1 END OF SHOW BOOK 2 4 . 0 2 . 2 0 1 8
FOREWORD
It has been a wild six months for us, from our first casual chat about the possibility of doing “something” to preparing this end-of-show zine in the last week before the exhibition. Over the years, we have grown as artists together, constantly influencing and inspiring each other in our artistic development. Beyond Photography is culmination of this; our creative baby. Where photography began and where it is now is vastly different - the move to digital processes has allowed artists to transform their work in new adventurous ways, enabling them to create work that can’t be captured simply through the viewfinder. We took this concept and developed Beyond Photography; a place where we push and blur the possibilities of the camera to create work that is so altered, it can no longer be considered photography. We are filled with joy that you have decided to join us on our journey to explore what lies beyond photography. We are honoured to work with such innovative artists in such an enchanting space and we hope that, tonight, you will feel inspired and amazed. This new medium is an exciting development and can be found all around us. The question that we’re asking tonight is simply: Is this work photography? Much love,
Ryan and Nastassia FOUNDERS & DIRECTORS
THIS ZINE IS SUPPORTED BY
THE ARTISTS DANIEL COMMONS KIM STUART MEES KUIPER GRACE KELLY HANA LARA LAIT FLO ARMITAGE-HOOKES LIBERTY MAHER BETH MELLETT ERIN WILLIAMS LUCY ROSE JONES JULIA POMEROY HILDA QUICK GEORGIE STRAUSS
AND RYAN BLACKWELL & NASTASSIA WINGE
LEFTBANK
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WRITTEN BY PHOEBE DODDS
hen we embarked on this project, we had a very clear vision of the location we were after to host our Beyond Photography exhibition. We were looking for an edgy, raw space - somewhere with an almost abandoned feel to it, and it also had to be centrally located so that visitors would be easily able to reach it. After some fruitless location hunting, we landed on Left Bank Leeds - which you could say is our dream location for this project.
venue ticks all of our boxes, and most importantly comes with a certain je ne sais quoi that we couldn’t find anywhere else. We love the dark and mysterious vibe of the venue, and how it has an almost magical feeling when you step in. The response to the location reveal has been amazing, and we’re over the moon that we could host our exhibition in such a unique venue. How many people can say they’ve hosted an exhibition in a former church with a DJ playing from behind the altar?
Left Bank Leeds is not just any old events space. It’s far more than just an incredible venue - it’s also an organisation which focuses on “connecting people to each other, to arts and culture, and to new experiences and opportunities” - which is exactly what we’re attempting to do with our Beyond Photography exhibition. Their events promote creativity and connection, and hopefully you’ll come away from this exhibition feeling inspired as well. From a practical perspective as well, the
When we first viewed Left Bank Leeds, we never thought we’d be able to turn vour vision into reality, especially since the venue has such a good name in the city - and the space was just that perfect. But with the generous help of Left Bank Leeds, we’ve been able to pull it off, and we couldn’t be more grateful to them for supporting our project and believing in our vision. And after all, what could be better than a late-gothic-revival-style former church to host an exhibition on the complex world of post photography?
DANIEL COMMONS B
eyond Photography to me parallels where we are as human beings as we step into a post human age. My contribution to this series of work tries to represent how traces of our identity are reduced to data through our internet usage as well as the information collected via other electronical
means, either voluntarily or by more nefarious means. I feel this information orbits us, like digital noise, in our everyday life, though we can’t see it physically. To produce my work, I incorporate use of a broken, glitching digital compact camera to act as a way of visualising the digital noise.
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o me, Photography has always been a type of therapy, a way to explore myself through colour and composition as well as to translate my emotions into art. Being a fine art photographer, I have always been interested in creating a deeper story behind a project, showcasing the bigger picture surrounding something. I achieve this through making work combining mixed media techniques such as embroidery and drawing to create
something that individuals can relate to and so others can observe it in their own way. More recently, since starting at Leeds Arts University, I have begun using photography and mixed media to produce bodies of work that are more than a photograph; they become an object. Using the mixed media to showcase this, I produce work that goes beyond the simplicity of photography by making what should be a standard framed photograph into an object of interactivity.
