AUTUMN GALLERY EXHIBITION
Reclaiming Our Cultural Landscapes 2017
Light House Media Centre, Wolverhampton, 6 – 27 October 2017
Reclaim Photography Festival 2017 is proud to announce: Reclaiming Our Cultural Landscapes; a special autumn gallery exhibition, hosted by the Light House Media Centre, 6 – 27 October 2017. The exhibition will showcase 54 prints, selected from our Festival submissions.
This special exhibition will offer emerging artists, the public and young people the opportunity to showcase their creativity and to exhibit their work alongside our established and international photographers.
This autumn exhibition is privately funded and supported by KBM Framing Services, Light House Media Centre and Palm Laboratories.
We would also like to thank Bradley, Bradley Pearce Photography; Kelly Jeffs, Light House Media Centre; Richard Franklin; Robert Grose, Art & Technical Services; Steve, Palm Laboratories; Nick Taylor, KBM Framing Services and Tom Bangham, Phoenix Web Solutions.
View the exhibition brochure on ISSUU here.
For more details about the Light House Media Centre, visit their site here.
Peter Spurgeon (UK) Decoy, 2015
This image is from a series concerning a secret British Air Ministry project that took place during the Second World War. Film studios were commissioned to design fake cities, airfields, docks and oil refineries. The objective of this simulation was to divert enemy bombs away from the real targets. www.peterspurgeon.photo
Pétur Sturluson (Iceland) The Dream, 2015
This photograph was taken in Vörmland, Sweden. The area is known for its deep forests. Many painters from the Romantic era came here to paint the landscape. petursturla.com
Katie Blench (UK) Remembrance of Things Past, 2016
This project explores the materiality and demise of the British postwar urban environment. My setting was Thamesmead: the biggest of the 1960s Brutalist housing projects in London. The village’s ageing, perishing, concrete megastructures are now gloomy monuments; a sharp contrast to the optimism that accompanied their construction. Thamesmead never achieved utopia and is being demolished; concrete is not imperishable. www.katieblenchphotography.co.uk
Christine Halsall (UK) Neighbour, 1982
This is from a project produced in the 1980s. I was one of a community of homeless squatters who legally moved into a street of derelict houses and re-built them. This is my neighbour in her bathroom, taking a break from repairing the house to repair her hair. At the time, I was using film. www.christinehalsall.co.uk
Maciek Wojciechowski (UK) Vesa, 2016
I work in portraiture and fine art nude photography, focussing on the human body as form. My practice is based on trust between me and my sitters. By limiting directions to a minimum, I create a space where my models can be themselves and I can capture their uniqueness. www.maciekwojciechowski.com
Fabio Sgroi (Italy) Ungheria, Budapest, 2013
Focused on Middle-Eastern Europe and its unstable identity due to the consequences resulting from regimes’ division and from the advent of democracy; everything occurred under the gaze of the media, which today tells about a Europe that is seeking refuge in itself. www.fabiosgroiphoto.com
Sian Atherton (UK) The Bridge, 2016
My home and the landscape are my inspiration. There’s nothing I like doing more than going to my safe havens, hidden away in the North Wales countryside. As a third year photography student, I grasp at every opportunity to go home and photograph the places that I love.
Joanne Coates (UK) We Live By Tha’ Water, 2016
Stories reveal the mysteries in our world; the things that have not and perhaps never will be discovered.
As the Orcadian writer George McKay Brown wrote: “The imagination is not an escape, but a return to the richness of our true selves, a return to reality.” www.joannecoates.co.uk
David Barrett (UK) Durham Miners Gala, 2013
This picture is from the series Another Day Off. This series explores leisure time as a means of revealing the cultural and social landscape of England. www.ukstreet.photography
Andrew Crawford (UK) Panther Crew, 2017
I felt the cultural landscape theme required imagery which represented a true snapshot of the here and now in 2017. It would be hard not to notice the proliferation of tattoo studios across our towns and cities. I wanted to capture the artistry and skill involved in this prevalent trend. www.crawfoto.co.uk
Thierry Clech (France) Nicaragua, 2016
Thierry Clech takes photographs during his travels. His work has been shown in France and abroad and he has published three books.
