UNDERGRADUATE PHOTOGRAPHY DEGREE SHOW 2011
INTRODUCTION
In 1887 the Lumiere Brothers demonstrated cinematography for the first time in Japan. In a gesture which was to delight structural film-makers nearly eighty years later, the chairs were said to have been arranged to face the middle of the room, so the audience could witness the beam of light as it travelled from its source to its flickering destination on the screen. Two years earlier, the brothers had begun showing moving pictures for the first time in the UK before a fee paying audience, at the then Regent Street Polytechnic, (now University of Westminster). By this time, photography courses at the Polytechnic had already been running for more than forty years, focussing primarily on the chemical processes associated with the medium. Since those early days, Westminster has been the site of on-going struggles and debates to understand not just the operations and applications of each new development in image making, but also its role in the presentation of facts and the creation of fictions. Degree courses in photography, introduced in the 1960’s and ‘70’s, combined a mix of theory and practice, much as they do now, approaching the subject critically and examining ideas of history, representation, rhetoric and persuasion. Research and development by multi-nationals in imaging technology and computing has changed the nature of skills required by photographers. Although digital technologies have put more tools and possibilities within the reach of students, such as the production of books and professional low budget video, they have also appropriated parts of the production process from photographers and film makers. Perhaps unsuprisingly, this has had the effect of creating renewed interest in analogue imagemaking amongst many students for whom the root of its magic still lies with film and in the darkroom, with all its associations of self-expression and authenticity. In spite of this resurgence, in an age of near infallible cameras some will ask whether there is really any point in studying photography. The proliferation of images, originating from both professional and domestic sources, highlights the importance of editing and ordering material to express ideas – with these assemblages of text and images we create histories, memories and fictions
and only critical examination will really unpick these slippery soulmates. To create and to study images and their manifestations – whether in fashion, art or documentary – is to create an image of the world and to communicate its pleasures and its insights, – and what could be more worthwhile than that? In this exhibition we see some compelling marriages of form and content – archives and universes, earthquakes and cities all condensed into installations, books, texts, prints, arguments and narratives – a testament to the way we come to understand the world and the stories we tell about ourselves.
Allan F. Parker
Senior Lecturer in Photography
EXHIBITORS
NICOLE ANTAT
ELISA FIGOLI
CRAIG BARKER
DEBORA FRICKER
SHARON BARKER
KAY GARDINER
LUCIA BUSNARDA
MAISIE GLIDDON
JUNE CADOGAN
JENNIFER GOTCH-KANE
NICOLA CARASS
MACIEJ GROMAN
SAMANTHA CAWSON
DIANA GUR
LIAN CHAN
NATALIE HALFORD
MAX COAKLEY
ED HANNAN
UGNE DAINIUTE
TOMAS HEIN
LAWRENCE DALEY
SAMUEL HEMMINGS
DANIÉLE DA MEDA
MAYUMI HIRATA
JOSH DINSMORE
LUCY HOARE
MARK DUMBRELL
ZARA ILIĆ
CHRIS ELMES
CLARE JACKSON
HUGH ELPHICK
NATALIA JANULA
AMELIA KAPLAN
DABINDER KAUR RAI
AMY KLIMEK
AMY READ
BASHI KOLIBAROVA
JULIA RIDDIOUGH
NADEJDA KRASTEVA
GENEVIEVE RUDD
ANNA LIPSKA
NASREEN SHAIKH
JORDAN MARY
LOUISE SMITH DE VASCONCELOS
ANIELA MICHALEC-PERRIAM
HELENA SOCRATOUS
PHOEBE MCHALE
CHARLOTTE STREETER
MARC NEUMANN
JORGE STRIDE
SAM NIGHTINGALE
SHANNA TAYLOR
SHELLEY NOTT
NATHAN TOPER
HELEN PAGE
JOLANTA VALENIECE
ALESSIA PALOMBO
OLIVIA VAN DER WILL
ROCÍO PÉREZ FERNÁNDEZ
BETH VIEIRA
JASON PIERCE-WILLIAMS
ZUZANA ZAFEROVA
KATHRINE PISIOLEK
NICOLE CHARLOTTE ANTAT
Nyctophobia When confronted by the infinite nightmare of dark, open spaces, my heart races, my hands start to sweat; my thoughts ascend into an overdrive of paranoia as to what lurks in the darkness‌my eyes search frantically through the twilight to find the smallest fragment of available light‌ Within all of us lie fears and phobias which, when confronted, give rise to anxiety and unease. n.c.antat@gmail.com
CRAIG BARKER
As Long as the Sun Lasts Le monde est grand, mais en nous il est profond comme la mer. Rainer. Maria. Rilke craig@craigbarker.org
Above: Ammonite Opposite: A Million Other Suns
SHARON BARKER
Faith Faith is a video installation based on the true narrative regarding the healing of memories and nightmares concerning child abuse. It is a harrowing journey of an adult finding and being reunited to the innocent little girl buried deep within her subconscious. The seemingly natural beauty of the location of the film, is not only very pertinent to the current chapter within this woman’s life, but is also a reflection of the hidden psychological scars which remain within this courageous woman – just as the landscape has been shaped, constructed, and ultimately scarred through human influence. Although certain features of the landscape recreate parts of the narrative, it has also been used as a metaphor to capture the essence of this journey. sharon@ail.net
LUCIA BUSNARDA
Elusive Spaces The space that surrounds me has been a constant source of interest in my practice, especially the peripheral spaces of the urban environment. Growing up in a small town in Italy I have always felt a cultural and a geographical displacement when confronted with big cities. As a consequence, I ventured outside my comfort zone in order to make sense of these new environments. This position as an outsider offers a sense of freedom, a place from where I can be an attentive spectator while remaining anonymous. Seventeen years have gone by since I have left my own country and I still feel that I have not really settled in my new environment. Where do I fit in? This feeling is a source of discomfort, and is reflected in my work. I desperately want to be part of the society that I am observing from a distance, but still have not found a way in. Are these spaces that facilitate interactions and human relationships or is this an illusion? Can I, one day, become a legitimate member of my surroundings or will I always be on the outside? Almost mirroring my feelings, the images in this series are of socially constructed spaces. While the apparent perception is of inclusion, of perceived harmony, these images also speak of isolation and of how the spatial and social are mutually shaped. lucia.busnarda@googlemail.com
JUNE CADOGAN
Trinity For nearly 40 years in an unassuming building in the heart of East Ham, the lives of thousands of people have been touched, improved and respected by a team of dedicated, caring local people. The Trinity Centre is a place where the disadvantaged, the marginalised and those seeking refuge have come together to make friends, seek help and rebuild their lives. This series of images attempts to understand and document how the space within the centre contributes to a sense of belonging, which has been diminished by circumstance. June@junecadogan.com www.junecadogan.com
