
top: Tottenham 2012 below: Tottenham 2012
FABIO AFFUSO
Young Talents Young Talents is a magazine that aims to creatively engage with the work of up and coming artists. It consists of interviews and photographs that visually journey through the mind of graduate, postgraduate and self-made London based artists in the first 10 years of their careers. The project was born out of the necessity to see artists’ portraits that would go beyond the merely descriptive and the traditional headshot. The images here strive for a narrative and a fiction that has a particular relevance to the artist’s language. They don’t necessarily need to show a face, but they certainly want to express ideas and concerns of the individuals photographed. photography@fabioaffuso.com
Above: Daniel Bragin Opposite: Justyna Kabala
VERONIKA ALBRANDT AND KATHARINA DRESSEL
Wanderlust down the Lea Wanderlust down the Lea is a semi-fictional online travelogue of two romantic heroines exploring life found along the River Lea. After completing their apprenticeships, Johanette and Wilhemine embark on a long, wandering journey—a “Waltz”—before returning home. On their journey, they come across a curious river. Flowing from Luton through Hertfordshire to East London where it reaches the River Thames. The exploration of the foreign landscape leads them through ancient marshland, modern constructions, and industrial past to new developments. In search of a place in which to find themselves, they discover instead a hinterland where perceptions of place overlap. They speak to the animals and ask questions of the people they encounter on the way - anglers, walkers, bird-watchers, storytellers and local people – finding a new way of understanding the past and the unfamiliar present.
veronika.albrandt@gmail.com ka_dressel@hotmail.com,
Top: Hide Below: Dog Bottom: Mattress Opposite: Boats
SVETOZAR ATANASOV
Dreams And Fears This project deals with every little boy’s desire to follow in the footsteps of his father, and how this dream might affect the boy’s future development. It explores the circulation of the dream in the vicious cycle of the family, and how it affects family members and close friends. This project has been influenced by a real event. The photographer’s intention is to invite contemplation on the nature of our families and the lessons learned by those who came before us. The dream of a child is the fear of an adult. www.svetozaratanasov.com
Top: Dreams and Fears 5 Below: Dreams and Fears 3 Bottom: Dreams and Fears 2 Opposite: Dreams and Fears 4
DOMINIK BIENKOWSKI
A Farewell to London A Farewell to London is the result of three years spent living in, and wandering the streets of, England’s capital. Fuelled by his belief in the night’s power to transform the city, and his dedication to analogue processes, Dominik Bienkowski has produced a body of work that pays homage to a bygone era of photography, and of London. Meanwhile, his images reaffirm the seductive mysteries that await a modern-day nocturnal flâneur.
IRIS BREMBER
Photographs Inspired by family snapshots and photograph albums, the project centres around presence and absence. The ability of photography to capture and eternalise the real as it exists in the moment, results in an unattainable desire for the photograph to become an effective substitute for reality. In an attempt to counteract absence and change we are confronted paradoxically by photographs that also convey the passing of time. When observing the marks left by presence we are simultaneously aware of absence. Through looking at a collection of photographs belonging to someone else, the private nature of an unexplained image is revealed. Without an accompanying story or the memory of the photographer and their subjects, photographs become almost unreadable. E: iris.brember@hotmail.co.uk irisbrember.com
LINDSEY BROWN
Dangerous Wreck (51°28’0N, 0°47’2E) The SS. Richard Montgomery, a U.S liberty ship, was used to transport heavy munitions during World War II to aid the allied Air Forces in France. In 1944 after leaving the Thames estuary, the ship carrying its explosive cargo, accidentally ran aground on the sandbanks of Sheerness – the biggest town on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent. Although great effort was made at the time to remove the dangerous munitions, some still remain. For 68 years the inhabitants of the Isle have been living alongside this nautical hazard. Only one mile from the coast, her masts can always be seen, yet her presence has shifted to the periphery of consciousness – kept at a distance from everyday life. Experts believe the shipwreck is rapidly deteriorating and could collapse within the next few years, causing a potential threat to the Sheppey Coast. It’s future is uncertain. Dangerous Wreck (51°28’0N, 0°47’2E) explores this unresolved and inconspicuous reminder of wartime through the portraits of the local Sheppey community.
E: lindseybrownphoto@gmail.com www.lindseybrownphoto.com
PANTCHIKA BUR
The Advent of Myself The Advent of Myself is a project born out of questions about identity and portraiture. It is a poetic journey that explores the self and its representation by means of metaphors. This quest for self-knowledge has taken the form of a storytelling guided by intuition. The project touches on overwhelming memories from my childhood and expresses feelings such as melancholia, loss and fragmentation.