A man arose in the street and started to knock the door but never managed to open it. Then he went away, as he appeared, like a ghost. www.thierryclech.com
Sjur A. Lohne (Sweden) Reflections in a Puddle, 2016
Walking on the streets of the Old Town in Mälmo, Sweden, the reflections in this puddle caught my eye. Reflections like these are always visually interesting. The reflection becomes a window to an alternate mirrored reality. Instagram.com/ SjurLohnePhoto
Peter Hodgson (UK) Seen, 2016
Peter Hodgson concentrates on an abstract interpretation of the everyday. By looking at the familiar with an original eye he creates images of stark and minimal beauty. His work shows how the commonplace can become unique.
Compton Verney. Two ladies contemplate Untitled Boulder as part of a rather less than grand tour. www.alterart.co.uk
Rafael Ianos (Romania) Untitled, 2016
Prevalent in my photographs are light, shadow and human presence. Small fragments of objects, body parts and gestures, combined with abundant light and dark, create a simple dazzling moment or a unique sensation. This photograph was taken in Paris 2016. www.rafaelianos.ro/#1
Ben (UK) Silhouette, 2017
I was doing a project on low light photography. I was interested in looking at the difference between natural and artificial lighting and how that can affect the overall image. This image was taken at Ounty John Lane, Stourbridge, with a 30 second exposure.
Wei Wu (China) Untitled, 2016
In the summer of 2016, I returned to Chengdu, my hometown, and spent three months walking over 300 km photographing the city’s mother river, Funan, from source to end. This project explores the inhabitants’ way of life along the river and the relationship between the people and environment. www.wuweiphoto.com
Stephen Curry (UK) State of Education, 2016
From a project entitled Closed Doors. This questions our relationship with disused buildings, their history, place and usefulness. Whether depicted socially, politically or aesthetically, the buildings remain closed and now a statement on how we value buildings and perhaps society in general.
Elizabeth Lee (UK) Oss Box Obscura, Tudor Day, May 2016
This was taken at The Tudor Day at Haden Hill House Museum, during a project to turn Cradley Heath Creative’s art space ” The Oss Box” into a Camera Obscura. The photograph is taken from the screen inside the Oss Box and should really be viewed upside down. ossboxpinhole.wordpress.com
Chris Fletcher (UK) Between Autumn and Winter, 2015
This photograph was taken on Kenilworth Greenway, an old railway branch line that is now a permissive bridleway and also a country park, linking the town of Kenilworth to the village of Berkswell in Warwickshire. www.cpf-photography.com
Bradley Pearce (UK) The Photographer Who Couldn’t Volume Three, 2016
In ‘The Photographer Who Couldn’t Volume Three’, Pearce explores the real difficulties that he faced when attempting to make a new piece of work, as reflected in the aesthetic of the image. (Medium Format 6×4.5 film scan of The Palace of Industry, Prague, Czech Republic). www.bradleypearcephotography.com
Nick Tarasov (Russia) Shores, 2016
This shot is from my “Negative Paintings” project about the meaning of negative images in a modern digital world. www.instagram.com/nicktarasov
Atsushi Fujiwara (Japan) Poet Island, 2006 “POET ISLAND” 2015 SOKYUSHA
I was eight years old when I visited my uncle, general manager of the island sanatorium where Hansen’s disease patients were isolated. Returning thirty-five years later, as a photographer, I came across this poem:
– Like luminescent fish dwelling in the darkness of the deep sea, there is no light until I alight from within. – Kaijin Akashi atsushifujiwara.com
Annabelle Marcovici (USA) Pray for Them, 2016
I photographed the encampment at Standing Rock to shed light on its transformative potential. The camps, as I experienced them, stood as testament to the possibility of an indigenous led, multicultural society, beyond corporate rule–a society that holds the land and fellow beings as sacred. www.annabellemarcovici.com/blog/
Ksenija Španec (Croatia) Little Sadness, 2014
Ksenija Španec (born 1966, Zagreb, Croatia) is a self-taught photographer who uses mostly photo film cameras.