NICOLA CARASS
A lifetime in Sat The term ‘saturation’ refers to the fact that a diver’s bodily tissue has absorbed the maximum partial pressure of gas possible for that depth due to the diver being exposed to breathing gas at a certain pressure for long periods. After working at depths up to of 300 meters, the divers rest and live in a dry, pressurized saturation chamber at the same pressure as the depth they are working at. A team of 6 divers can operate continuously, with always one diver on the job, 24 hours a day for up to 28 days or longer. This is an extreme environment, which changes the physiological state of the human body. It takes longer to retrieve a diver from a depth of 100 meters than an astronaut from the surface of the moon. The first commercial saturation dive took place in 1962. 50 years on, the first generation of commercial saturation divers are nearing the end of their careers. The subtle physical and mental effects of hundreds of dives are only now becoming apparent. This work presents the environment of the saturation chamber and the technologies employed to monitor the divers. It also aims to recreate the repetition of the process commercial saturation divers endure. nicolacarass@gmail.com
SAMANTHA CAWSON
The Interference of Mr. A. Ferguson and Other Performances An installation piece that displays found objects and photographic media collected by the artist. Forced to act out their part, objects and photographs have been staged together to generate fictional histories. The project looks to provoke the imagination and plays upon the idea of artist as curator and manipulator. samantha.cawson@gmail.com www.samanthacawson.com
LIAN CHAN
Sommerhus I am interested in the expectation that the photograph provides us with access to the past. When placed alongside other photographs and objects, such as in an archive, threads of a story may begin to appear. However, these threads often seem random and unconnected. The photograph, like the archive, offers itself up to interpretation, yet, elusive in nature it cannot reveal everything. Each photograph has personal meaning to someone, which is lost to anyone else. Sommerhus is a reflection on the photograph and these characteristics, but also has a personal story to tell. Shortly before she was diagnosed with cancer, my mother began sorting our family archive of photographs. As the illness has advanced this activity has become a focal point for her. I have also been drawn to this mass of photographs, questioning what they mean to me and fearing their existence beyond my mother’s. We keep photographs to remind ourselves of how things were, yet they cannot match the memory or the reality and over time their stories are lost. During this painful time I struggle with these objects, which although precious, hold so many unfulfilled promises. Sommerhus is presented at Free Range as an interactive multi-media installation. lian.chan@tiscali.co.uk
MAX COAKLEY
I thought mankind was supposed to be civil To the people in these photographs I am superfluous, my life does not depend on their struggle, only my hopes Chris Killip I don’t know what I hope for the wild settlers that inhabit this derelict block, where I stayed for a matter of months. With this series I do not aim to glorify them or vilify them. They are what they are; humans like the rest of us. Humans at the sharp edge of society. This society is savage, bent and brutal. Their society. Your society. maxcoakley3@hotmail.com
UGNE DAINIUTE
2hr 3min 10sec, 80m2, 96kbps Common use of the term “photography” typically brings to mind two things; the act of image-making through visual selection and operation of a camera, and the result of this action in the form of the positive print. Due to its prominence in the pages of books, on the walls of exhibitions and its reproducibility across countless mediums, much attention is given to the latter. This work insists upon the validity of the former as performance and product. Taking theatre as its point of departure, 2hr 3min 10sec, 80m2, 96kbps addresses some fundamental limitations of the photographic medium. The opaque box creates a ‘stage’ onto which objects are placed, expanding the two-dimensional surface typically associated with photographs into three-dimensional space. The notion of objecthood is key to the layers of encased transparencies; these are not reproductions – facsimiles of an original stored elsewhere – but objects in and of themselves. Their production necessarily produces the photographer-as-performer-andscenographer, constructing a space in which to complete the specific set of actions understood as ‘photographing”. A video component of the work reconfirms this performative aspect of photographing, while providing the flow of unfolding time that still images necessarily abandon. Having taken their seat and begun to forget their surroundings within this enclosed and spotlit space, the viewer is invited, essentially, to enjoy a short play about photography. ugne.dainiute@gmail.com
LAWRENCE DALEY1
notes on blankness2
ideallythiswouldbeblank@gmail.com
1
notesonblankness.com
2
JOSH DINSMORE
Mother and Child The portrait often does nothing but record the architecture of the face. As such the photographic portrait is at something of a dead end so I am trying another approach. The pieces I am displaying in this show are entitled Mother and Child. They form portraits of fictional characters (which at the same time display some universal characteristics of the mother and child relationship). I think the easiest way to approach this piece is to look at the difference between the mother and the child. The Mother is specific in her complexity, whereas the child is unformed, infinite in its potential. Currently I see the photographs as a material entities. To add colour, add texture; the aim is to paint with photographs. But photographs, unlike paint, also have metaphors. I don’t want any clear linear threads. Instead, ideas and feelings emerge, disappear and reappear in new places. The acceptance of this sort of complexity seems key to our time. I have found it difficult to convey or even hold singular opinions. Instead each idea becomes immobile only relatively, in relation to another idea. One of the recurring metaphors within the Mother sculpture is that of the city. It is not possible to represent a whole city in a single photograph and this is how I feel about people as well. The attempt to represent a person in a single frame is flawed from the outset. The landmarks of a city, the record of a person’s face don’t express the experience of walking round a city or getting to know a person. Instead it’s this dense tangle of incohesive moments that make up a mother or a child. info@joshdinsmore.com www.joshdinsmore.com
MARK DUMBRELL
Organic An examination into social groups and political structures to see how photography can be used as a medium of social change.
