Alchemists - a-n The Artists Information Company

Venue: Viewfinder Photography Gallery
Starts: Thursday, April 29, 2010
Ends: Sunday, May 30, 2010
Address: Viewfinder Photography Gallery Linear House Peyton Place (off Royal Hill) Greenwich London SE10 8RS
Location: London

The Viewfinder Photography Gallery presents a group exhibition of photographic images created using alternative techniques, cameras and media. Taking inspiration from painterly approaches, ‘pure’ photography and specialist printing techniques, these photographers challenge the potential ease and speed of producing a digital image, and defy picture-perfect effects in favour of more whimsical and mysterious images. The photographers present us with an eclectic set of striking images: from ghosts and mirror worlds to coastlines and portraits.

Joanne Mills

As an artist, I am fascinated by the worlds of the real and the unreal, and the places in which they meet and overlap. This can be represented by objectsÂ Â Â Â such as the mirror, which can be interpreted both literally and as portals to another dimension, the â€˜mirror worldâ€™ where nothing is as it seems, but where nothing in this world can exist without its polar opposite â€“ light and dark, tragedy and beauty, creation and devastation.Â

Equally my work exists in this semi-real dimension â€“ There may be a very clear subject or message in my work, often there is more than one way of looking at it â€“ the viewerâ€™s own vision is as unique and important as my own.Â

We all possess the potential to imagine, to create alternative and impractical scenarios, and I am fascinated by art that both expresses the child-like sense of play and makes the impossible possible, such as the work of the Surrealist photographers, and the recent developments in creating interactive spaces to explore using virtual environments such as Second Life.

My long-standing interest in fairytales, myths, legends and gothic literature further ties in with the idea of the looking glass world where nothing is what it seems â€“ the beautiful can be deadly, humans can fly, and anything is possible.Â

My own practice stems from this, as I aim to create immersive spaces for the spectator to interact with and explore, or which hint at the unknown space beyond â€“ that the spectator can experience if they choose to â€˜step insideâ€™.

The research that I undertake runs very closely with the work that I produce, focusing on the space between the real and unreal, and the interaction between the spectator and an artwork.