EXIIT Photo Festival 2008, @ the Surface Gallery
June 3rd to June 13th 2008
This show consists of a diverse and intriguing selection of images featuring both contemporary and traditional works created by a group of four undergraduates attending the prestigious photography course provided by Nottingham Trent University.
After studying the medium from a Postmodernist stance, the photograph is used to challenge the layperson’s view that the camera is merely a means of recording a scene onto a viewable surface. Thus the aim is to use semiotic devices in order to provoke a more conceptual analysis, inviting the audience to consider meanings and interpretations that lie beyond the images themselves.
Starting with the conventional painterly ideals from times of yore, Emma Streeter uses a traditional print process in order to create picture-postcard images of the English countryside. Her work challenges the nostalgic ideal that is heavily associated with the past.
Jo Brown’s indication of the present condition of modern society on the other hand plays with compositions that seek to abstract the viewer’s expectations. Her work is concerned with the controversial impact of human society on the natural environment, and aims to question the feasibility of our supposed power to control and preserve it at the same time.
Next is a vision of an empty world, which we have never, and hope never to experience. Michiel Meyboom presents desolate panoramic cityscapes within our most busy and famous cities, and has extended this concept to allow the viewer to enter a world in which they are unable to participate.
This leads us into a scrutinising of human enchantment and compassion, perhaps leaving us with some hope for a more optimistic future, which Sophie Cran demonstrates in her traditional collection of black and white documentary prints. Here, she speculates on the varying nature of romantic couples as they are caught unawares by the camera.
Although appearing divergent in style, each Photographer in their own right investigates their ideas in regards to how humankind interacts with a world that is in constant flux, by guiding the audience through a journey from an idealised past to a possible future.
Show dates: Tue 3rd – Fri 13th June 2008-04-30
Opening Times:
Week 1: Tue-Fri 11-5
Week 2: Mon-Thurs 11-5, Fri 11-1
Private View: Weds 4th June, 6-8pm