CHRIS ELMES
Section 44 French philosopher Michael Foucault’s thoughts about the panopticon prison design have been revised over time and mixed with the latest technologies to become the tool of social control that we have today – closed circuit television. What used to be wordof-mouth stories propagated by church leaders to control the masses have become state of the art digital surveillance cameras that can even see in the dark. Hand in hand with this, our country’s laws have changed to make the technological tools more powerful. In 2000 the Terrorism Act was brought in, with sections 43 and 44 giving police stop and search powers. With the combination of the new laws and evolving camera technology police have a greater control over the population. Every day people are watched by surveillance cameras while going about their lives, no group more so than those who also study their environment – photographers. In recent years, with heightened security and terrorist threats, the overseeing eyes of the authorities have looked upon photographers with greater suspicion. Photographers’ freedom to engage in their work or hobby has been suppressed. It is not unusual for photographers to be stopped and questioned about their activities. In this series of images I observed those who are being studied, both the watcher and the watched. Using a position of elevation, I watched unnoticed as my subjects went through their days. The angle I chose lent a ‘surveillance camera feel’ to the scenes. In the same way that a fixed surveillance camera works, I picked a location and waited for the subjects to arrive. chris.elmes74@gmail.com
HUGH ELPHICK
Inside – Images of Victorian Prisons in London The gothic architecture of Victorian prisons was purposely placed in residential areas to act as a deterrent to crime, making them symbols. These symbols have been photographed to show the metaphoric and literal boundaries in our society. Prison populations are rising in the West with America having the highest proportion of prisoners, approximately 2.3 million, amounting to double the number Stalin had put through the Gulags. It has been argued there is an element of torture in the modern mechanics of criminal justice and the images are intended to question how this is placed and accepted in our modern society. hughelphick@me.com
Above and opposite: Wandsworth Prison
ELISA FIGOLI
L’Aquila: fragments from the aftermath At 3:32 am of the 6th of April 2009 a violent earthquake struck L'Aquila (Italy) killing 309 people and leaving 65,000 homeless. Investigations conducted afterwards revealed that both private and public buildings did not comply with the safety standards and that the possibility of a serious seismic event has been largely underestimated. Two years later the reconstruction of the town has still not properly started and its inhabitants live dispersed in suburban and often anonymous areas. This series is part of an ongoing project documenting the difficult rebirth of the town and its community, affected by the collapse of the former social and geographical reference points, the uncertainty about the future, the harshness of daily life in an exploded urban environment. elisafigoli@gmail.com www.elisafigoli.com
DEBORA FRICKER
Know Depression Depression affects many people. This project takes the form of a calendar and aims to help and encourage sufferers to cope with depression. By focusing on mainly physical ways to help them deal with it, the pictures are aids to accompanying text, encouraging them to start a small task, which will hopefully develop into a habit. This calendar is intended to be an interactive art form. It has space for notes the owner may want to write, in order to help keep them organized. This enables a bigger perspective to see that they can do the things they need to do. It will also provide an opportunity to briefly jot down their feelings. debbiefricker@live.co.uk
KAY GARDINER
Living Document Our skin, unlike any other human organ, is intimately connected with our identity. Living Document is a photographic exploration of this connection that explores how the skin is an absolute to our individuality and remains as a document of our personal histories. There is no other place where the relationship between science and nature is more visible than on the skin. From the strength and vulnerability of the skin, to disruption of the skin forced by nature or trauma, the body’s canvas will always be linked to aesthetic values, scientific significance and cultural associations. The marks of the skin may contain factual information, but further examination of its hair, blemishes, birthmarks, scars or wrinkles, reveals many stories to be told. kaygardiner73@yahoo.co.uk
MAISIE GLIDDON
Endless Night
In this series of photographs I attempt to construct a perfect world, I want to try to create a moment that is separated from reality and also be unmistakably still, a feminine self that lays somewhere in the in-between. I am ultimately interested in is that moment of transcendence between the mind’s eye and reality. Submerged in areas beyond our understanding and preconceived knowledge existing only in our static reality. The women in the photographs represent our understanding nothing and everything in a fleeting moment. We exist alongside predetermined social conventions; even our understanding of what is real is controlled by a higher reason. With the addition of water comes separation and boundaries in a state that is neither one nor the other. The photographs allude to movement, or to a presence that isn’t actually in the space pictured, but in the experience of immersion and the time we get away from the allegedly concrete real. Some are born to sweet delight, Some are born to endless night. We are led to believe a lie When we see not through the eye Which was born in a night to perish in a night, When the soul slept in beams of light. William Blake
maisie.gliddon@gmail.com
JENNIFER GOTCH-KANE