E: pantchika.bur@btinternet.com www.pantchikabur.com
LOUIS CASE
“People say sometimes that beauty is only superficial. That may be so. But at least it is not so superficial as thought is. To me, beauty is the wonder of wonders. It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances.” Lord Henry Wotten, The Picture of Dorian Gray
E: info.louiscase@gmail.com www.louiscase.com
Untitled No.68 (Wendy)
KEVIN J. CLARKE
Hyperly Ever After An interactive installation that asks you to think, speak and act upon some profound changes occurring within the medium. The work provides a platform for critical and creative dialogue around the emerging “algorithmic turn� of vernacular photography, presenting the outcome of three mainstream image-processing softwares as evidence of a fundamental shift away from what we have previosuly understood as the key characteristics of the photographic image. mail@kevinjclarke.org
HENNY COLDICOTT
Hidden Community This series of images looks into the traces that humans leave behind within their surrounding environment and the notion of narrative and identity, which we may gain after seeing them. It is through the use of objects and such, which are left on the streets and the communities in which we live. Through looking at the area where I live, it has created a change in perception on the area and the way in which I see things through continually taking in each piece of detail on the journeys I make. It is through this experience of seeing everyday objects in different circumstances that the idea of an identity can be formed of the community that we actually live in. E: hennycoldicott@hotmail.com
SHERRY CUTTLER
Traumascapes
Traumascapes is a layered work, which draws on authentic crime scene photographs selected and sourced from police and forensic archives in Sydney, New York and Los Angeles. Today, eighty, sixty, forty years after the fact, crime scene photographs are no longer buried in their contextual bases in old, discarded police files. Police archives have been rescued from oblivion and brought to the publics’ attention via art galleries, museums, publications and the internet. This process of re-contextualisation and re-presentation is essentially what I am engaging in: mobilising crime scene material that’s no longer relevant in the judicial sense and giving it a new intentionality and meaning. For the detective and forensic investigator crime scene photographs have a referential function: they serve as memory aids, or frameworks for exploring or re-constructing events. My approach to these images is different. I am interested in the notion of trauma. I am interested in the scene of the crime as a place that is marked and transformed by trauma but more importantly, as a place that embodies the reality and permanency of loss. Loaded with traces, or visual and sensory triggers capable of evoking a wide range of emotions or strong visceral responses, traumascapes catalyse and shape remembering and the re-living of traumatic events. Image copyright: The NSW Central Police Department, Justice & Police Museum, Historic Houses Trust, Australia
Email: mail@photographsdonotbend.co.uk
JACK DAY
Vehicles E: mrjackday@gmail.com
SUZANNE M. DE GIORGIO
Help 75% of girls with low self-esteem report engaging in negative activities such as smoking and drinking when feeling bad about themselves. 25% of teen girls with low self-esteem purposefully injure or cut themselves 25% of teen girls with low self-esteem have eating disorders (starving, refusing to eat, overeating, throwing up, bulimia) E: suzannemaria_photography@hotmail.com
CAROLINE DORAN
Within Childhood and adolescence are stages of transformation and change. They are also phases of exploration, inspiration, retreat and intensity. Modern technology provides a refuge from which these boundaries can be challenged. E: carolinedoran@talktalk.net www.carolinedoran.moonfruit.com
EMILY ROSE ENGLAND
The Awakening of Galatea
Emily Rose England is a young photographer and film maker whose work references and fuses mythology, classical art and contemporary life. With her second film, The Awakening of Galatea, and the portraits that accompany them Emily Rose England moves into the genre of fashion film, exploring the corsetry and lingerie of Sian Hoffman through the Greek myth of Galatea. E: contact@emilyroseengland.com
BRENDON FRASER
Heygate Estate The Heygate Estate in South London contains 1200 family size dwellings and has long attracted contradictory reputations. This continues to be the case as the last tenants are removed from their homes and replaced by bulldozers, redevelopers and gentrification. This project deals with the stereotypes which surround the estate – that it has long been a place where crime has flourished, and that this type of architecture does not work. It also deals with new realities such as the Heygate Regeneration Scheme – the last tenants have visibly shown that a worthy community exists here, by creating gardens that encourage communal living and which also talk of the utopian ideals that the estate was founded on. E: brendonfraserphoto@gmail.com www.cargocollective.com/brendonfraser