KIM STUART
P
ersonally, I use photography as a tool to reflect my mood in a certain moment. Depending on the project, I try to create my own visions/realities instead of reflecting the actual reality. Beyond Photography for most people, I think, is anything with more than a singular exposure. For me, it is anything that can be created by using my
own pictures. Whether this is using multiple exposures, making collages or combining different images in post production, the basis is formed by singular photos. Like how a painter uses different colours, I use different parts of different images to create a piece. As long as you use your own images you can do anything you want with it.
MEES KUIPER
G R A C E K E L LY I
utilise photography as a medium to mould into its own form and create images that have their own physical “bodies�, that can be walked through and around rather than traditionally framed and hung flat onthewall. I enjoy the amount of control I have over what the audience can see and the way in which I choose to present the outcome. My process usually begins with taking photographs and working from them or developing them into something more than a
still image. I have worked within the realms of moving image, animation and painting – all of which start with simple frames of my subject. My themes have recently been around the human form and discussing the theme of beauty. To me, Beyond Photography is a step towards creating new art forms beyond that of traditional photography, which has always inspired me in my own work, always moving forward from what has already been done in the past.
HANA LARA L A I T
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eyond Photography means looking beyond the selfie, the family photograph, or the beautiful landscape. People tend to think that a photograph speaks a thousand words, but this is often not the truth. It will never tell you what is really going on behind the image, it will only show you what the image-taker wants to be seen. The medium of photography has so many rules that are often followed and never broken, but I love breaking the rules. By breaking the rules of photography I can use it go beyond what is expected of it and show that which cannot be seen. I can create new realities, new personas and generate emotions and reactions that were not expected.
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R YA N B L A C K W E L L A N D N A S TA S S I A W I N G E
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eyond Photography’ is the concept of dismissing the traditional limits of the medium, allowing its true scope and continuing innovation to be realised. Photography often acts as documentation, conveying and revealing the reality which lies in front of the lens. I’m playing with this idea in my work by capturing closely cropped images and manipulating them; concealing the subject and making the ordinary appear extraordinary. In contrast to documentation, here the environment is ironically made unfamiliar by the process of photographing it. Photography also usually exists in a 2D form- on a sheet of
photo paper or, increasingly, on a digital screen. This can seem static, passive and does not invite interaction with viewers. I try to challenge this traditional presentation by transferring my images onto material, stickers and posters; giving them a new tangibility and presence outside where they can engage informally with a wider audience on an everyday basis. Today, the smartphone has made everyone a photographer. Now that the medium is so widely and casually used, surely the most innovation, excitement and possibility lies ‘Beyond Photography’?
F LO A R M I TA G E - H O O K E S
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o me, Beyond Photography is about pushing the boundaries of the photographed image. My work looks into the definition of a photograph, as a documentation of a single moment in time, and sets to change it, whether this is during the moment of capture, or in what happens in the
aftermath. I have a keen interest in abstract photography, photographs that become just shapes or patterns and which do not correspond to their subject matter. I also enjoy manipulating images to give them a completely different meaning. The photograph is more than what we see, something lies beyond the photograph.
LIBERTY MAHER
BETH MELLETT P
hotography has always been an important element of my practice whether it be as an outcome or part of the research process. Despite this, however, I’ve never really considered myself a photographer. This could be because of the typical ideas of what a photographer should be. During my time studying at Camberwell, however, we have been continually encouraged to push what defines an artwork as a painting, sculpture, drawing or photograph in both our thinking and making, as well as what the future of fine art might look like. The idea of setting up a shoot, being in
control of all the elements of a scene to then create an image has always excited me. I think that this combined with my interest in digital and new media is what led me to begin exploring video art and moving image as an output for my work. The playful tension between reality and falsity forms an important part of the ideas that I’m currently working with regarding representation. Most recently I have begun exploring the capabilities of using digital animation software and considered, if cameras rendered realism obsolete in the realm of painting, what effect have computers had to the world of photography?