The Aquarium Autism is a lifelong, invisible condition that has a wide spectrum of various characteristics that affect the development, behaviour and personality of an individual. From issues with anxiety and social interaction to behaviour and speech problems, the condition can present various complex obstacles for the person who has it. With encouragement, creative expression can prove a beneficial tool in assisting the development of an individual with Autism and can help with managing some of the difficulties the condition presents. In Visual Strategies for Improving Communication Linda Hodgdon writes of the ‘current social and educational trend to promote increased community participation for people who experience disabilities’. In order to progress towards an inclusive society and provide more opportunities we must first fully understand the condition so we can adequately support those who manage it. For this project photography has been used as a tool for the social and creative development of someone managing Autism; Aron has Asperger Syndrome, a highfunctioning form of Autism. Over the span of a year photography was introduced to Aron’s visits to the Aquarium, an important interest of his. This video is a product of the time spent on this collaborative project and provides an insight into his world. jennifergotch-kane@hotmail.com
The Aquarium – Still from the video
MACIEJ GROMAN
Faces Within modern society, men are given a highly unrealistic and unachievable stereotype. Faces was created as reminder that this media-propagated stereotype, this hegemonic masculinity, is not the only valid choice. It sets to portray as many different varieties of masculinity as possible in order to show how real masculinity is defined by the person, rather than an auxiliary, rigid and inconvenient stereotype. info@gromanphotography.com
Above: Filipe Opposite: Wes
DIANA GUR
A heap of broken images What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow Out of this stony rubbish? T.S. Elliot The Waste Land, a post war poem about broken humanity in search of meaning, by T.S.Elliot, was the starting point for my project and refers to many of the themes I am interested in – history, life, rebirth, time, and water. I have photographed objects that are often overlooked in and around the River Thames to create an image in which I see traces of histories and a form of language linking past and present. diana.gur08@googlemail.com
NATALIE HALFORD
Quintessentially English My work is inspired by clichĂŠs and ideas associated with England. natalieannephoto@gmail.com www.shuttermade.com/nataliehalford
ED HANNAN
Radiant City edwardjameshannan@gmail.com www.edwardjameshannan.com
TOMAS HEIN
Archaeology Now
Archaeology Now emerged from a casual discovery of a recent eviction in Islington. My decision to photograph what was left behind had to do with my curiosity for the space, the objects, the story and a culture that I’ve always been far from fully understanding. The attempt to understand through photography might prove futile, but nonetheless there emerges a narrative that we can try to piece together to the best of our abilitity. Masked under the immediate documentary purpose of the project, Archaeology Now also brings into question notions of the photographic object and the materiality of the photograph, and looks into the idea of the photograph as ephemera. The pictures presented at the show were all shot in situ throughout the month of February 2011, using only the objects left behind by the former tenants of the apartment at 43 Gerrard Road. contact@tomashein.com www.tomashein.com
Opposite: Artifact 009, 60x40in, Digital C-Type Above: Artifact 004, 10x8in, Fibre Based Paper Top: Artifact 006, 10x8in, Fibre Based Paper
SAMUEL HEMMINGS
MIGRATE Where we are born is chosen for us, where we choose to live as an adult is our own choice. My work looks at the journey people take through life and how and why they choose to reside in the city of London and the United Kingdom. info@samuelhemmings.com www.samuelhemmings.com
Above and opposite: Miz
MAYUMI HIRATA
空華 Flowers in the sky This work invites you on a journey into zen meditation. Our fast moving modern life is stressful, most people try to do the maximum, hurrying from one thing or another. With no time to look up and gaze at the air or the sky, we are, instead, busy looking down (often fiddling with mobile phones and computers). Flowers in the sky is a translation of the Japanese word “Kuge” 空華. ‘Sky’ stands for ‘empty’ thus this can, perhaps, be better rendered as “flowers in the emptiness”, conveying Buddha’s concept of the nature of illusion and that ‘nothing has a fixed form’. The visual image, of ‘sky’ is a simple mundane subject that everyone sees everyday. However, people forget the importance of sky. The sky changes the mood of people and their emotions. The sky is the largest canvas in the world, it is ever-changing and never the same. But, in fact, the sky is empty. The colour of the sky is an optical illusion – Buddhist scriptures tell us that all things are empty forms, all things are illusion. mayumi.hirata@mac.com
LUCY HOARE
through the looking glass Through the Looking Glass is a self-reflective project that aims to blur the lines between photography and digital painting. Photorealism takes both the artist and viewer on an intense journey of observation and curiosity. Through these two self-portraits I aim to challenge the viewer’s perception of modern portraiture. How well do we really know ourselves? That is the question. We are confronted with our own reflection every day, yet we are almost entirely unaware that our face presents two very different views when seen in profile. No face is symmetrical, therefore to observe oneself in profile is only possible with the aid of a camera. These portraits create a dynamic viewing situation that involves the subject, artist and viewer all participating in the experience of observation, through the looking glass that is photography. Lucyhoare.photographic@gmail.com
ZARA ILIĆ
Plitvi ka Jezera The Croatian coastline and the thousands of enchanted islands dotted along it are renowned for their beauty and serenity but once you wander inland towards the Bosnian border you stumble across something that will surely take your breath away. PlitviČka Jezera, a UNESCO (World Heritage listed) National Park that was established in 1949 holds Croatia’s highest waterfalls and looks spectacular in any season. I put these photographs together from a trip there in August when the lakes were a deep azure colour and all the trees were in their full summer bloom. Because of the quality of minerals and organisms in the water, the colour in the sixteen lakes is constantly changing. Whilst walking round the eight km of steep winding pathways and wooden slatted trails that cross lakes and waterfalls alike, the altitude ranges from 503m to 636m above sea level. This creates a real feeling of layers to the park and twinned with that are the continuous sounds of the multitudes of animal species that inhabit the park. This has to be one of the most serene and inspiring places I have ever visited and possibly one of my favourite of all time, it was a pleasure photographing it. zara.ilic@gmail.com