LAURA GUY
Terra Firma The rocks of the Mendip Hills, Somerset were laid down more than 140 million years ago, before our human world, when the area was covered by a sea. Microscopic creatures lived and died in these seas, sunk to the bottom and through vast eras of time and immense pressure became rock and land. The rock is known as limestone or calcium carbonate. Layers of a million life cycles became our land. Land which we have dug into, harvested and cultivated to build our civilization and industrial world. A natural resource which was once living, much of which becomes the stuff of our lives; roads, plastics, food, and even the paper this publication is printed on uses limestone in its formation. The cycle of the land and its excavation stretches far beyond human existence, to great ages of time. E: lauraguyphotographic@gmail.com
STACEY HARBOUR
A New Frontier: The nature of experience is evolving. Modern technologies present possibilities for interaction and exploration that were unknown and unimaginable to generations passed, and it now seems that with increasing frequency real-world experiences are being usurped by their new virtual equivalents. However while the territory may have transformed from the physical to the virtual, the responsive behaviour of the witness has remained largely the same. The digital worlds of the internet and video gaming are equally as engaging and immersive as the real, able to provoke the same emotions and captivating intrigue, just without ever having to actually leave the comfort of home E: staceyharbour@hotmail.co.uk
ANTOINETTE HARDING
The Party This work is an insight into the transgender scene touching on various aspects of the ‘trans’ world. The transformation of stereotypes becomes almost ‘soap opera like’ after the guests became acutely aware of the camera’s presence. E: toni.harding@googlemail.com
Above: Hannah Opposite: Stefanny
ALEX HARLEY
On French Leave The notion of escapism, or French Leave – a brief and unannounced departure – has become a necessity in contemporary culture. However, the present escape inherently undermines itself and is structured by an inevitable return to that which was left. This work explores the fleeting contemporary escape in a singular representation, highlighting the need for escapism, its temporary nature and the inevitable return it signifies E: alexharley123@gmail.com
Opposite: On French Leave
SARAH JANES
Edgelands The Lea Valley is an extensive chain of green space and water that begins just 5 miles from the City and stretches out to the M25 and beyond. It is a vast place of transport corridors, industrial areas, and, paradoxically, large areas of river, woodland, marsh, and reservoir teeming with wildlife. Over the last 5 years I have enjoyed walking and cycling around the Lea Valley, escaping for the day from inner-city Hackney. I love the ‘in-betweeness’, the lack of fixed identity: it isn¹t countryside, yet the wide open spaces, thick foliage and overgrown footpaths provide a rare uncommodified haven in which to get lost and explore. E: sarah@playandplay.co.uk
LUCI JONES
RE: Recycle, Reuse, Reduce This project combines my love of fashion, photography and design with an interest in recycling. Recycling has always been important to me and by combing recycling with my other interests I have created new boundaries and ideas within fashion photography. Many people think fashion photography is superficial, only concerned about the appearance and the latest trends in clothing. I have used fashion photography as a way to highlight serious social and ethical issues about consumption and waste.
Opposite: Laundry Bag
PATRICIA KARALLIS
On The Cusp On The Cusp is an exploration of gender and identity and focuses on the lives of six people, all who identify as transgendered. The focus of this project is in dispelling stereotypes about people who identify as transgendered, with the work encouraging an open discussion amongst people of all sex, gender and preferences E: hello@patriciakarallis.com www.patriciakarallis.com
Top: Leng Above: Lucy Opposite: Felix
IWONA KARBOWSKA
In the Land of Trolls
Bieszczady is the Polish name for a mountain range in the extreme south-east of Poland, extending into Ukraine and Slovakia. It forms the western part of what is known in Polish as the Eastern Beskids, and is more generally part of the Outer Eastern Carpathians. Bieszczady used to be the place where I spent most of my childhood holidays, escaping from the noise of the city. Its unique atmosphere and the community of people who live in Bieszczady have always been close to my heart. In this series I decided to re-trace my memories of the place, the land where ‘trolls’ live in the forest and time is in no hurry… E: iwan_ka@wp.pl
ESTER KEATE
Freja Magazine Freja, goddess of beauty and fertility, flew over the earth, sprinkling morning dew and summer sunlight behind her. She shook spring flowers from her golden hair and wept tears which turned to amber. Her brother Frej, ruling over rain and sunshine, brings fertility to the earth and fruits to the trees.