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hotography has always been a huge aspect of my art. I began college doing art and design and very quickly found that photography was something I loved to do, and had a keen eye for. With my background of art and design I was always keen to mix mediums and explore new ways to push photography beyond its limits and create something meaningful to myself: I use it to express my personal feelings in my life, social issues and other topics I feel that need to be talked about. I feel that photography has given me a louder voice than I would have had without it, whilst also being a way to express my creativity, which goes beyond the ordinary description of what photography ‘has’ to be.
E R I N W I L L I A M S
LUCY ROSE JONES R
elatively new to the game, photography for me has been a way to experiment with my creative output. The theme, Beyond Photography - for me - is the understanding that photography is no longer the simple fingeron-shutter motion, nor the image that comes from the camera as a result; it is the final product. It is the reason I curl my toes when clients try to get a ‘discount’ for less post
included, or ask for unedited images. The post-production I put into my images is what makes them mine, what makes them my style. I love experimenting with colour and light, and putting lots of time into editing and manipulating my images, in order to take them beyond photography. I think this is one of the places where a lot of skill is required, and it is what makes a good photographer.
JULIA POMEROY I
dentity and self-expression are topics I find invaluable and fascinating; as there are billions of individuals, all with their own aspirations and troubles. I focus on representing identities of those I understand in a personal, expressionist and futuristic way; generally observing and tackling our everyday through an advancing lens to produce thought provoking pieces. ‘Beyond Photography’ has been the perfect opportunity for me to reach out to a broader audience while challenging the conventional means of photography through refining my imagery through sculpture. Reinventing photography and sculpture as one artform. I have questioned whether
photography can only be documenting one moment in time by bringing back those captured worlds from the past to our present 3D reality. Also, displaying the competition between still and moving imagery. I work in whatever medium I believe reflects the context and intentions of the piece best (from painting to film). Evolving with traditional art forms to advancing technology, which our generation has been so lucky to group up with. Works, which has influenced me are the dynamic and innovative use of materials and bending of form in Urs Fischer’s work, and Tobia Buche’s nostalgic, personal and an exciting culmination of everyday pop culture documents.
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n Camera Lucida, Roland Barthes writes ‘a photograph is always invisible: it is not it that we see.’ He is suggesting that the photograph’s materiality is disregarded by the viewer and is instead used as a gateway to view what it depicts, as well as the memories and imaginations that are triggered by this. However, since the digital age,
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materiality has been returned to the photograph in an effort to raise it’s perceived value in comparison with the sea of vernacular images. Whether physically or digitally, the boundaries of Photography are now being pushed more than ever before. The contemporary art photograph is visible: it is it that we see.
G E O R G I E S T R A U S S A
photograph, untouched, cannot lie about its subject, it is simply a record of true life. For this reason, I believe photography to be the most powerful medium in art. Having said this, I have always wanted to do more with my photographs, whether that be manipulating them digitally, using different chemicals to alter them in the dark room, merging paint and photograph, and recently, mixing sculptural elements, and combining the 2D and 3D within one “photograph�. Beyond photography is about pushing a photograph to
its absolute limit, and testing the boundaries of what a photograph actually is. Beyond Photography ignores the classical elements of a photograph, and strives for something more, something that calls for photography to be celebrated. It is this experimentation and almost rebellious quality that makes it so captivating. My work always begins with a photograph, but doesn’t always end with one. This transformation is something I find extremely exciting, and the more I push the original image, the more exciting this becomes
THANK YOU FOR COMING
RYAN AND NASTASSIA
P U S H I N G P H OTO G R A P H Y B E YO N D I T S L I M I T S W W W. B E Y O N D P H OTO G R A P H Y. O N L I N E