biografica
EXHIBITORS – PHOTOGRAPHY
will whipple carole suety allan parker (curator) rinchen constanza isaza david blackmore asa johannesson emma stoner ilan godfrey jovita valaityte kyna gourley laura guy martina lindquist nicole heiniger peter watkins tim sullivan EXHIBITORS – MOVING IMAGE
karoline hjorth espen haslene allan parker marc hardman pavel tomanec
biografica Biografica Biographica is an international travelling photographic exhibition. The work on display will show well developed themes and interests in a wide range of contexts, and demonstrate what it is possible to achieve with text and images. Many of the exhibitors have an autobiographical relationship with their subject matter often relating to the countries where they have lived or worked. The title, ‘Biografica’ refers to the trajectories of the photographers and the development of their interests and opportunities. The exhibition represents the work of photographers and film makers who have studied photograp hic arts at the University of Westminster in London at some time during their careers. The exhibition requires up to thirty metres of wall space. Most images are A1 or A2 and there are between one and three images per artist. Allan Parker – Curator www.pureland@dircon.co.uk
will whipple My creative editorial work is defined by the inherent boundaries of our visual condition; what we consider, through visual language, to be beautiful, desirable and interesting. Working within these constraints I try to produce new and fresh perspectives of our expectations as visual consumers. The majority of my material is produced for clients who have an established visual aesthetic in the market place or are looking to create one. These are almost always connected to consumer desires, ambitions and taste. www.willwhipple.com
carole suety The starting point of my work is always personal as I tend to use familial snapshots or traditional objects as a beginning, the resulting series of images creating a narrative sequence. What I do could be described as an attempt to deconstruct western ideologies and myths in order to reveal how they determine our relationship to marriage, family, sexuality or death. Deeply influenced by surrealist aesthetics, in which culture and nature interface with one another, I aim to create pieces that open new fictional spaces where the boundaries between dream and reality are blurred. Originally from Paris, Carole Suety is a London based photographer who graduated with a BA in Photographic Art at the University of Westminster in June 2009. She worked as a graphic designer in Paris before becomin a Fine Art Photographer. Globe 1 Globe 2 Globe 5 Globe de mariĂŠe is a series of 5 photographs
www.carolesuety.com
allan parker (curator) I’ve always been interested in how people represent each other, and particularly in the view from one culture to another. The idea to curate an exhibition in India came out of a portrait project about the South Asian Diaspora commissioned by the V&A Museum in London. A mobile studio was set up at the Asian Mela festival in London and later in Bangalore (Lalbagh Gardens) and Chennai (Golden Beach) during public holidays. The resulting images, (The Mela Pictures) were shown in Chennai with the help of the British Council in 2005. Through this project, I realised the depth of interest in perspectives from elsewhere and it gave me the idea to bring this photographic exhibition to India. Allan Parker is a senior lecturer on the MA and BA in Photography at the University of Westminster. He also has a design practice, Pure Land, in Central London. He has made a number of visits to India and has worked with Attakkalari Centre for peforming Arts and Srishti College of Art in Bangalore. Clients have included The National Theatre, The V&A, The Sunday Times, The Museum of Childhood, Asia House and London School of Contemporary Dance. The Mela Pictures The series consists of 46 portraits. Those who volunteered were provided with a choice of backgrounds and received a copy of the image. City Maps (Video) This video-projection for Imlata Dance Company toured India and the UK. Its theme was the transfer of information over distances and between cultures. The animations were projected onto the forms of the dancers. Imlata is a part of the Attakkalari Centre for Performing Arts based in Bangalore.