Freja magazine aims to raise awareness of the green issues surrounding the fashion industry by showing that beautiful clothing can be eco-friendly. All the fashion featured in the magazine is made from eco-friendly, organic, sustainable or recycled materials. E: ester.keate@gmail.com www.esterkeate.co.uk
The Aquarium – Still from the video
SANA KHAN
Ghungroos ‘Ghungroos’ are small golden bells that are mostly worn by Pakistani and Indian dancers, strapped at their ankles; it adorns the feet of the dancer and evokes a musical image and sound. I constructed three sculptures with ghungroos, and built a photograph around each one. They are all photomontages, photographed separately in studio on a constructed set. I photographed them in front of painted backdrops, by painting I was able to further increase control on environment I wanted to portray. This photograph signifies my need of feeling in touch with the outside world even when I’m completely detached from it. The grave symbolizes my lonely escape, and alerting sound of the bells, helps connect me with every movement happening in the outer world, the consoling sound of existence around me. 20sammy@gmail.com
SELIM KORYCKI
Whitewashed In 1949 a young Palestinian Christian woman faced with increasingly violent persecutions of her nation by the newly established State of Israel made a decision to leave Palestine and immigrated to the UK. Whitewashed examines forces which shape the notion of national and ethnic identities, and explores parallels between the fate of an exiled Arab and an English city rapidly loosing its character after the collapse of mining and pottery industries. E: selim@selimkorycki.com
Above: Whitewashed 1 Opposite: Whitewashed 2
BEATA KOSC
Choice Choice is a cycle of staged portraits of male perpetrators of domestic abuse. The body of work originates from my discovery that this social problem in all its severity and complexity is predominantly illustrated through the bruised faces of female victims. This popular representation also reflects the underlying mechanisms of thinking about domestic abuse as a problem of victims. Portraits of perpetrators, regardless of their gender, are missing from media campaigns. Neither are they visible to broaden understandings of the problem and help them find a way out of the cycle of abuse. Perpetrators are left beyond the scope of the problem and are therefore excluded from its solutions. There is always a choice to act out anger and frustration or to walk away. E: koscphotography@gmail.com
VERA KRAMEROVA
Membrane Motherhood is universal across cultural barriers, societal bounds and ritualistic beliefs. The drastic change in social, physical and psychological identity that a newly initiated mother experiences is little understood, accepted or talked about, but is perhaps the most influential and emotional experience that a woman will ever go through. The child is similarly thrust into the blurry new context of an unknown world; developing physical senses, emotional connections and its own identity within the context of the mother’s care. E: verakramer@hotmail.co.uk www.verakramerova.com
OLGA KUSNIERSKA
Leigh-on-Sea A peaceful little town outside London, Leigh-on-Sea is settled in Thames estuary. Some time ago quiet, cobbled streets used to thrive with fresh fish markets with customers haggling with fisherman. Wandering through streets of Leigh-on-Sea you can meet locals who have spent their lives there and those who returned to the slow paced days and friendly neighbours. Though times have changed, Leigh-on-Sea has preserved its charm and values. People who live there form a community, treating friends like family. Nowadays, as a result of sea stock restrictions, fishermen work less and as a result are forced to search for different jobs. But as they say, this is their life and even if you want to escape, one day you are likely to return. E: Olga_kusnierska@hotmail.com www.olgakusnierska.com
ANDREW KYLE
Moments of Inertia
‘It is so quiet out here. It is the quietest place in the world.’ Stalker (1979)
E: akylephotography@gmail.com
MARK LADIVER
UNTITLED This diptych follows the process of sculpture making.. E: markladiver@gmail.com
ARENDI E LAMBRECHTS
UNTITLED “SYMBIOTIC”, “COMPLEX”, “RELATION”, “SYSTEMS” Exploring London’s urban landscape, the notion of exterior control and the structures that shape perceptions. Investigating a culture of disconnection, hyper-reality and the fading of individuality. The images depict anxiety, exploring the directed nature of city living, emphasising this symbiotic relation; while using the familiar and pleasurable aesthetic of ‘old’, to question the relation between past and present. E: info@lambrechts.co.uk
JOANA LAWS
State The human brain needs at least 1/30th of a second to register an image as a separate entity. Our eye registers the coruscation of an event, but our brain cannot react fast enough to process the information. Do we struggle to perceive the changes, shifts and transitions in our society? Momentous events are always occurring in front of our eyes but often we are only aware of the end result. “State” explores the rich diversity of our societal landscape’s constant transposition. E: Joanalaws@me.com Special thanks to Direct Photographic for Lighting and Photographic Equipment
