Jerwood/Photoworks Awards: Publications
Supporting our current exhibition at Open Eye Gallery Jerwood/Photoworks Awards 2015 is a selected number of publications, which feature the work of the exhibiting artists – each described are available in our independent shop.
Upon entering through the front door of the gallery, metallic sheets of rigid steel greet the viewer. On the reverse of, and surrounding these floating shapes, are fixed fine prints portraying monochrome, angular poses that are both alien yet recognizable. This is the work of Joanna Piotrowska: a Polish photographer known also for the acclaimed ‘Frowst’ (£25).
Works from Frowst have been included in Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2013, and in the exhibition ‘Jerwood Encounters: Family Politics’, curated by Photoworks before being Published in 2014 by MACK. Frowst was awarded ‘First Book Award’ in the same year. The title of the book itself refers to this duality; an archaic word that describes a warm atmosphere that is equally stuffy and humid but can also used as a verb to describe to act of lounging in this area: comforting and uncomfortable.
Back at Open Eye Gallery, in Gallery Two, is the work of Tereza Zelenkova. There is a definite thread that can be woven between the two spaces with Zelenkova’s imagery also being monochromatic and somewhat obscure, however, we have moved from hard angles to an altogether more organic feel. Replacing cold, sharp steel is carved wooden frames and hung fabric.
Deliberately vague in meaning, Zelenkova uses these photographs to set the scene for the viewer’s own story, as she takes inspiration from the customs and folklore of her native Czech Republic. Looking at her earlier self-published work The Absence of Myth (£20) her path to decontextualized scenes becomes clear. From “Freud’s Study” to “Sea”, we are again given stories without characters, photographs interspersed with poems and short chapters, all eluding to the idea that without a human presence objects are left meaningless.
Upstairs, Open Eye Gallery’s third gallery is home to Matthew Finn’s photographic series Mother. Each intimate portrait gives the viewer a glimpse into the unique yet familiar relationship between mother and son, set against a backdrop evocative of Finn’s mother’s living room wallpaper. The sense that Mother’s story is unfinished brings optimism to an otherwise heavy-hearted journey away from independent living into a care home for the elderly.
Jerwood visual arts and Photoworks have produced an official catalogue (£4) for the touring exhibition: a view into the conversations between artists and their assigned mentors. The catalogue provides a closer look into the collective effort of writers, visual artists and mentors that has resulted in the collaborative exhibition currently at Open Eye Gallery until 18th December 2016, and features beautifully printed work by all three artists.
—
Written by Declan Connolly