www.pureland.co.uk www.allanforresterparker.co.uk
rinchen My father was born in a small village in Tibet. Aged seven, recognised as a reincarnated Lama, he left the family home to take his seat at the head of a monastery. From that age he was educated as a practitioner and teacher of Tibetan Buddhism. When the Chinese invaded, like many others, my father escaped to India. For twenty years he received no news from home until the borders were reopened in 1985. From his family of twelve only two sisters had survived and his Monastery of fifty monks had been reduced to one. Having first visited the ruined Monastery aged seven, I consider it my home and the monks part of my family. My father has since rebuilt the Monastery and there are now twenty-three monks. In 2007 he helped each monk build his own house as is customary in Tibet. The rooms are more than a space, they are an area of personal freedom and expression. If the so-called ‘Liberation’ of Tibet is a void in which the individual, cultural and spiritual lives of the Tibetans were almost lost, I hope this work helps represent both a personal and national rediscovery of this identity. Rinchen graduated in Photographic Arts at the University of Westminster in 2007. She now works in London as a Photographers Agent. Brought up in England she has been travelling to East Asia since she was eighteen months old. Karma Jinpa Namdrak and his mother Dolma Yangchen In his youth Popa, as he is known, was conscripted into the Chinese People’s Liberation Army but in the 1980’s, when religious restrictions were relaxed, he became a monk. Traditionally, women were not allowed on Monastery grounds, but with only one remaining child, Dolma Yangchen was given permission to live with her son after the death of her husband. Aged 89 she has become Grandmother to all at the Monastery and still manages to circumambulate the temple one hundred times a day. Dimba Namdrak Although he was quite young at the time, Dimba Namdrak remembers the destruction of the Cultural Revolution. ‘It wasn’t just the Chinese who destroyed the monasteries it was the Tibetans too. The temple doors were dragged off to make a gateway to the village’s communal food store. It was a time when the sky fell to the floor and the earth rose to the sky.’ Karma Lhundrup Like any Tibetan teenager Karma Lhundrup loves hanging out with his friends, new clothes and most of all his motorbike, but having come to the Monastery aged 9 he is also deeply religious. Every morning he performs the prayers that are a part of his daily monastic life and having finished his foundation next year he will go into a one-year solitary retreat.
constanza isaza My photographic work has focused almost entirely on mutability, evolution, death and decay. In the past, I studied the iconography of the ‘Vanitas’ still life and the creation of allegories around themes related to the mind, the body and embodiment. One of the first pieces I developed used fruit and feathers to symbolize the body at the peak of its ripeness, alluding to the decline toward death that inevitably follows this peak. A more recent piece, ‘Evolution’, alludes humanity and the damage we have inflicted upon the earth as a species. In addition to this, ‘Evolution’ reflects on our relative insignificance in the face of time and nature. Constanza Isaza Martínez is a Colombian-born artist raised in London, UK. She won a Kodak Award at the age of eleven and went on to complete a degree in Photographic Arts at the University of Westminster, London, from which she graduated with First Class Honours. Constanza returned to her country of origin, Colombia, where she currently lives and works as a freelance photographer and independent artist. Recent accomplishments include various group shows in Bogotá, and, in 2009, a solo exhibition in Medellín.
http://www.constanzaisaza.com
david blackmore I am concerned with representing visions of reality not normally accessible to the general public. My work stems from a conceptual working practice concerned with exploring new visions of modernity. I make images which present the viewer with views of modern life exclusive to the current epoch, the result of modern social or global concerns. I am specifically interested in the idea of control and limitations encountered within daily life. My work is a reaction to the constraints and limits imposed on the individual. Originally from Dublin, David Blackmore is based in London and works part time as a senior lecturer in Further education at the University College for the Creative Arts, Farnham, Surrey, England. He has exhibited his work in Canada, Slovakia and more recently received an award for his portfolio as part of last November’s Bratislavan month of photography which led to my third solo show taking place at the Central European House of photography in Bratislava. Cracked LCDs David Blackmore has been photographing broken Liquid Crystal Display Screens from digital devices such as laptops, phones and cameras; technologies that play a large part in our modern daily routines. These digital forms have almost completely replaced analogue technology in industry and are fast replacing analogue forms in photographic art. Blackmore’s work catalogues and questions the place of obsolete technology in art and contemporary life.
www.davidblackmore.co.uk
asa johannesson I explore self and otherness through looking at gendered identity. The subjects I choose function as doppelgangers; traces of their identities are reflections of my own self-image. My work is informed by fantasies and fears surrounding questions of who we are, mentally and physically, and who we feel we are in the eyes of others. Åsa Johannesson was born in 1979 in Växjö, Sweden. After moving to London she studied Photographic Arts at University of Westminster and in 2007, she started MA Photography at the Royal College of Art, where she graduated in 2009. Johannesson has received several awards for her work, which has been exhibited internationally and was also shortlisted for the Deutsche Bank Award 2009. She now lives and works in London.