LAUREN LEES
Children have to go to school‌ adults go wherever they want Children have to go to school‌ adults go wherever they want, is a collaboration with four school children; Fiza, Omar, Bushra and Abdulla, all aged 10. The project was based within their primary school, taking the form of weekly sessions. We would explore different themes of childhood and representation through various workshops, involving photography and writing, as well as verbal interviews. Although structured the process was very collaborative allowing the children to take control of the process and their own representation. The children were also issued with one roll of film per week and point and shoot cameras. The brief for this part was completely open allowing the children to decide what photographs to take, with as little influence from myself as possible. E: laurenlees1@hotmail.co.uk
ANNARITA LIVOTI
The Galilean Moons
Greek and Roman mythology may seem distant from today’s world, as its stories relate to culture and beliefs from specific historical periods. However, the subject matter and the images are in constant reproduction, reinterpreted anew and continuing to fascinate successive generations. Myths have the ability to take individuals to a timeless parallel world whilst still speaking of existing contemporary moral issues such us love, adultery, rape and jealousy. The four Galilean Moons, discovered in 1610, orbit around Jupiter, and from the 20th Century take the names of Europa, Callisto, Ganymede and Io. These characters were all lovers – and victims – of Zeus, (Jupiter in Roman mythology). The reality of the moons in time and space provides an evocative contrast with the construction of myths and our representations of these narratives. E: annaritalivoti@yahoo.it
Top: Europa Opposite: Ganymede
LAUREN MARCHANT
Mum and me, a journey through Cancer
Mum and me is a photo-book publication symbolically telling the story of my mother’s journey though cancer. A collection of both colour and black and white photography poetically takes the viewer through the moving journey and relationship my mother and I share.
E: laurenemilymarchant@gmail.com www.laurenmarchantphotography.virb.com
JESSIE MARTIN
Clean and Safe The urban environment is a stage for daily living. The moment we step outside our doors we enter and act in public space: the space built for us that we call the city. We are part of the fabric of the city and with every day we spend in it we state our claim on residence and ownership. We inhabit. However, there is a misfit between the form cities in Britain are taking and the current everyday life of the residents. City plans are built in sizes too big to fit us; we’re swamped under the weight. The structures and processes that construct this city stage are shifting. The project Clean and Safe takes its shape through a public campaign to explore the privatisation of public space in Britain. Through this it aims to question our use and ownership of city spaces and the future they are heading toward. E: jessiebianca@gmail.com
LAURE BERLAN MARTINEAU
A Love Song When sharing a living space with others, each member of the group leaves traces of their presence. Finding these traces can be irritating, even exasperating. The Polaroids presented here force us to distance ourselves from the feelings we experience when we discover these traces and make us realize how precious those everyday scenes are. Indeed it is only when the situation changes, when someone is absent or moving away, that we realize how much we miss those encounters. E: laure@laureberlanmartineau.com www.laureberlanmartineau.com
DANIEL MAYRIT
Suburban Scenes Suburban Scenes is a series of staged tableaux that intends to deal with the notions of privacy, intimacy and public and private space by relating to the look of the controversial online service Google Street View. On a second level, it aims to challenge the misrepresentation of the suburbs by the media and our own preconceptions as spectators. E: danielmayrit@gmail.com www.danielmayrit.com
Above: The Side Door Opposite top: Man on Tea Break Opposite bottom: Landscape with Bag
NAOMI MENASHY
Transition New life is given to the photograph as it is submerged beneath the water. The water and colours start to manipulate the image as it penetrates through the photograph, whilst simultaneously destroying it. Transition explores the portrayal of identity through school portraiture, as the images ask the viewer to re-consider the function of the portrait. This series consists of rephotographed school portraits of children between the ages of 11-12 years old – an age where children undergo a series of changes as they make the transition from primary to high school, from child to adult. The photographs remain in a transient state; neither here nor there, as the water begins absorb the image. The violent and destructive nature of this manipulation invites the viewer to question what is being said about the childhood portrait. E: naomimenashy@gmail.com
