This week’s photography things-to-do selection includes some thought-provoking mixed media art and photography exhibitions. Looking for some some artistic and photographic inspiration? These offer a good starting point.
Debbie Harman – ‘Dialect of the Deep’
Two artists reflect on a personal relationship that has made a significant impact in their lives through film and photography.
Debbie Harman – ‘Dialect of the Deep’ is an emotive account of her mother’s suffering from cancer along with revelations regarding ongoing research about the possible cures for cancer deep in the ocean.
The other half of the show is participated by Marcy Petit, showing of her exhibit ‘Double Reflection’ in which both artist and subject combine to give an insight into their new friendship and the thoughts they share about life, love and loss despite the 50 year age gap.
Bertha Bollette Boyd: Among Mountains and Monasteries
Work by Norwegian artist Tonje Bøe Birkeland, who creates characters that exist between fiction and reality.
Bertha Bollette Boyd: Among Mountains and Monasteries, is the first episode of Norwegian artist Tonje Bøe Birkeland’s Character #V, which brings to life the character of mountaineer and author Bertha and her journey through Bhutan.
Constructed through photography, text, and objects, Birkeland’s female figures balance on the border between fiction and reality. In this episode, the landscapes of Bhutan form a stage-set for the performative act of making these images; character, creator and camera coming together to tell a story that merges past and present.
Bruce Rae Silvered Surfaces
A new exhibition of flower pictures by Bruce Rae, which are presented alongside his acclaimed series of shipbuilders currently on exhibition at Side Gallery, in Newcastle. Renowned for his vintage techniques and sumptuous prints, Rae’s work is held in various collections including The National Portrait Gallery, The V&A, and The Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris.
Christopher Bucklow: Said Now, For All Time
R/H Guest, 1996, pinhole photograph, 97 x 74cm
Christopher Bucklow is one of Britain’s leading contemporary artists. His work is held in many major international public and private collections including The Museum of Modern Art, New York, The Guggenheim and the Victoria & Albert Museum. This exhibition combines photographic works from the Guest series with paintings and drawings made over the last 10 years, and explores the connections between the two.
The Guests appeared in the mid-1990s, with the paintings following at the end of the decade. Thinking about their relationship, Bucklow initially assumed that the painted figures showed the destinies acted out by the Guests after they had descended into earthly bodies, incarnating from the celestial realm, into flesh and blood. However, after almost twenty years of painting, he discovered that many of the paintings tell the story of the time before the Guests. They tell of why the Guests came, where they came from, and what they are.