CLARE JACKSON
And I saw the dead... This image comments on the western world’s exploitation of the earth’s resources through man’s greed. It is a cynical representation of the story of the last judgement as written in the bible where “...each person was judged according to what they had done.” (Revelation 20:12). It shows the dead about to be judged, desperate for an answer on whether they will be allowed through the gates of heaven. Recognising the disastrous impact on the planet their excessive consumption is causing, the subjects are clambering to enter before it is too late and the gates are forever closed. bearjacks@mac.com www.clarejacksonphotography.co.uk
NATALIA JANULA
Two Seconds
The mind operates most efficiently by relegating a good deal of high- level, sophisticated thinking to the unconscious, just as a modern jetliner is able to fly on automatic pilot with little or no input from the human ‘conscious’ pilot. Two Seconds is space of unconscious engagement and autopilot viewership. Amidst an arrangement of objects and images that invite, strain or defy notions of a unifying logic, viewers are invited to use the space as a vehicle for experiencing their own cerebral, physical and affective responses to visual and tactile stimuli. nataliajanula@gmail.com
AMELIA KAPLAN
Light and Composition Within a photograph it is essentially light and composition that allows a certain object to become the main focus within a frame. It is that object which normally allows a photograph to be linked to reality. My work looks at the use of photography as a tool for painting. My images are experimental in creating light and composition focused images. milk6@hotmail.co.uk
AMY KLIMEK
Requiem for the Retrospect With 90% of the UK population now owning a digital camera and with hard drive space in abundance, the hard copy is rapidly becoming a relic of the past and their subjects enclosed within a digital tomb. Similarly 90% of museum – and gallery – exhibits are destined to remain on the shelves of vast storage units. The selection of taxidermy and osteological specimens used in this collection are from the Horniman Museum in South East London, some of which date back over 150 years. This exhibit endeavours to highlight the endangered, dying and deceased using and including techniques potentially destined to meet a similar conclusion. This project was made possible by the generous support of the Horniman Museum
amy_klimek@live.co.uk
BASHI KOLIBAROVA
Drafts Drafts of 10 months between London and Tokyo. bashikolibarova@gmail.com
Image from the book Drafts
NADEJDA KRASTEVA
Silence Silence is a body of work which underlines the absence of people. The series of low saturated landscapes reflect on emptiness and indicate small traces of human presence. nadetok@hotmail.com www.wix.com/krasteva/nadejda
ANNA LIPSKA
STAFF ONLY There are hundreds of Gentleman’s Clubs across England and unless you are regular customer to these establishments, your knowledge and opinions of the women, who take up a career in this type of environment will be based upon rumours and hearsay. The text and the photographs in this book show what takes place behind the closed curtains of a town centre Lap Dancing Club in the middle of England, hence the title “Staff Only”. The purpose of these images is for us to recognise that these women live and exist like any other person before they start work in the evening as an exotic dancer. In the year I spent with the women, I observed the dramatic transformation that they go through, as they prepare for their evenings work as a dancer. The viewer has the opportunity to observe these women backstage and the chance to examine what happens behind the scenes; a view that most people will never get the chance to see. annalipskaphotography@gmail.com
JORDAN MARY
After The Barber The barbershop in India represents a public space where individuals converge regardless of wealth, social class or background. Each person was photographed after a shave, haircut or both. jordan@jordanmary.com www.jordanmary.com
PHOEBE MCHALE
Interactions Interactions is a personal exploration of human behaviour through new communication technologies, focusing on the website Chat Roulette. Chat Roulette allows users to communicate with each other through a webcam and chat window. They are connected randomly, and have the ability to end the conversation by pressing a ‘next’ button - creating an almost consequence free environment. I have investigated the environment by immersing myself in it. I interact with users and record our conversations directly from the screen, I then replay the footage and photograph myself and the people I have spoken to. phoebe.mc@hotmail.co.uk Phoebemc.tumblr.com
ANIELA MICHALEC-PERRIAM
Pur-spi-kas-i-tee Perspicacity is considered to be the ability of seeing clearly with a depth of insight and understanding. Many children with communication difficulties are often categorized and labelled in order for other members of society to understand them. Unfortunately these labels can often lead to negative stereotyping. Ironically these children’s identity becomes hidden to the world by this definitive language which is often the very barrier for when trying to express them selves to others. This project is a collaboration with a group of children who have specific needs in communication which can lead to their social exclusion. By providing the visual as an alternative to the spoken form, an opportunity has been created for each child to spontaneously and freely communicate part of their individuality and self identity. anielaperriam@live.co.uk
MARC NEUMANN
Solitude solitude | säl t(y)ood| 1
e
1
noun the state or situation of being alone • a lonely or uninhabited place. marc.neumann@mail.com
SAM NIGHTINGALE
