┐ Neeta Madahar └

@ Neeta Madahar, Sustenance #95, 2003

@ Neeta Madahar, Sustenance #97, 2003

“Neeta Madahar’s subjects in Sustenance are quite ordinary—ordinary birds like finches, cardinals and blue jays. Her setting, too, is ordinary—her Boston backyard. But what makes this British artist’s work extraordinary is the sense of wonder and magic she
creates despite these unexceptional circumstances. It was this push-pull of opposing forces—the ordinary and the extraordinary, the quotidian and the fantastic—that drew me into this stunning collection of fourteen photographs.
(…)
Birds are the perfect symbol for duality. They simultaneously belong to two worlds: Air and Land (and sometimes Water). In mythology, they are at times harbingers of evil and death—woodpecker tapping on a house brings bad news, peacock feathers prevent babies from being born—and at other times, they are signs of good luck and renewal—a wren building a nest near your house brings good luck, birds’ arrival marks the beginning of Spring.
(…)
Birds are a brilliant metaphor for our new world, a new way to define home: birds fly and migrate yet they also nest and are from a certain region. Neeta Madahar’s Sustenance embodies a world that is located neither here nor there, but one that exists in a hyphenated space—one that allows for multiplicities, one in which we can perhaps all feel at home. I know I did.”

excerpt from the article Hyphen-Nation: The Search for Home in Neeta Madahar’s Sustenance, by Anar Ali. Continue reading here

More of Neeta’s work here and here

┐ Davide Maione └

© Davide Maione, Reaching

© Davide Maione, Beaten (left) and Appeal (right), from Outlines and Annotations

© Davide Maione, What it takes to keep a young girl alive

“What It Takes to Keep a Young Girl Alive is a diptych of photographs that takes its title from a short story by Jayne Anne Phillips. Whilst being the departing point for creating a link between portraiture, narrative and performance, Phillips’ short story functions as fictional milieu for exploring notions of selfhood and subjectivity.

The diptych seizes on the very essence of Phillips’ story: the repetitive gestures of menial labour, the dead end job when there should be a future and the withdrawal from public space to avoid being looked at.

The juxtaposition of the title of the story with the spare photographs succinctly suggests a life of meagre means and a metaphorical expression of a banal and yet tragic predicament. The young girl in the photograph counts and marks the days in the manner of a prisoner. And yet as she does so, she also creates a picture out of the blank wall -perhaps an answer to what could be a question: ‘What does it take to keep a young girl alive?”

More of David’s work here

┐ El Plus En └

© Luke Norman & Nik Adam, Untitled, from the project Ellerker Gardens, 2011

© Luke Norman & Nik Adam, Untitled, from the project Ellerker Gardens, 2011

© Luke Norman & Nik Adam, Untitled, from the project Ellerker Gardens, 2011

“We wanted to focus on the ‘in-between’, the volatile state of mind in which instability manifests itself, where an uncertain state of mind can produce dark and bizarre outcomes,” says Norman. “The idea is all about letting go; you have to fall out of reality to engage with the pictures – the pictures are there to trigger thoughts inside your head,” adds Adam. “I think the best way to view this work would be to spend an evening with it. It’s a very tricky project to explain because, essentially, we were looking into our own thoughts and what occurs in our own minds. But hopefully the essence of the picture is captured, and therefore a viewer can translate that to their own thoughts and interpretations.”

source: British Journal of Photography, article by Diane Smyth

More of their work here

┐ Melinda Gibson └

© Melinda Gibson, from the project Photography as contemporary art, 2011

© Melinda Gibson, from the project Photography as contemporary art, 2011

If Melinda Gibson’s photomontages look familiar, don’t be surprised. A flash of Ed Burtynsky here, a slice of Juergen Teller there, they are all made up of elements of some of the major works of the 1990s and 2000s, culled from the pages of The Photograph As Contemporary Art. Written and edited by Charlotte Cotton (former curator at the V&A and LACMA, and now creative director of the UK’s National Media Museum), it is one of the key texts for students starting out in photographic education. Which is precisely why the 26-year-old, who graduated from London College of Communication in 2006 and is now a visiting lecturer herself, chose to use it.

“I wanted to produce a body of work that was original – unique pieces unable to be reproduced – which in turn commented on the availability of photography in our heightened digitalised age. I also wanted to provoke questions about copyright and ownership through the re-appropriation of imagery. What is important to me is questioning the medium and the conventions that surround it, examining these and suggesting other ways to view them.”
Using just a scalpel, an adhesive and “a lot of patience”, she took the book apart (…)

But, as she has already hinted, there’s another, more critical purpose to the work, in particular the way such books serve to canonise particular photographers and images. “What I find frustrating is that the same images appear and re-appear every year at [educational] institutions. As you wonder through the different degree shows, you feel as though you have seen it all before – just modern takes on Martin Parr, Stephen Shore or Nan Goldin. What crossed my mind was whether these institutions are to blame for this, or whether it is truly impossible to produce something new. In my view, the canonisation of such sources acts as a hindrance to creativity, where people feel they have to produce something similar to be accepted or understood.”

in British Journal of Photography. Continue reading

Melinda’s blog here

┐ Julie Cockburn └

© Julie Cockburn, The Veil, Embroidery on found photograph, 2011

© Julie Cockburn, The Astronaut, Embroidery on found photograph, 2011

“The loss of, or manipulation of, the human face is the most disturbing and fascinating aspect of Cockburn’s work. These faceless or masked portraits me of John Baldessari’s manipulated mass-media images. He often used colored dots, or other means, to cover faces, interrupting the viewer and de-personalizing the image. But Cockburn’s photographs seem to have the opposite effect. She often embroiders or cuts out shapes into a complex pattern, and this record of tedious physical labor draws me into her images. Furthermore, whereas Baldessari begins with mass media, Cockburn often begins with a portrait, or something that appears to come from a personal photo album. Still the manipulating work that Cockburn does on the photograph creates a barrier between myself and the subject, but this barrier is no greater than the history that already divides me from this image of yesteryear.

Her work strikes me as, metaphorically, having something to do with memory. Her “hand crafted” photographs point towards the intensely personal and perspectival nature of our memories. As we process and understand our experiences, does memory obliterate reality or is memory itself an act of discovery? It seems significant that many of her chosen photographs include women. This intensifies both the manipulative and hand-crafted nature of her work. Is memory — is history — gendered, and what control do those who are remembered have over those who are remembering?”

source: Transpositions, excerpt from text by Jim Watkins

More of Julie’s work here and here

┐ Walter Hugo └

© Walter Hugo, Oli Sims, from “reflecting the bright lights”

© Walter Hugo, Natalie Darby, from “reflecting the bright lights”

“In order to create the portraits, his sitters must stare at a bright light for 10 seconds without blinking, creating an intense and concentrated glare, a glass window into their souls. (…)

Can you talk us through the process of making a glass photograph?

Ok, I’ll try and simplify this as much as possible as it’s quite a scientific process. The process I’ve developed pre-dates modern photography, it’s from around 1850. First I had to build a camera, in order to make the glass plates in the size that I wanted. My camera houses a dark room, so the whole process takes place inside that, something like a 150 year old Polaroid! I prepare the glass meticulously before each sitting, cleaning and applying the chemicals that I have made specifically. My subject will then have to sit absolutely still for between five and ten seconds. This is more difficult than it sounds, especially with bright lights shining at them. Once the image is developed and fixed I can bring it out into the daylight and show everyone for the first time (including myself). This is a lovely joint experience.

source: i-D online interview

More of Walter’s work here

┐ Nicky Coutts └

© Nicky Coutts, Estates(Syon), 2007

© Nicky Coutts, Estates(Longleat), 2007

“The photograph Estates was based on 17th century drawings and paintings of stately homes originally commissioned to show them to their most opulent advantage. Each original is manipulated to look like a tower by copying and repeating the floors and placing them one above the other.”

source: Danielle Arnaud

more of Nicky’s work here

┐ Clare Strand └

© Clare Strand, Signs of Struggle, 2003

© Clare Strand, Signs of Struggle, 2003

AFH: Is photography primarily an expressive tool for you?

CS: Photography clearly has an important role in my work but its application is determined by my subject matter. If you look back on my work, I have no one photographic style. I tend to manipulate the process to directly respond to the subject. Throughout my work I have appropriated existing photographic conventions to suit and embellish the subject. The majority of the conventions that I ‘borrow’ are sourced from the utilitarian applications of photography.

AFH: Do you start with a specific narrative or are you drawn to atmosphere and then later construct possible stories to explain or contextualise your images?

CS: When I start to make work it is totally subject driven and then I look around to see what business photography has with it – it never happens the other way round. Narratives sometimes emerge as part of this process, but they are always a bi-product, never a starting concern. My passion for photography is driven by utilitarian photography, which, in my opinion, is the source of some of the most visually rich photographic imagery – at its best offering baffling yet compelling visual-narrative possibilities. The appropriation of the utilitarian is evident through out my photography – in the conventions of 19th-century street/city portraiture shown in ‘Gone Astray’, and in the forensic applications in ‘Signs of a Struggle’; from the constructs of industrial Time and Motion photography in ‘The Betterment Room’ – Devices For Measuring Achievement’ to, most recently, the Aura photograph of the paranormal/spiritualist. This template of subject matter dictating photographic application continues throughout my work.

excerpt from Clare Strand’s interview with Ana Finel Honigman

Clare’s work here and much more information on her projects can easily be found online.

┐ Jan von Holleben └

© Jan von Holleben, Untitled #14, from the series Mystery of Monsters, 2009

© Jan von Holleben, Untitled #15, from the series Mystery of Monsters, 2009

“Like amateur pornography, the pleasure of von Holleben’s work derives from its honesty. “People appreciate I’m not over-constructing an image: changing it in Photoshop 25 times, and their sense of reality alongside. I’m mucking around, but I’m not trying to cheat anyone (…) Play shapes von Holleben’s worldview – he sees it as a way to explore selfhood, relationships and ultimately reality. “Alongside Homo sapiens exists Homo ludens – the person who understands himself and the world through play,” says von Holleben. It’s an old idea, he points out. Alongside the Dutch theorist who coined the phrase, references to the primacy of play can be found from Aristotle to the Bible. The perspective fits snugly with von Holleben’s own past, too. He grew up in a commune, and spent innumerable afternoons building treehouses with friends. Seen in this context, his images are simply open games. Adopting the furniture and locations of everyday life lends them an immediate surrealism, and their deliberate crudeness makes the game explicit. Von Holleben’s viewers must invest themselves to consummate the image, and the outcome is magical realism. “The viewer has the chance to understand what I’ve done, but I do it in such a way that they don’t want to understand it,” he says. “No one wants to see a kid lying on the floor, they want to see a kid flying. They want to keep this shared vision alive.” By exploring the fantastical potential of everyday life, the viewer discovers a mode of perception that reclaims life from the banality of fact.”

Source: Creative review

von Holleben’s place here

┐ Duncan Caratacus └

© Duncan Caratacus, Construction I, 2009

… material collection, a very dense and very important archive that seems to be the result of an in-depth research, mainly UK focused. To see the archive and download either follow the curator ship’s link or view under research in Duncan’s website. via The Curator Ship

┐ Tereza Zelenkova └

© Tereza Zelenkova, Cadaver, from the series Night is also a sun, 2011

© Tereza Zelenkova, Black sun, from the series Night is also a sun, 2011

Tereza’s site and blog

Truth is I didn’t find any statement worthy of accompanying these images (this series). In any case there are a couple of interviews with Tereza easily accessible on the web. Thought somewhat bleak here are the links for whoever is interested.”

┐ Annie Collinge └

© Annie Collinge, Project with Sarah May

© Annie Collinge, Project with Sarah May

Annie’s home here and her blog here

Sarah’splace here

┐ Olivia Hicks └

© Olivia Hicks

© Olivia Hicks

“Using architectural theory as point of departure, my work explores the permeabilities between the body, complex emotional states and architectural spaces. I am interested in the sculptural idea of the room as a container or vessel, which objects and emotions can pour in and out of, and drain, leak or overflow.
At the same time I am interested in the status of the body itself as a container, where the skin is a membrane that holds us together. I make fetish-like objects, which inhabit a dark architectural space that uses ideas of ‘apotropaic’ (protective) magic that can defend, protect and constrain the body.”

More of Olivia’s work here

┐ Nigel Grimmer └

© Nigel Grimmer, Julie, Golders Green,, from the series Roadkill Family Album, 2001

© Nigel Grimmer, Eric, Big Bend, from the series Roadkill Family Album, 2010

“Nigel Grimmer takes the conventions of family album snap photography and gives them a weird twist that is at times amusing and at others faintly unnerving. Here the self-conscious poses, the banal compositions, the suburban settings are infiltrated with the kinds of surrealistic incongruities that one might experience in particularly bizarre or embarrassing dreams. His Roadkill Family Album is a collection of prone portraits of family members dolled up in joke shop animal masks and seemingly abandoned as roadside victims. Grimmer’s mother is an owl, his father a frog. His use of plastic masks and dolls imbues the images with a particularly kitsch and almost perverse form of nostalgia. It’s as if childhood memories have been inextricably confused with some kind of metamorphic and macabre fairytale.”

quote from Harley Gallery

Nigel’s home here

 

┐ Jessica Sumerling └

© Jessica Sumerling, Living room, from the series Grow Heathrow, 2010

© Jessica Sumerling, Keith’s winter shower, from the series Grow Heathrow, 2010

© Jessica Sumerling, Tilly and Aimee, from the series Grow Heathrow, 2010

As modern society has been burdened with social, political and environmental challenges, people have become disenchanted with our current way of living. Consequently, a movement of radical communities breaking step with the status quo has come about. The primary aims of these groups are; to be sustainable, resilient and follow a way of life that has a minimal impact on the environment.”
The community of Grow Heathrow follows these principles with a desire to live in a way that is sensitive towards nature and each other. The project was founded as a direct action protest against the threat of a third runway being built at Heathrow Airport. Had BAA succeeded in their bid, Sipson and other surrounding villages would have been completely demolished. This would have destroyed homes, schools, churches and cemeteries, devastating the local community.
Since taking the land on 1st March 2010, activists and local residents have set about reviving the blighted community. At the same time they have returned the site to its historic function as a communal market garden. This act of reclaiming what was once common land has allowed a new relationship to flourish between the people and their surrounding natural environment.

Excerpt from Jessica’s text about “Grow Heathrow” here

More of Jessica’s work here

┐ Marianne McGurk └

© Marianne McGurk Untitled #1, from the series Eva

© Marianne McGurk Untitled #1, from the series Eva

More ofMarianne’s work here

┐ Gary Watts └

© Gary Watts Untitled #1, from the series Iconicity

© Gary Watts Untitled #7, from the series Iconicity

“The use of lens based media provides a platform that enables me to explore thematic aspects of every day, attempting to look beyond the physical features of objects and environments and examine the sub-text contained within the images.
The representation of banal objects and common environments provides an insight into the relationship we develop with our surroundings and reflect the transformative character of the space and the objects.
These representations offer disclosure into social and cultural customs and events, capturing also moments, gestures and experiences that document temporal and linear interaction.”

More of Gary’s work here

┐ Holly Birtles └

© Holly Birtles, Lucy, from the 1f Opera Series, 2011

© Holly Birtles, Yuri, from the 1f Opera Series, 2011

More of Holly’s work here

┐ Becky Beasley └

© Becky Beasley, Hide, from the series Surface Coverings / The Feral Works, 2004-06

© Becky Beasley, Maladie, from the series Surface Coverings / The Feral Works, 2004-06

“Becky Beasely’s work moves between sculpture and photography and originates in both personal and more universal encounters. Its subject matter is largely composed of autobiographical recollections mediated through literary references. Aesthetically it engages in a questioning of the relations between hand made objects and their (re)presentation as photographic objects. The language of her practice is at times noir with oneiric, dream state images in a low key sfumato of misty environments but bears equal references to surrealism and minimalism. Beasley’s work deals with death and fear using elements from the visual and the literary realms to allow her to meditate on issues of personal fate and destiny.
[…[
Beasley’s work needs to be assessed in a postminimal climate that is defined by the artworks’ desire to achieve the status of a document as a form of ‘present absentness’. Beasley’s project though does not fit in seamlessly with the postminimal program, as her photographic trajectory appears to move about the other way around, attempting to make the document coincide with the artwork. Her work transcends the imperatives of a documentary project altogether, and she uses photography and mimimalist sculpture’s ability to be reproduced or doubled, as an opportunity to produce slightly different versions of reality, shifting meanings in the process of negotiating content through the photographic process of projection and printing. Her work performs an incessant questioning of the relations between images and pictorial representations, in relation to personal stories and those of others and is able to touch upon the complexities surrounding the existence of different versions of the same image. It proposes an uncanny reading of the history of art, of literature and of personal memoirs by making them resonate in the sfumato of her allegorical photographic environment.”

text: office baroque gallery

More of Becky’s work here

┐ Sarah-Jane Lynagh └

© Sarah-Jane Lynagh, Dear darkness, won’t you cover me again, 2008 *

© Sarah-Jane Lynagh, I entered nothing and nothing entered me, 2008

More of Sarah-Jane’s work here

* P.J. Harvery “Dear Darkness”

┐ Laura Hynd └

© Laura Hynd, Untitled, from the series New Forest

© Laura Hynd, Untitled, from the series New Forest

More on Laura’s work here

┐ Peter Finnemore └

© Peter Finnemore, Miffin in the wallpaper, from the series Dark Light (Gwendraeth House), 2010

© Peter Finnemore, Night Veil, from the series Dark Light (Gwendraeth House), 2010

“Houses are commodities, homes are souls. Began in 2003, this substantive, distinct and current chapter of the Gwendraeth House project comes under the title of Dark Light. Here, through photography I divine the house’s interior. Its habitual space becomes a compact manifold; it is without boundary. This stone house is a breathing entity; light, air, décor and companionship nourishes’ its well-being. It is a stationary stone ship, an enclosed deep time capsule; occupying both physical and unconscious dimensions. These latest photographs become a collaboration with this habitual entity, allowing it to guide the manifestation of images. Gwendraeth House as a spatial dwelling becomes an instrument of measurement, a stone, bricks and mortar astrolabe to chart the universal interior.”

The work of Peter Finnemore can be seen here