THOMAS METCALF
Crude Crude by Thomas Metcalf is a satirical triptych, which aims to address the production of crude oil and its use in the plastics industry. By carefully selecting these objects and photographing them, the circular images have become suspended and engulfed by the same substance that the objects themselves are created from. E: thomasolivermetcalf@gmail.com
JAMES MILLER
Me & You, Remembering. Aleatory encounters observed, re-recorded silently occupying the periphery of visual memory. E: jamesshashin@gmail.com
Pressing Against a Window, 2011
CHLOE MORDUE
Face Off
Face Off is a fashion and art magazine which aims to go against the stereotype of modern fashion that use faces to sell. The magazine showcases various series of images that explore different ways of hiding the face and creating a narrative, to give an alternative look at fashion photography. E: chloemordue@hotmail.com www.clhloemordue.com
DEBBIE NAYLOR
Good night, God bless Through ill health, my mum Ann, came to live with me and over the past few years we got to know each other inside and out. We spent most days together and there was always a giggle to be had at something, somebody and more often than not, at each other. She wasn’t just my mum but my teacher, my ally and my friend. This book represents fragments of her life and embraces our shared love, experiences and treasured memories that shaped our beautiful relationship and made me the person that I am today. E: studiofour@btinternet.com www.debbienaylor.co.uk
TANIA OLIVE
A Type of Dyke E: tania-olive@live.com www.taniaolive.com
MONICA ELLEN RANDELL
The Gashlycrumb Tinies The Gaslhycrumb Tinies is an A-Z illustrated book by Edward Gorey depicting children meeting unfortunate ends. This project is my attempt to recreate these images photographically using miniatures. The piece is intended to be both humorous and sinister incorporating elements such as size and colour to intrigue and confound the viewer. E: monica.randell@yahoo.com
TINA REMIZ
Krievi Krievi – the Latvian name for Russians – is a documentation of the Russian community of Latvia. Historically, Latvia has always had strong bonds with the Russian Federation. Modest in size, the country has been largely dependent on its big neighbour which defined its the political climate and economic development. In the 20th century, the period of independence was glorious but brief: having gained autonomy in 1918, Latvia was compelled to join the Soviet Union at the outbreak of World War II. Highly centralized, the USSR was effectively functioning as a single country, which contributed to the high level of internal migration. During the Soviet era the number of Russians permanently living in Latvia had increased by a factor of nearly five. The largest ethnic minority in the country, Russians currently form approximately one third of the Latvian population. Different generations, unique destinies, diverse experiences and contrasting opinions brought together in this body of work draw a complex image of the lives Russians in contemporary Latvia. Alija Bazhenova, (pictured, right), a high-school student from Riga, working to organise a political group of young members of the Russian Orthodox Church.�. E: tina.remiz@gmail.com www.tinaremiz.co.uk
SAMANTHA ROBERTS
Histories and Memories: Looking Through a Letterbox Histories and Memories explores the conflict of personal memory and public history. History and Memory share time and space and give way to legacies that are preserved or hidden, challenging the perception of knowing and seeing. This book is an example of a resurrection of a hidden family memory that gives way to a buried history of Britain’s past. The memory revived is born from one family photograph, hidden from view for more than 65 years, that depicts the tragic irony of the Great War and how it united a nation but tore one family apart. E: samantha.leanne@btinternet.com
RYAN DALTON RODRIGUES
Under World For the past 9 months I have been documenting people who attend gigs at the Camden Underworld, in the hope of depicting an unnoticed music scene to many. Capturing moments of thrashing limbs and flailing extremities. E: ryanrodrigues1989@gmail.com
NICOLA ROSETTI
Sieviete Sieviete, meaning ‘The Female’ or ‘Woman’ in Latvian, is an exploration of the female form. Focusing on one of the more intimate areas of the body, Nicola creates a repetition of bottom portraits. Influenced by an old photograph of her grandma, taken by her late Latvian grandfather, she relives a childhood memory. Toying with the idea of the private image becoming public, she replicates a peep show, where she exhibits Sieviete. With an element of fashion combined with a cheeky humour, Nicola captures her current generation and demonstrates an intimate relationship with her grandparents and her ability to make her models feel at ease. Using seemingly objective poses and focusing on the bum, an often-sexualised body part, Nicola questions how objectivity of the female is being perceived. E: nicolarosetti@gmail.com
JENNA RUTANEN
