Curation and Exhibition Research for Looking Into the Depths

With a final few tweaks to go and some paperwork to finish off, my personal photography project portfolio is nearly finished.  I now need to start researching in further depth how I will exhibit this collection of images in May.

We have a gallery space on campus for around 10 of us to display our work and this will be divided between us, but as yet we are unaware as to who will have what space, and how much of it.  I will start my in-depth research based on this space and adapt my idea once I have more details on how the space can be used.

In keeping with the environmental theme of my project I would like the viewer to feel as if they are at the coast when they come to my section of the exhibition.  I want to create an impression of bringing the natural world inside and make this an experience for the viewer.  I need to fully consider the logistics for how I can achieve this however, I would like to combine my images with unpleasant smells from the pollution depicted, such as drains, stagnant water, smoke.

Here are a couple of examples of environmental exhibitions:

In February 2015 Nemo 33 hosted an underwater photography exhibition of the work of Fred Buyle.  14 large format prints could be seen through windows, or by free diving or scuba diving into a swimming pool in Brussels.  Buyle is a free diver who captures unique moments of marine life who also works with marine biologists to assist them with their field work.

Image courtesy of Fred Buyle

Judith and Richard Lang unceasingly comb the beaches of California clearing them of plastic and then use that marine litter to produce works of art that are sold for hundreds of dollars and exhibited in galleries and museums from Singapore to San Francisco.  Half of their net profits go towards Ocean Recovery Alliance, a Californian charity that co-ordinates projects to help improve our ocean environment.

Image courtesy of Judith and Richard Lang

The Tate Sensorium use advanced technology to replicate the five senses and bring a whole new dimension to experiencing art at the Tate Britain.  The BBC World Service broadcast full details the Tate's IK Prize 2015 winner created by Tom Pursey and Peter Law of Flying Objects.

Image courtesy of BBC World Service

I will continue my research into how I can use these exhibitions, and others, as inspiration for my own exhibition.

Looking Into The Depth Project Update

I have been working on this photography project for four months now and it is now starting to feel like the end point is in sight.  I have seven blended images that I will use in my final portfolio and five more to work on so that they are a cohesive body of work.

The images that have made the cut so far are expansive landscape vistas and the blending is not jarring in any way or does not look too harsh.  The images I am struggling with are those that are closer to the subject of the image, so scale is sometimes an issue.

As in this image, the seagulls and cigarettes don't look quite right as the cigarettes are a lot larger than the seagulls, which is not the case in real life.

Over the next couple of weeks I will be experimenting with other images in post-production to get the blending as smooth as possible and so that the final photograph does not shock the viewer.  I want the portfolio as a whole to generate a reaction in the viewer, not one or two images that feel they do not fit in the project and so take the emphasis away from the key theme of raising awareness of the impact humans are having on our coastal areas.

In Other News...

An advert on Channel 4 had caught my eye recently, Drones in Forbidden Zones, as the cooling towers looked very similar to those I had photographed at Willington.  Low and behold, it was one and the same location.  The video is less than three minutes and well worth a watch.  It includes stories from people who worked there, it is so much more damaging to the environment than I realised.  It makes you think when you see the farmers' fields so close to somewhere that handled radiation, would any of that seeped into the crops that end up in our food chain?  Just as the plastic in our oceans ends up in the fish that gets served up on dinner plates.  Food for thought.