The image “Little Sadness” was made with a Yashica Mat 124G on black and white film. It is part of an ongoing project about urban loneliness. ksenijaspanec.zenfolio.com
Clare Smith (UK)
Clare Smith works with photography instinctively and fluidly, interpreting spatial elements of the natural environment, such as depth and surface, light and substance. Visually considering interactions between the tangibility and constant of the photographic medium, and the intangible ever shifting elements of the spaces she interprets, she presents a different vision, feeling, understanding and so relationship to place. claresmith.co.uk
Barbara Gibson (UK) Streets of My City, 2014
The photograph includ-ed in this project brings a tangible proof of exis-tence of all beautiful places hidden under skyscrapers. My aim is to let people interpret their view of the city once again and to have another look, inspire them with the vibrant spirit of the beautiful heritage of Birmingham. www.barbaragibson.pl
Derek Man (UK) Chairs, Newport, Isle of Wight, 2015
Part of a series exploring the Isle of Wight and its historical role as a site of reproduction of British cultural hegemony. Through exploring the myths surrounding an older kind of Britishness, I hope to find a sense of place in my adopted country as a response to my own displacement from Hong Kong, a former British colony. derekman.com
Aimery Joëssel (France) Ubud, 2010
Aimery is a French photographer living in Indonesia. He has produced a photographic series capturing the culture and evolution of the Indonesian people.
A book about the women beggars living in the dry hills of Karangasem, Bali, was published in May 2017. Sales of the book will support the NGO “Future for Children”. aimeryjoesselphotography.wordpress.com
Richard PJ Lambert (UK) St Patrick’s Day, 2016
I’m interested in using traditional and analogue techniques to explore the stranger side of my home town of Birmingham. www.richardpjlambert.com
Hanny Foxhall (UK) Greenwich, 2008
This image, by Mexican photographer Hanny Foxhall, features Greenwich Park as an example of London’s cultural landscapes. Similar scenes of tourists and Londoners enjoying the sun must repeat themselves as often as the sun shines there, regardless of the season, but the overall urban landscape, with the skyscrapers, has certainly been transformed over the years. hannyfoxhall.com
Caro Ray (UK) Democratic Landscape, 2015
The road to democracy has always been fractured and its reality never simple. Democratic landscape is an observation of a journey along the original marathon route in Greece, during the latest general election, with the road, polling booths and landscape playing a central role in illustrating a place in crisis. www.iamcaro.com
Adam Stephenson (UK) Arching Above, 2016
This image is taken from Breighton, showing the milky way arching over the city of Hereford, while the city sleeps under the milky way. www.ajmsphotography.com
Agi Vedres (Hungary) Hungarian Candy Floss, 2008
Hungarian National Circus from Night Series
The Night Series was taken in 2007-2008 when I travelled around the world to show how people live on earth at night time. I took this photograph when a man served candy floss for children, between two ringmasters in a travelling circus, during the intermission, in the countryside. agivedresphoto.com
Robbie Kavanagh (Catalonia) Aftermath – Crossroad, 2016
On the 25th of July 2015 a fire burnt 1235 hectares, of mostly forest land, near the famous Catalan mountain of Montserrat. I documented the aftermath of the event and the recuperation of the land for the following year.
Markus Lehr (Germany) From the Series: Notes from the Rustbelt, 2014
This project, “Notes From the Rustbelt”, dates back to 2004 and sees the Berlin-based photographer transpose his visual preoccupations onto the Ruhr area of western Germany, whose coal mining and steel production plants have now been largely forgotten and transformed. www.markuslehr.com
Stephanie Jayne Hancox (UK) Ethereal, 2016
I am an award-winning portrait photographer and college lecturer. Nature photography is my release, the thing I photograph to relax, unwind and enjoy the world around me. This image is part of an ongoing project exploring the way natural light can evoke emotion in our natural surroundings. stephaniejaynephoto.wixsite.com/stephaniejaynephoto
Simone Frignani (Italy) Parco Luigi Pirandello, Partot, 2013
This image is part of the series “Partot 2013”, shot on film. Partot in Bologna dialect means “for everyone” and is a parade gathering musicians, jugglers, & dancers. In 2013 it was set in “Pilastro”, a working class area built in the sixties. Pilastro, one of the most blighted parts of Bologna, is now under an important urban renovation project.