Leaving the Cinema: Spectres of Film Leaving the Cinema: Spectres of Film visualises film’s abandonment: articulated in architectural sites and ocular sights, and through the material and the dematerialised. Here, film is addressed as an infrastructure (grain, pixel), as architecture (the cinema), as a substrate (brick, celluloid) and as sensitised material for social and cultural memory. Leaving the Cinema addresses three spectral spaces that witness the appearance and disappearance of film. Locating the city as both the home of cinema’s invention and its subsequent abandonment, the photographic prints that make up Islington’s Lost Cinemas focus on the Borough of Islington: the former home to more than 40 movie theatres since cinema’s invention in 1896. The one-time lavish ‘picture palaces’ have now all but disappeared leaving in their place the unspectacular sight of the urban everyday. In the world of digital dissemination the site of film takes a different dimension where recycled images found on e-Bay advertising long forgotten films become valued commodities traded through digital networks. The cost to film is its own materiality – iconic frames are frozen, compressed and repeatedly re-sampled, each time decaying the image a little further. Picture Has Not Been Checked demonstrates how celluloid, grain and emulsion are replaced with the new structure of the image – the pixel. A few aberrant frames from an abandoned home-movie become the spectral space of film explored in the video installation Film. Calling to its own structural substrate, Film is born from the artefact of the filmstrip: a stream of celluloid flows, the plasticity of the filmstrip degenerates and images blur into abstraction leaving only an auratic trail in film’s attempt to free itself from former material constraints. info@samnightingale.com www.samnightingale.com
Top: Copenhagen Cinema Middle: People’s Picture Playhouse Bottom: Avenue Picture Palace Opposite: Still from Film
SHELLEY N. NOTT
Different From All Other Nights? Jewish homes around the world celebrate the start of the festival of Passover with a Seder service and meal. This is the time when the story is told and re-told to generation after generation of the exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. It is a reaffirmation of our relationship with God. It is a memory that is deep within me. The only service that takes place in the home, it is traditionally a great gathering of family and friends with everyone at the table reading sections of the service For a young person it is a special night. As the youngest member of my family it fell to me to ask the questions that start the telling of the story, beginning with “Why is tonight different from all other nights?” The table is rich with symbolism. In the centre is the Seder plate on which are five foods representing slavery and freedom. There is a silver goblet, larger than any others on the table, filled with wine awaiting the appearance of the prophet Elijah who will herald the coming of the Messiah. In memory of the haste in which the Israelites left, we eat only unleavened bread called Matzo, three pieces of which are covered and placed on the table. All of these elements are central to the Seder and conjure up my childhood memories. This project has meant exploring my faith, my background and my heritage, something I haven’t done for many years and which I have often found very difficult to do. It can be tricky to declare oneself as a Jew, but perhaps now is the time. snn@shelleynott.co.uk
HELEN PAGE
Colour Photographs Colour photographs is a set of images led purely by aesthetic concerns, allowing the visual to prevail over content. The subject of each photograph is the shape, colour and structure that form it. These three elements are the foundation that form every photograph. The aesthetic qualities in an image can leave one trying to pinpoint what is captivating beyond the surface. Perhaps the fact that aesthetics in certain images have the ability to absorb the viewer is the thing that can make them so appealing and interesting. The images use the mundane surroundings of the everyday as an opportunity to explore light, colour, shape and structure. These allow ordinary objects that aren’t usually intriguing to be transformed in to an appealing image, creating order and potentially pleasing visuals. The photographs were taken on a trip to Switzerland using a twin lens medium format camera. This type of film camera requires the photographer to look down in to the view finder encouraging a precision and attention to detail with each shot. In each image the content is distanced from its nominal context and re-structured within the frame. Photographing in a location unfamiliar to me gave me the ability to see a different kind of everyday and enabled me to appreciate my surroundings more greatly. helenlouisepage@gmail.com www.helenpagephotography.co.uk
ALESSIA PALOMBO
‘Nanny Anny’ In most big cites of the world, the fetish is not a taboo anymore and people have their fetish side. Although, some people are more familiar and open to share it with different people, there are some others who do not like to do it or even see it. In the presented project I document and report a side of fetish that I like to call ‘the adult baby scene’. In England and in other countries there are places called ‘Nursery’. According to the facts, in this places people go to spend hours, days or weekends. The reason why those people like to go there is to be treated as a baby and receive sexual services. There are different nannies that work in the nurseries to satisfy the needs of each client, they are free to decide the various services they want to provide the client. Therefore, as in every business the more services you provide the more money you earn. My aim is to understand the reason why women do those kinds of jobs when they could have other job positions. Why do they sell themselves? For money, pleasure or both? Furthermore, in order to document this aspect of the fetish world I conducted an audio interview with the ‘Boss’ of the nursery and the nanny in the picture. To protect the privacy of the people I shoot I did not photograph any of their faces and their names will remain anonymous. palombo.alessia@gmail.com
ROCÍO PÉREZ-FERNÁNDEZ
Wide Tube Here there is no allegory to be found, no secret meaning or symbolic journey, no uninterrupted thread of meaning, but rather just a succession of isolated moments, gazes, sights, one-off occurrences with the only link that they are all pictures taken in the underground network system of London, the long tube that crosses the inner entrails of the city allowing its inhabitants to conveniently travel through it. Here the tube is the motif, the linking element. And yet, these are not pictures about the tube itself, or about the people in it, but rather about the rules of conduct that regulate the tension, interaction and dialogue between the individual, the setting and the eye of the camera watching. Carles Gutiérrez-Sanfeliu, 2011 rocpephoto@yahoo.com