Waiting to belong Waiting to belong is a video installation based on my own experience of moving overseas. It is an exploration of how an overseas move changes the fundamental structure of one’s life, replaces the harmony with chaos and forces one to reconstruct their identity. The piece depicts the difficulty of living in two different worlds while raising questions about home and belonging. E: jennarutanen@hotmail.com www.jennarutanen.com
DEBBIE SEARS
Bev’s World E: sears_debbie@yahoo.co.uk
Opposite: Vague Recollections # 1
SUNIL SHAH
Uganda Stories This project is both a subjective journey to recollect the past and an interrogation of documentary photography in its use to reassemble fragments of history. In 1972 the Ugandan military dictator, Idi Amin expelled 80,000 Asians from the country. Sunil Shah was 3 years old when his family was forced to leave their lives and possessions behind and move to the UK. This research of a family’s origins included analysis of photographs, objects and individual interviews. What emerged was from dusty storage and long forgotten anecdotes: there were slowly fading stories and isolated images of diminishing memories. As time advances these stories and images move out the personal and collective consciousness and move into the public realm of ethnographic colonial histories. E: info@sunilphoto.com
EDWARD SHAW
A Collection of Trees in London Parks I have delved into the history and origins of the different species of trees and “native� British trees to investigate where their roots really lie. The application of infrared film (Ilford SFX) has been used to expose the trees and make them the focal point of the image, as to bring awareness to their origins. It is interesting to see which trees where brought over from the continent or from Asia but over time have now asserted themselves as British national trees even though they are not traditionally from here. This exploration into the cultivation and history of the trees of London has been conducted in the Royal Parks and other parks including Kenwood House and Northwick Park. E: e_shaw1@hotmail.co.uk
ARAMINTA SHERIDAN
Gender Games With an interest in fashion and its effects on society, I have investigated changing perceptions of gender. Masculinity and femininity are being drawn together to form a precedent of androgyny that is subconsciously ingested through the world of fashion. Like fashion, sport provides a poignant platform to portray this androgyny. E: araminta.sheridan@gmail.com
DAVID SPICER
Publicly Chosen Archive This work encourages the viewer to engage with the creation of a photographic archive. Rather than being chosen in accordance to a strict set of criteria, the viewer takes the role of the selector in order to create a new form of archive chosen purely by public opinion. E: davidspicer88@hotmail.co.uk
SALLY ANN STONE
An Unassuming Gentleman My father was a postal historian who collected and meticulously catalogued vast amounts of old letters, stamps and postcards. Every day, sitting in his attic office he would examine his collections using a variety of useful tools and objects. Some time ago he started to pack up his assortment of useful items by placing them into many labelled boxes. Unoccupied and untouched for four years since his death, the attic office has preserved traces of its departed occupant. By focusing on the contents of a few labelled boxes, I have photographed these useful tools and objects as artefacts of sentimental value to me. I look at them now as a picture of his past life whilst creating a personal collection of my childhood memories. E: sally.stone@mail.com www.sallystonephotography.com
Opposite: Magnifying Goggles
ANDRZEJ STRZALKOWSKI
Radiator. The image of the ordinary object is an excuse, a side effect and appears out of necessity that indexical nature of photography forces upon it. The need to photograph and the mundane process of photographing take the lead role in the project. Radiator is a reflection on the photographic medium now.
SONIA TALINE
Shadow Existence Stepping aside from conventional fashion based portraiture, this project includes a surreal aspect intended to represent the element of the unknown between the audience and subject. E: talinephotography@gmail.com
ROBERT VIGLASKY
ZDAR BOH Zdar Boh is a proverb miners use to wish each other good luck and happy return. Zdar Boh is a photographic project about a mining community in the Rozalia mine, located in the village of Hodrusa-Hamre, central Slovakia. I grew up in this region where the mining tradition is very rich, but it is also a tradition that is slowly and inevitably fading away as the mining industry is in decline. To date, Rozalia is the last working mine, not only in Slovakia but also in central Europe, where predominantly gold and other precious metals are extracted. I became fascinated with the mining community because of my father Dominik, who has worked in the mining industry for over twenty years. robert@robertviglasky.com www.robertviglasky.com
GRETA WALLNER
Transplants This series is an exploration of the human body and a transcendental understanding of human consciousness existing in the body. There are four chosen organs to represent this concept: the heart, the brain, the womb and the eye.