Diana Velasco (Denmark) Generation Portrait, 2016
Generation Portrait is part of a series which circles around themes such as identity, memory and intimacy. The images paraphrase the traditional family album. Despite the fact that the images appear as a tableaux, they have not been staged, but have rather emerged out of an everyday situation. www.dianavelasco.com
Grace Jackson (UK) Crevice from the series, The Fractures of our Soul, 2016
Crevice is from the series, ‘The Fractures of our Soul’, looking into the comparison of the human body to that of the body of the landscape, and how they are both bodies and both are fragile. www.gracejackson.co.uk
Ulf Fågelhammar (Sweden) Love Story, 2017
Andreas Olesen (Denmark) Estate #18, 2014
This image is of a negative purchased in DK, and is almost certainly the negative of a Danish family.
The negative is taped up on a sheet of plexiglass and photographed at Lake Garda in Italy.
The image is shot on slide film and then enlarged in the darkroom. The resulting picture is a negative of real life. www.andreasolesen.com
Ekaterina Vasilyeva (Russia) Neva River, 2015
The pictures explore the theme of relationships between the people and the Neva River (near St. Petersburg, Russia). www.ekaterinavasilyeva.ru
Meral Güler (USA) 002 Someday House, 2016
‘Someday House’ is a series based upon the poem ‘East Coker’ by T.S. Eliot. These works linger between the twilight and the shadow, between what is known and is sensed. It is a narrative that pervades the human condition, in an attempt to portray a spirit of resilience, a redeeming irony. meralguler.com
Olya Ivanova (Russia) Volodarsk, Russia, 2016
Habitat
There are more than 1000 cities in Russia, 319 of them are industrial towns called “monocities”. They were built around the main plant to support its work, but now they are in poor condition. Some monocities appeared in the XVIII century in the Russian Empire, while others were created for the realization of the Grand plans of the Soviet Union. www.olyaivanova.com
Agneza Dorkin (Italy) Woman in the White Dress, 2013
Filipe Bianchi (Portugal) Lisbon Dancers, 2016
This is an ongoing project to document a growing group of people who gather to dance outside, on the streets of Lisbon. There is almost no organization, scheduled on the internet; show up and dance. They dance on the streets only for the fun and pleasure of dance. www.filipebianchi.com
Raffaele Piano (Italy) Tourists, 2015
“Tourists” (2015) is a project by photographer and artist Raffaele Piano. “Tourists” is an exploration of images taken at tourist spots across the world. The project explores how we perceive tourist spots as well as how this affects techno- logical advancements in photo equipment. The Tourists project is updated on Tumblr and Instagram. raffaelepiano.com
Lucy Wright (UK) Swansea East, 2016
Once a popular feature of town carnival street parades, ‘jazz’ marching (kazoo) bands—from (former) coal-mining towns in the English North and Midlands and parts of South Wales—are characterised by highly competitive and precisely choreographed formational displays, and lively, percussive arrangements of pop, classical and hymnal music— but rarely jazz standards. www.artistic-researcher.co.uk
Amy (UK) Umbrellas, 2016
This image is part of a digital manipulation project. I was trying to make an image of a rainy day more vibrant.
Borko Vukosav (Croatia) Untitled, 2016
Borko Vukosav is a visual artist who uses photography as a platform for conceptual documentary photography series. www.borkovukosav.com
Henry Rice (UK) Llangenith, 2015
I have tried to encapsulate what it is to remember a place; the journey that was undertaken, the sights, the sounds, the memory. Memory, is never a clear image or a solid static representation. Memory twists and warps over time and the details though to be unremarkable suddenly appear to be critical. The essential becomes unimportant. www.henryrice.co.uk