The Path from the series The Boy, 2009 The Buds from the series The Boy, 2009 In The Boy, youthful looking Jacob, sometimes with his friend Aaron, appears in surroundings that suggest suburban boyhood. The use of colours, props and gestures become suggestions of femininity and masculinity in the creation of the image. The two boys, who are in their early twenties, both identify as transgender. The series is shot near their homes in the outskirts of London.
www.asajohannesson.com
emma stoner I am intrigued by the ancient mythological landscapes in Britain and drawn to the myths that are embodied in them at sites such as Stonehenge and Glastonbury Tor. My first visit to Stonehenge was made one spring equinox and I spent the night around a bonfire with a bunch of druids before we were let in to the stonecircle at dawn. After graduating I moved down to Glastonbury – a ‘portal’ for alternative minds. I lived there for nearly 2 years and during this time I took these pictures. Emma Stoner graduated from the University of Westminster in 2005. She has freelanced both in the UK and Asia and she is currently picture editing for Greenpeace International from their London office. For the past year Emma has been in India and Nepal shooting photographs for a number of NGO’s, covering issues such as violence against women and climate change impacts. Previous to this she worked for a number of events and festivals in the UK and shoots regularly for the Big Green Gathering. She has stock photographs with OnAsia, Ecoscene and Edifice. Glastonbury Stonehenge
www.emmastoner.com
ilan godfrey I return to South Africa and my place of birth, Johannesburg, on a regular basis to try and understand its complicated nature and also it’s standing as a modern African city. Its lure is addictive, a place strangely familiar yet alien. It might be simply the need to make sense of a place where I am now almost a stranger. I want the result to be a gentle and articulate inquisition into this urban environment where democracy has a significant role to play. Ilan Godfrey was born in 1980 in Johannesburg, South Africa and has been based in London for the past nine years. He studied a Bachelor of Arts degree in Photography and awarded The David Faddy Scholarship to study a Master of Arts degree in Photojournalism. He is the recipient of the Ivan Kyncl Memorial Photography Placement and a selected winner in the Magenta Flash Forward Award 2007 and 2008. He has recently participated in the Focus on Monferrato Masterclass in Italy and has had work exhibited in galleries and Photo festivals worldwide. Living With Crime Tino and his son Dario have taken one step further in their fight against crime, since his mother and father were robbed and beaten while they slept. Tino has taken the law into his own hands by patrolling the neighbourhood, as he feels the Police Force is corrupt and ineffective. Bezuidenhout Valley, Johannesburg 2007. Louis Botha Avenue Princess Restaurant and Bar is a local hangout where cheap alcohol and hot meals can be purchased. Snooker and Television are also provided for entertainment, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2008. Remade Refuse collectors have made a nearby building site their home, this will soon be the new parking lot for taxis in preparation for next years Fifa world cup. The men and women living here collect a combination of white paper, cardboard and plastic, for every 1kg they get weighed at the recycling plant they receive R1.50 the equivalent of £0.12 pence, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2009.
www.ilangodfrey.com
jovita valaityte The first time I came to England was nine years ago and I was nineteen years old. I immediately started to work in various factories. I continued this type of work for three years. By the end of it I became desperate to do something more meaningful and creative in my life. Until then I regarded photography as a hobby, but it became clear to me that photography had the power to stimulate my imagination and offered an opportunity to lead a more interesting life. While fashion photography has become my main area of practice, I also recreate myths which I use to explore contemporary issues such as the character of those who are at the margins of society. The last project, ‘Heavenly Spheres’, resulted in images which aim to expand traditional ways of thinking about individuals different sexual orientations. Jovita graduated in 2007 and is currently working as a fashion photographer in London and Lithuania. Final Scene: 2007
www.jovitaphotography.com
kyna gourley Most of my practice involves engaging with people to produce work. ‘Growing Care’ was my first experience of this. I like to think my current methodologies draw on what I learnt during this project, I realized I would never be a photojournalist. The way I work is much more collaborative. Kyna Gourley was born in 1979, she studied photography at Westminster University and has continued to work on socially engaged interdisciplinary projects. She has exhibited internationally, including The Photo Biennale of Condroz in Belgium, which took place this year. She lives and works in London and is currently completing her Masters in Visual Anthropology at Goldsmiths. Her work is in a number of collections including the Geffrye Museum in East London. ‘Growing Care’ was published in Marie-Claire magazine. Growing Care
www.kynagourley.com
laura guy When I was younger my only aspiration was to be a scientist but I wasn’t a very good one and decided to start a photography course instead. I am still not sure why I was drawn to photography; I think at first it was the simple chemistry of the dark room. I became obsessed with images, both taking them and writing about them, and on the guidance of one very inspiring technician applied to the University of Westminster to continue studying the subject. Sometimes I still see my background in science emerging in my photographic practice, but find that photography allows me a window onto so many other subjects that I am constantly relieved that I didn’t end up in a laboratory after all. Laura Guy graduated from the University of Westminster in 2008. She is currently working on a book, commissioned by the Midlands Arts Centre and as curatorial assistant for ‘Inheritance Projects’. Her images and writing have been published in various arenas and she has exhibited in the UK and in China. ‘A Study In Grey’ A Study in Grey comprises of a set of artist books about slate mining in Wales, UK. Once an international exporter of the material, the country’s industry has now all but ceased to exist. The work seeks to locate the industry elsewhere and focuses on the last working slate mill in the area, which processes slate imported from China to the UK. The project was created as part of long walks taken in Wales and uses various found artefacts and archival images to make explicit the economic and historical connections between China and the UK. ‘A Study in Grey’ is concerned with the act of remembering when confronted by disappearance and the constant transformation of one thing into another.
