Emergence Photography Exhibition

Another day another exhibition - well that is how it seems at the moment. Actually this is a very exciting time of the year - you get to see some really interesting photography in such a short amount of time - and the Emergence Photography exhibition doesn't let you down.

The exhibition is the final work of the BTEC, HND and HNC students from Sandwell College in the West Midlands and is at the Custard factory gallery in Digbeth, Birmingham. The space itself lends for a much more enjoyable experience than the Leicester College exhibition I went to earlier this week. Instead of being crammed in there was space to be able to stand back and examine and enjoy the work presented. Whilst I was there the students were undertaking their final assessments which, in itself must be unnerving without members of the public wondering around. Glad I am past such matters.

So the photography -what was it like? Again, as I have mentioned before these type of exhibition are always a bit of a hotch potch of work - after all the goal of the exhibitors is to impress their assessors rather than the passing public i.e. me. This being said I thought the overall standard was very good. The photography was on the whole engaging and worth taking the time to study. As ever, personal choice comes into this so some of the pieces I just didn't get, some were okay in parts and some where just very good. Out of all the photographers exhibiting the following caught my eye:

Ben Turner - Heros. This was a set of photographs that were meant to be a fashion shoot from different angles but I must admit I saw as a 'Free Running' documentary. It was inspired by the tv series Heros. Now I am not really inspired by 'fashion shoots' but this was a strong set of photographs. They captured the energy and freedom of Free Running. You could feel the exhilaration of the gravity defying movements - for a split second you know what a bird feels like. Now I know this was not what Turner was trying to do but I felt they worked much better like this than a fashion shoot;

Susannah Conway - Mirror Image. Susannah's piece explored the similarities and differences of brothers and sisters. It was a series of quite simple portraits of young boys and girls, perhaps no older than mid teens. (Indeed if you visit Conway's website you will get a feel for the work she displayed - infact some of the children are actually on the website) The photographs were arranged in two rows; the top row had 9 photographs and the bottom row 8. This initially threw me for two reasons. Firstly which were the siblings and secondly why a row of 9 and a row of 8? However, it added to the enjoyment of the piece to work out the answers and once you did the whole work made me smile. The simple truth was that the brothers and sisters did look the same and yet you could see they were different. This difference was helped by the simple portraiture style;

Victoria Landon - Cathartic Confessions. This was the most powerful piece in the exhibition. It consisted of a number of photographs based on anonymous online confessions taken from a web site that Victoria had set up. She then used these confessions as inspiration for the photographs. However, her style and control of the photographic medium was such that you didn't really need to understand the motivation for the photographs. They were strong and thoughtful on their own. Out of all the work displayed this was the most coherent and powerful piece;

Maria Reaney - Recycled - This was a series of photographs of models wearing cloths made out of recycled materials. The shots were also supposed to be recycled ideas inspired by other photographers. They were a strong set of photographs, however the one that really stood out for me was what I came to call Eartha Kitt in a new paper (See Below). What really inspired me about this its simplicity and yet complexity of tone and light. It was helped by the beauty of the model whose wonderful skin tones have been picked out again the dark background. Again the choice of the hair band and the news print adds to the understated, yet over powering, tonal range. A simply stunning photograph

There were other individual photographs that were strong in themselves but they didn't form a coherent and strong series as those I have chosen to mention.

One final thing. Photographer's Statements. These are always very tricky but in my view should be about the work being exhibited rather than a short biography of the photographer. I am sure it is important to someone who the photographer became inspired to take up photography but it doesn't really explain the motivation or message that the photographer is trying to communicate. The most successful statements in the exhibition didn't touch on this at all but addressed the photographs - and where much the better for it.

I understand that the MA exhibition at the DMU is going to be this gallery. This will provide an interesting compare and contrast with the work displayed here. Will it be that much better - I hope so.