so most of march was consumed by the run up to the exhibition which took place on the 28th March, a monday night which i think meant a lot of people couldn’t make it but it did mean all the print centre lot could as it was timed with open access and they did all turn up eventually and it was a very enjoyable evening.
i think i was a bit shell shocked that it was actually over, i’d taken a lot of time off from the hospital residency to finish stuff, there’s always so much more than you think and its always such a sprint to the finish line no matter how organised you are. so i’d been there every day of the week for a couple of weeks and was really quite a shock to the system to stop. so much so that i think its taken me the best part of a month to recover, although that is recovery from a whole winter of similar pace.
since i have been trying to claw back together what i’m doing at the hospital hence the delay on this blog being finished, i always get there in the end though somehow.
some more images from the ‘unclaimed and reclaimed spaces’ series…
My work has gravitated very much towards photography and printing from the photographs using the gum arabic method. the subject matter is still hovering around the idea of nature taking over the urban environment and human beings taking over or having an interaction with a disused space.
I find i am constantly absorbed by the aesthetics of these environments and become focussed on an image because of its beauty not because of what it says as an image. I am equally interested in making some kind of social comment about the beauty found in decay and what potential can be discovered from what is so easily discarded as derelict or broken. Also i want to make the point that no matter how hard we try to conquer nature she will always take back what is rightfully hers and it only makes sense to work with nature not against.
In this i hope to point out that those people who are often marginalised or criminalised like the travelling communities are actually living some of the most sensible and healthy lifestyles. Often a site can look messy and daunting but looking closer you find that pile of broken pots is actually someones herb garden and that wall no-one ever sees is host to some fabulous art work. Its not what you see its the way you see it!
I am not sure whether i have achieved this yet, i’m fairly sure i havn’t but i think i have made a good start at what is hopefully going to be an interesting body of work…
some more of their work… some of the plates looked as good as the prints.
some of their work… this forms part of the final exhibition which looks great up on the wall all together.