http://lauraedithguy.com/
martina lindquist My work is influenced by an interest in spatial psychology, and more precisely the emotive effects of landscapes and forested land. ‘A Thousand Little Suns’ takes a contemplative look at the northern landscapes of Ostrobothnia in central Finland, which during the autumn and winter months should be shrouded by an impenetrable darkness, but in this instance finds itself lit by a thousand glowing lights. The lights are neither natural nor intentional, but a by-product of an armada of industrial sized greenhouses scattered around the area, changing it into something weird and alien – something that seems impossible to the rational mind. Martina Lindqvist is a Swedish/Finnish photographic artist based in London and Bristol. She moved to England in 2001, and graduated from a BA (Hons) Photographic Arts course with 1st Class Honours in 2008. She was awarded the prestigious Jerwood Photography Prize later the same year, and has exhibited extensively in the UK since her graduation, notably at the Photographers Gallery in London and with Bloomberg New Contemporaries. Her work has been published in Portfolio Magazine, Creative Review, and The Times. Untitled (1) A Thousand Little Suns Untitled (2) A Thousand Little Suns
www.martinalindqvist.com
nicole heiniger The first photographic shoot I ever went on was in Patagonia with my father. He is an advertising photographer and used to go down there to shoot cars as it was so dry the roads always looked new. Later, I did work experience in the advertising and film industry in Sao Paulo, which is where I was born. I decided to come to London to study photography and then moved to Berlin on my first assignment for German television. Currently, Nicole is based in London where she works on portraiture, beauty, advertising and high-end fashion photography. From working as a stills photographer on commercials and short films, she is now directing and producing her own music videos. As she moves from commercial shoots in urban Europe to personal projects in the villages of rural Brazil, her work reflects and comments on the contemporary visual environment.
Meninas series Untitled 1/Untitled 2 Agnes series Untitled 1
www.nicoleheiniger.com
peter watkins Central to my practice is the idea of intuition and performance—two aspects that are a constant for me and remain important throughout my work. I’m interested in contemporary notions of beauty and aesthetics and how these ideas have changed for society and art in recent history. ‘Glimmer’, my latest series of photographs, was made just hours after the New Year celebrations on January 1st 2009 and explores the ephemeral nature of a Scandinavian landscape bathed in moonlight and darkness. Peter Watkins is a practicing artist based in Bristol and London. When he’s not making pictures he writes and contributes to Shrug Magazine, an on-and-offline literature and visual arts publication focused on showcasing the very best in emerging international art. He has recently been awarded a Signature Photography Award, and a Nikon Discovery Award, as well as being published in a number of British and European magazines and journals including Art World Magazine, Arena Magazine, The British Journal of Photography and Café Magazine. Untitled 1, Glimmer, 2009 Untitled 2, Glimmer, 2009 Untitled 3, Glimmer, 2009 Untitled 4, Glimmer, 2009
www.peterwatkins.co.uk
tim sullivan I’m interested in the country I was born in; it’s history, geography and the culture of spectacle that is such a big part of it.. MONVMENTVM MM is the largest project I’ve done to date – a photographic survey of artefacts left over from Britain’s millennial celebrations. Tim graduated in the summer of 2008 from The University of Westminster with 1st Class Honours in Photographic Arts. Born in Scotland, he has spent the majority of his life living in various parts of the UK, but has also lived further a field both in Spain and Mexico. Gardener, The Eden Project, (Millennium Commission Funded Project) Cornwall, 2008 Bronze Age Burial Site, (Millennium Commission Funded Project) Dan Yr Ogof Show Caves, Brecon, Wales, 2007 Heralded as a momentous transitional event, the Millennium was to be defined through its sculptures, heritage sites, architecture and manifestos. Understandably these works would focus on the positive, projecting visions of an idealized heritage and a shiny utopian future. Revisited, these sites and objects take on a new guise; they become monuments of a different kind, more elegiac in nature.Viewing these artifacts through the lens of the present, we are reminded not only of the folly of the event but also of our binding contract with time and with resolutions made.
www.timsullivan.co.uk