"asking for it" - ATLANTIS BRIDGE GALLERY

PRESS RELEASE

ATLANTIS BRIDGE GALLERY
TRUMAN BREWERY
BRICK LANE
LONDON E1 6QL

PRIVATE VIEW 8TH SEPTEMBER 6-10 PM
Exhibition dates 9 - 11 September 2005, 10am-7pm daily.

An international group exhibition, the concerns of which include the individual and the community, landscapes of the environment and landscapes of the mind.

The artist photographers, from Europe, America and the Middle East explore subjects ranging from the city under threat, relationships to both loved ones and strangers, the psychology of the house, physical manifestations of anxiety, and the emotions of melancholy, longing and pleasure. Informed by classical painting, fairy tales and film stills the images variously employ and subvert the forms of portrait, landscape, still life and tableau.
Creating an intercultural dialogue, the works bridge different social, political, cultural and economic contexts. The captured social structures, simple interventions and documentation create debate and narrative which considers the modern urban experience; a series of photographic projects presenting real and illusory places, fictive and actual events, and improbable and plausible memories.
The resulting works present an original exhibition celebrating the creative talents of each person’s individual approach to photography.

Using himself as a principal character Arnis Balcus draws on the aesthetics of cinema to look at sexuality and gender issues in a series of B-movie style stills.
Anne Bourgeois-Vignon employs the imagery of fairy tales to explore landscapes that relate to identity, femininity and the loss of childhood innocence.
The series ‘Outwards’ by Ingerid Jordal explores the issue of self-harm. By focusing on individuals rather than their wounds, the work is concerned with causes as well as symptoms and with the inner self in relation to society.
In ‘Remembrance’ Karen Thordur Nielsen considers how memories carry the heavy burden of our experiences and longings, forming us as the individuals we become.
Dana Katzir’s ‘Talking to Strangers’ is a series of random meetings with strangers on the street. We are confronted with our prejudices and stereotypical views of those we see around us but do not know.
Stuart Leeser’s book follows a journey to investigate the fantasy of his own father. Having not seen him for many years Leeser traces him to Spain, but must confront the reality of his absence.
In his current Untitled series, Kendall Koppe borrows gestures from Baroque and Rococo paintings to be re-used and re-analyzed creating a complex dialogue between representation and production.
Outsiders are the newly ostracized smokers who must smoke outside their workplaces. Through John Nabney’s series of photographs we see them frozen in moments of stolen pleasure and contemplation.
Displaying a series of large scale colour photographs of household refuse, Paul Whittering’s work Compositions oscillates between being both repellent and seductive as we witness the flow of rubbish through time.
Jonathan Chater photographs the urban environment in an attempt to draw a new structure from the disorder of city life. By bringing our attention to the clutter of suburban living, discarded furniture, rubbish dumps and industrial waste, the work questions our aesthetic preference for order over chaos.
Nadja Wehling’s ‘A Family Portrait’ uses the form of Hans Holbein the Younger to tell her family’s story of the generations dominated by her matriarchal grandmother.
‘The Final Frontier’ by Victor Luengo showcases a series of images of the city at night that create an ominous air of the city under siege, with unknown powers bearing down on its isolated and vulnerable inhabitants.
Sharon Tobutt presents ‘Time Ladies & Gentlemen Please’ - an affectionate documentary slide show on traditional London pub culture and its social values.
Toby de Silva’s work explores psychological resonances in landscapes significant for historical events, notorious murders and movie locations. Here de Silva focuses on the houses that featured in iconic horror movies of the 1970s and 80s.
Using humour and irony to confront traditional roles in the home Erin Ganey has created a series of staged still life photographs of domestic labour.
Wayne McDermott calls into question the imminent terrorist threat in London post-9/11 and suddenly and tragically now post-7/7. Setting his work in the family home he has created images that at first seem familiar and secure but which are disrupted by the characters who inhabit each room. Freedom and terrorism are called into question in the ordinariness of these familiar settings.

This is the eleventh annual exhibition of the University of Westminster´s MA in Photographic Studies (MAPS), which reveals the innovative works of 16 international artists.

ASKING FOR IT will coincide with the launch of the Free Range MA showcase at the Truman Brewery.

Notes for editors:
For further information and press images please contact Anne Bourgeois-Vignon on 07903 502 323 or e-mail info@askingforit.co.uk

MAPS is the foremost course in the world for the critical theory and practice of photography. It represents a 120 year tradition of the institution, which was the first to teach photography as an academic subject. Students are drawn to the course united in their desire to master the communicative power of photography to reflect on, challenge and offer alternative views to crucial issues in contemporary culture. Here photography transcends mere illustration and simple aesthetic pleasure to question the certainties assumed in ideas of the home, the family, the coherence of identity and society.

For further information about MA in Photographic Studies at University of Westminster contact:
Andy Golding (A.Golding@wmin.ac.uk)
Head of Photography and Digital Media
School of Media Arts and Design
University of Westminster
Harrow Campus
Harrow HA1 3TP