thaurer@gmail.com
RACHEL WEST
Adorn We are forever trying to enrich ourselves and our lives with beauty. rachelwest.arts@gmail.com www.rachelwest.co.uk
JASPAR WYATT
Under the Lights Once a month, for thirty years, a community has united to celebrate music, dance and family. Under a tapestry of moving light in a back alley area of central London, Whirl – y – Gig is a true spectacle, a night club unlike any other, an environment created to promote unity and positivity while partying hard all night. Under the musical direction of resident DJ and organiser Monkey Pilot and his wife and hostess Mary, revellers young and old are led through an eye and mind opening journey where boundaries both physical and mental are broken down and built back up with a global soundtrack and psychedelic light show. Under the Lights is a small hint, a taste of the magic that Is Whirl – y – Gig. The imagery used in this piece reflects the radiance and intensity of a Whirly experience, Which Monkey Pilot describes as “an event difficult to describe, a moment difficult to miss”. E: jasparwyatt@gmail.com
Still from video
GIULIA ZUCCHETTI
This project is an exploration of the mankind’s folly in which influences are drawn from both fashion and fine art. It takes shape from the collaboration with a talented fashion designer, Taekyung Joo who won the Dinard International Young Fashion Designers Festival in 2011 with a collection centred on the theme of ‘the lunatic scientist’. Insanity, mind control, obsession, alienation, coercion, bedlam… what is hiding deep down in the human mind? E: giulia.zucchetti@gmail.com
THE DEGREE SHOW EXHIBITION CATALOGUE INCLUDES WORK FROM THESE COURSES:
BA Photography (4 years part-time) This is the only course of its kind and covers photography, studio and location practice, photographic histories and critical theory. It offers part-time students a degree-level education that combines rigorous practical training with a thorough grounding in the social and cultural theories behind the production and use of the photographic image. The part-time course is direct entry and aimed at both school leavers and mature students – particularly those who already work in photography, use photography in their work or are concerned with issues of representation and imagery and has a specific identity as the majority of students have a wide range of life/work/family experience and commitments. CAREERS Graduates go into a wide range of photography related careers including: freelance photography, picture editing, picture research, photography education, curating, publishing, digital image processing, image management and postgraduate study. ENTRY REQUIREMENTS Applicants must demonstrate a strong interest in both the practical and theory side of the course, have a high standard of oral and written English and submit a portfolio. A short essay may be set for applicants interviewed. T +44 (0)20 7911 5000 E course-enquiries@westminster.ac.uk westminster.ac.uk/photography
For further details see: http://www.westminster.ac.uk/schools/media/photography
BA Photographic Arts (full-time) This course combines creative practice with the theoretical and critical study of photography and related media. The course is unique in placing an equal emphasis on Practice and Theory and on encouraging the integration of written and visual research. It is designed to equip students with a range of critical skills for understanding the uses, functions and meanings of images in relation to art, society and culture. Students also learn to produce image based work in a range of media, and to communicate their ideas with sensitivity to audience, purpose and context. As well as our experienced and highly respected teaching staff, the course is supported by a range of visiting lecturers and guest speakers. CAREERS Graduates go into a wide range of photography related careers including: freelance photography, picture editing, picture research, photography education, curating, publishing, digital image processing, image management and postgraduate study. ENTRY REQUIREMENTS Applicants must demonstrate a strong interest in both the practical and theory side of the course, have a high standard of oral and written English and submit a portfolio. A short essay may be set for applicants interviewed. T +44 (0)20 7911 5000 E course-enquiries@westminster.ac.uk westminster.ac.uk/photography
For further details see: http://www.westminster.ac.uk/schools/media/photography
OTHER PHOTOGRAPHY RELATED COURSES OFFERED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTMINSTER:
BSc Clinical Photography
The BSc Clinical photography combines the study of science, photography, digital imaging, anatomy, physiology, biology and clinical practice. A substantial element of the course involves work-based learning in a clinical setting. This is achieved through a significant number of hours of work placement in a variety of relevant specialisms throughout the three years of the course. BSc Photography and Digital Imaging
In the digital era photography is becoming a much more technical profession. There are very few courses that provide students with the background knowledge to truly master modern imaging systems. If you seek a deeper understanding of the processes involved, this course is for you. Students will have a technical or scientific background and a desire to explore the fundamental principles of imaging. BA Contemporary Media Practice
This long established course combines film, video, photography, digital media and theoretical debates, and continues to break new ground in contemporary media production. Practical instruction in a range of visual media from film and video to interactive digital media and photography encourages multiskilling within an innovative and creative environment. Students may specialise in one or two media or forge new links between converging and cross-disciplinary media.
For further details see: http://www.westminster.ac.uk/schools/media/photography
MA Photojournalism
This course provides a unique combination of professional practice and critical understanding for photographers and journalists interested in entering the field of editorial and related photography. It builds on the international reputation of the journalism and photographic departments of the University. The MA is a modular course designed to equip students with a sound command of the working methods necessary to sustain a career in contemporary journalism. MA Photographic Studies
The MA Photographic Studies is intended for those who wish to develop their practice, theory and criticism of photography to a higher level of expertise and scholarship. The course aims to develop relationships between a creative photographic practice and critical theory in the context of art and mass media culture. Modules explore practices of photography and develop student awareness of social, cultural and critical issues involved in photography and its histories.
THE UNIVERSITY ALSO OFFERS THE FOLLOWING FOUNDATION DEGREES: Foundation Degree in Professional Photography Foundation Degree in Image Management
For further details see: http://www.westminster.ac.uk/schools/media/photography
WITH THANKS TO: