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Graduate Support and Critique Evening

Street Level Graduate Support and Critique Evening
Tuesday 28th June, 6 - 8pm

Street Level Photoworks in Glasgow are running a unique evening event for photography students who have graduated within the last four years. 

"After graduating many students are unsure of how to continue with their practice. The critique and support evenings will provide recent graduates with a supportive environment and a peer-led framework for discussion of the opportunities and challenges for a range of photographic practice."

I attended the first event, run by Linda McLaughlin, in which photographer Colin Gray spoke about his first interest in photography, his personal projects and the work he does now along with how he deals with the issues facing every freelance photographer.  Although there wasn't much time for introductions or discussions with the other attendees, the second one promises to be a much more social affair, with group critiques and a chance to bounce ideas off each other.

For more information and to confirm your attendance see here.

UNKNOWN - Garry MacLennan

'Unknown' is an ongoing and potentially massive project orchestrated by Glasgow photographer Garry MacLennan.  Acutely aware that when most people have their portraits taken they essentially 'act' in front of the camera, Garry uses intimate one to one portrait sessions in hopes to capture just a trace of the sitters elusive 'backstage' personality.

 

"The faces within these portraits are those which I have encountered throughout my Glasgow attendance. Some of them are my friends, some I have met for the first time, but all of them I have known of since before a friendship has blossomed, and in my opinion have affected Glasgow in their own way.

I will be posting a new portrait every week until I am done. Every four weeks the images will be available on the El Rancho Records website."

 Please follow Unknown and look out for updates.

TEMPORAL (PORTRAITS) - Sylwia Kowalczyk

 

We consume images at an alarming rate today, it is almost impossible not to bring our own preconceptions when viewing anything visual. In 'Temporal (Portraits)' Sylwia Kowalczyk explored just this.

"The thing that struck me the most while preparing for this project was why we are so fascinated by the identity of the subjects.... Nowadays we have become conditioned by the media not to regard a photograph of a stranger as worthy of attention unless it is of a celebrity."

Sylwia has carefully contruscted an enviroment devoid of any restraints, the grey wall, the anonymous clothing.  There are very little signifiers, if any, to help us grab on to.

‘For that reason I was on the contrary not interested in drawing attention to the individual's identity, so my images are deliberately not accompanied by a name, title or even a number. The viewer is compelled to complete the image themselves as they are at times confronted with just a lock of the hair at the back of a neck or a fragment of face emerging from behind a curtain of hair.’

Please check out the rest of this fascinating series here;

http://www.sylwiakowalczyk.com/

 

AFFINITY - Andrew Jay Harvey

It's all too common for people to have the aim of their work being displayed on a gallery wall as simply a promotional tool or a bonus at the end of a long project.  Rarely do photographers think of the white gallery wall as an integral part of their work, an equal partner in the creative process.  Andrew Jay Harvey's work "Affinity" is one of these pieces, he takes advantage of the physical experience exhibition viewing can take;

 

"My intention was for anyone who was viewing the image to feel as thought they were in an uncomfortable space that would be almost pushing them out of the way. As though the viewer was in the middle of a conversation that they were not part of or in the presence of something that was greater than them. The work is intended to be an experience that you have to witness rather than be able to engage with it by simple viewing it in a book or on a website."

"I created an optical illusion in the center of the image to  increase the feeling of uncertainty about what was going on for the viewer sub-consciously making them more uneasy about what they are witnessing. The images are also mirrored to allude to them having been pulled apart from each other like a giant mould further increasing the feeling of an occupied space..." 

Website

THE COLOUR RED - Gillian Hayes

William Eggleston said red was the most difficult colour to work with because he felt "it was if it was at war with all the other colours". In this project Gillian Hayes seems to have taken this head on, creating a stunning yet disturbing collection.

Gillian has created a series of 14 block mounted prints progressing from 1% to 100% red. ‘Red is such a heavily symbolic colour and one with a very paradoxical nature and association and this is what interests me along with the power and dominance of the colour visually (the contrast between a touch of red and an abundance of red). It is the colour of blood, it has strong references to war and destruction, in terms of Christian iconography the colour of the crucifixion and martyrs. On the flipside it is the colour associated with love, passion, warmth and prosperity.’  

 

See the full collection here.

All images copyright @GillianHayes

CITY OF HOME - Alina Kisina

"Alina Kisina's photographic series 'City of Home' might, at first glance, seem merely aimed at capturing the daily life of her hometown of Kiev, Ukraine. Yet Kisina's strangely evocative photographs are concerned less with documentary impressions than with opening up realms above and beyond the mundane images that define the surface of her work. For the subway steps, skylines, facades, and factory lots that Kisina depicts resonate with an order that seems not of this world. Her pictures—often quite literally—reflect realms that seem to exist side-by-side with or beyond the mere material givens of her everyday subject matter. Although superficially static, her serene, perfectly composed photographs actively lead us into higher realms that are uplifting and light: they cause us to transcend the materiality of everyday existence and enter into planes of experience heretofore unknown."

Alina's work is exhibiting now at Street Level Photoworks, Glasgow.

 Website

 

Exhibition Info 

 

CHINA BETWEEN - Polly Braden

 

"China Between is a photographic essay on the modern city culture of contemporary China. When the Peoples’ Republic set up its Special Economic Zones in the 1980s communist China entered into global trade and international capital. The goal was financial but new money also brought new values and new ways of life. Polly Braden’s photography is an intimate response to the material and psychological effects of the changes experienced by the country’s new urban class. Shot over three years in Shanghai, Xiamen, Shenzhen and Kunming, China Between is a revelatory portrait. Braden shows how a casual glance, a moment of doubt or a quick trip to the shopping mall can tell us as much about modern China as any image of a dam, a protest or a teeming workforce."  - Polly Braden.

Polly Braden's exhibtion is opening on the 3rd February and running until the 27th in the foyer of Trongate 103 in Glasgow.

Website  Exhibition Info

All images copyright @PollyBraden

IN CASE IT RAINS IN HEAVEN - Kurt Tong

"In Case it Rains in Heaven is a series of photographs of items made of joss paper to be burned as offerings for the dead. Traditionally, many Chinese believe that when a person dies, s/he leaves with no earthly possessions and it's up to their descendants to provide for them in the afterlife until their reincarnation. Originally, coins and animals were buried with the dead, but when that proved too expensive for commoners, they began burning joss paper decorated with seals, stamps, silver or gold paint, as offerings to the spirits to ensure they lived well in the afterlife. In the last 50 years, these offerings have become more and more elaborate as objects are molded from the paper, some reflecting traditional culture, but many reflecting the consumer culture which is taking over China. Cars, washing machines and McDonald's meals are made out of the paper, and entire shops have been set up selling an array of joss paper products"

"In Case It Rains In Heaven" is opening on the 3rd February and running until the 3rd of April in Street Level Photoworks, Glasgow.

Website      Exhibition Info

HOME by Sally Wilkes

Sally Wilkes project "Home" was initially planned to portray the demise and destruction of the Ayrshire coast.  However over time the project progressed past the more obvious documents to more sentimental and quiet moments. From school cloakrooms to ageing church halls, Sally captures these places with detached affection, no longer part of those places but wanting to remember and immortalise them.

You can see more of Sally's ongoing project at Website and Blog