JASON PIERCE-WILLIAMS
Artists Behind countless plywood doors scattered across London in studios both large and (mostly) small, artists daub, scrape, scratch, mold, sculpt, throw, weld, splatter, fold and tear their ideas, emotions, interpretations and responses of and to the world onto a collective and restless canvas. The inspirations and motives are equally diverse, ranging from the wholly uncomplex enjoyment of being alone in a quiet studio for hours on end, to deeper, more psychological agendas, some even verging on what can only be described as a form of trauma management, or therapy at the very least. They do appear, however, to share a broad consensus of opinion in relation to the place and relevance of the overall artistic endeavour, being, essentially, as a kind of antidote - the flip-side if you like - to everything in this life which is purely functional, pragmatic, sensible, logical, rational, and all those emotions and activities predicated on the blunt, day to day exigencies of simply getting by in the modern world. None of the artists portrayed are household names. It is doubtful whether any of them even particularly care. There are no celebrities here, but simply a collection of people whose backgrounds and circumstances are as diverse as the manner in which they choose to express and respond to these backgrounds and the world in which they find themselves, and the whole project has consequently been shot in a style indended to emphasise rather than detract from this diversity. All these images were taken at Wimbledon Arts Studios, being one of the largest complexes in London and from where almost 300 artists operate from their various studio spaces. The work may also be seen, therefore, as a microcosm of this large, collective artistic operation. jwilliams14@hotmail.com
Kevin Herlihy, Artist
KATHERINE PISIOLEK
Alternative When times are bad, the decisions we made come back to haunt us and then we often stop and think, what if? What if we turned left or right? Would we get to our destination faster? Did we make right choices along the way? The right choices for us? Would our lives have turned out differently; better or worse? Or did we have no choice in this life of ours; did life, destiny or circumstances put us on a designated path and our choice was taken away, or never existed in the first place?
kat.pisiolek@gmail.com
DABINDER KAUR RAI
At times we become so absorbed in the practicalities of life that we lose our sense of self. Our unique qualities, habits, and general way of being are worn away until we no longer recognise ourselves. This is the place I found myself. Without even realizing it the person who I was changed into the person who I thought I should be just to get ahead in the world. It didn’t work. It just left me feeling empty. I began to think about those times in my life when I was the happiest, in the hope it might reveal some clues on how I might feel like this once more. I realized it was usually when I was walking in and around the forests, woods, and coast of England. In these places I felt free and at peace. I was enchanted by the birds singing in the trees and the crash of the waves on the shore. Here I could replay the day’s events, and think what I might do differently next time. I could think about my family and friends and about how adorable and annoying they could be. I could refocus on those things that were most important to me. I could create order out of the chaos. Here I could be myself and that would be good enough. dabinder.rai@gmail.com
Top: Nettlebed, Henly on Thames Above: Nettlebed, Henly on Thames Opposite: Canford Heath
AMY READ
Human Human was inspired by a need to resist the saturation of glamorized media images that surround us in our every day lives. The aim was to offer a true portrayal of the human body with all its imperfections. Beautiful, but not perfect, these images challenge the sale of idealized, flawless and unreachable bodily perfection. amyhread@hotmail.co.uk amyhreadphotography.com
JULIA RIDDIOUGH
Roxanne It’s a strange sensation this double life: a sense of always looking at myself through the eyes of others. j_riddiough@hotmail.com
GENEVIEVE RUDD
64 Althaea Green This mixed-media piece is collaboration between my grandfather, James Pettigrew, and myself. The images are on the subject of my grandmother’s dementia and set in the home that she has moved from due to her illness. In Spring 2010, my grandmother was diagnosed with frontal lobe dementia. This culminated in her having to be moved out of their home, firstly into the local hospital and then into an specialist hospital for elderly people suffering from mental health issues, which is located over 10 miles away in another county. In this project, I have documented the house that my grandparents have lived together in for over 40 years. We have used memory to look at places in the home where she is remembered. These are places she spent most of her life in, bringing up the family, and living out her elder years. She is still in our lives, but not able to be where the family sees as her ‘place’; this notion of fragmentation is the drive of the project. Fragmentation is not only the concept, but also describes the visual aesthetic of the combination of paint and photography. The calm chaos of overlapping paint reflects the emotional complications of how family members cope with dementia. As an artist, I am drawn to creating work around human emotional complexities, which relates to my personal involvement in community art projects and groups for vulnerable people. genevieverudd0@gmail.com
NASREEN SHAIKH
Performance video (4:19 min) This performance piece is an idealization of my attempts at overcoming a traumatic experience. It explores two perspectives, the ocean, the limited physicality, the expansive meta-reality and me. It is my attempt at breaking through the psychological barrier of desolation – symbolized by the glass – in order to ‘become’. Furthermore, a narrative of identity is emphasized in order to bring out the idiosyncratic features of a young woman in headscarf. The horizontal line across the glass highlights the dual nature of the inner and outer, and the tumultuous ocean gives us a picture of the dynamic interaction between inner quiet and global upheaval. That is, to be in the world but not to be of it. reen.shaikh@googlemail.com http://nasreenshaikh.blogspot.com/
LOUISE AMABELLE SMITH DE VASCONCELOS
Awareness and Perception. On average, a viewer in a gallery will take no longer than six seconds to look at a single image before they make a first assumption or opinion. The five images I have taken each represent one of the human senses: sight, sound, smell, touch and taste. We all rely on these five senses everyday to attach and engage ourselves with certain objects. These images were taken with a small depth of field in order for the subject to appear distorted. In result, the objects photographed become less identifiable at a first glance; this may force the audience to spend extra time trying to associate and identify themselves with these images. tigerlilytakesphotos@live.com
HELENA SOCRATOUS
Something Borrowed The photographs in this series were taken to inspire a different way of approaching fashion. The subjects are clothed with items from charity shops, clothes swaps and unique handmade pieces. In our current climate it is useful to utilise what we already own to make fashion more sustainable. hsocratous@gmail.com
CHARLOTTE EVE STREETER
Influences from both fashion and fine art are drawn together within the photographs in order to explore movement and textures through fashion imagery. The tactility and abstraction presented within both sets of photographs are intended to highlight the uncertainty and suggestibility of the images, stimulating viewer-specific sensations and allowing individual interpretation. info@charlotteevestreeter.com
SHANNA TAYLOR
The Garage My father’s hoarding is the regular subject of heated debate amongst my family. The scale of the hoarding is so catastrophic that he has built an extra garage. His largest garage stores a vast and varied collection of items amassed over the course of more than twenty years. Much of what he has accumulated is junk. What’s more, exposure to cold and damp has left it rotting. However, for him, each item has such a high degree of perceived value, he cannot bear to part with it. My dad likes to keep us away from his hoard. I honestly believe he thinks that if we don’t go near it, we won’t realise the scale of the problem. afterglowphoto@hotmail.com
NATHAN TOPER
Kings Parade Kings Parade epitomises a popular notion of Cambridge; that of wealth, architecture, the university town, the famous individuals who have resided in the city; Fry, Cleese, Newton, Darwin. Even the name ‘Kings Parade’ conjures majestic ideas without knowledge of the street; royalty, riches, displays of power. All this information is reduced to a minimum in the blurred background while the photographs concentrate on the people travelling through the space. ‘Kings Parade’ is one of the most famous streets in the city. The varied expressions and postures are shown through visual consistency in a book containing twenty-one photographs. Included in the book is an essay titled Acronyms, Images, Areas: The Idea of Cambridge by Kevin Clarke. ntoper@theportableexhibition.co.uk
JOLANTA VALENIECE
Vagali “I saw a rainbow once, rise from just above the tall tree tops next to the neighbours’ house and I was convinced that if I climbed that tree, I could actually touch it.” This work explores the notion of the happy state of childhood that presents itself in the form of childhood memories. It does not aim to prove the correctness of the memories or to find the truth. Rather it attempts to reinforce and preserve the story as it occurs in the authors’ memory. The author is trying to reconstruct the picture of childhood moments through images from the family album, new images of childhood places revisited and a selection of author’s memories. It is a sentimental attempt to recreate something that is gone and to hold on to something that is disappearing. An attempt to say the unsaid and to relive. jolanta@jolantavaleniece.com
Rainbow, from the series Vagali, 2011
OLIVIA VAN DER WILL
Pin-Up This project has taken me on a journey which began with me being inspired by the American pin-up artists Gil Elvgren and Zoe Mozert, along with many of the early pin-up darlings such as Marilyn Monroe, Marlene Dietrich and Betty Grable, to name but a few. I loved the playful feel of the imagery, the tease, the feminine selfconfidence and the wide appeal such images hold. My journey began when in sixth form I decided to photograph a model based on the film Cabaret. I always wanted to do more with this idea and work with pin-up girls again in the future. Further stages on my journey took me to a weekend re-enactment, Wartime in the Vale where I photographed a burlesque performer. Later, I photographed in top burlesque clubs in London: Proud Cabaret and The Bath House. While photographing these venues I discovered the delightfully beautiful Betsy Rose who is an international burlesque performer and model and who is seen in my photographs. I want to capture a modern day pin-up girl who evokes memories of the original pin-up girls through her classic look and personality. ovanderwill@hotmail.co.uk
BETH VIEIRA
Scouting For Boys Scouting for Boys explores themes of representation in cinema, male identity and masculinity. beth@bethvieira.com www.bethvieira.com
Stills from the video installation Scouting for Boys
ZUZANA ZAFEROVA
‘THEY ARE US…’ They are us. They are the ones that were kept in the dark. They are the ones that we didn’t see, we didn’t speak of or with. They are the ones whose voices we didn’t hear. Communism left a dark stain and blighted the lives of many. Many were consigned to obscurity and subjected to a lifestyle well below what is now considered acceptable. Most of all, the disabled, like many of the marginalized, were kept hidden from sight and their voices were muted, as were the voices of their loved ones. Fast forward a quarter of a century later and opportunities for them to develop their lives are now a reality, on a par with the rest of the world. With the sweeping changes and democratisation of a once communist society, Nitra, a Slovakian town now has a new day-centre for the disabled and those with learning difficulties. A requirement under the new laws. zuzicka.z@hotmail.co.uk
THE DEGREE SHOW EXHIBITION CATALOGUE INCLUDES WORK FROM THESE COURSES:
BA Photography (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 course is part time and is aimed at 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
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