Exhibition Visit, Sheffield. Part of the Off the Shelf Festival of Words

As part of this exhibition three OCA students and colleagues from my peer-led hangout group featured bodies of work related to personal memory.

'Look for Him' and 'What Remains'.
John Umney's work (Look for Him) explores his tortured relationship with his father using memory, photography as metaphor, text and his father's personal artefacts, whilst Stephanie d'Hubert's (What Remains) is a reflection on the lives of her parents featuring a book of photographs, both from the family archive and also her own images of artefacts along with text as well as treasured family memorabilia.

The work of both artists is displayed in a side chapel of Sheffield Cathedral and the work faces the viewer as they enter the chapel.  It is displayed on two adjacent tables covered with white cloths. This, along with the quiet, calm atmosphere of the chapel, makes them reminiscent of altars.  The exhibition is an installation rather than images in a gallery and features artefacts, book and video presentation.

Although both works are based on memory, they are contrasting memories; John's quite anguished and tortured as he tries to come to terms with his relationship with his father and Stephanie's happier ones, although still tinged with sadness, as she remembers her mother and father.  When I was there the organ was being played and this added to the atmosphere and I felt that the whole thing worked well in the austere, minimalist surroundings.  I wondered whether the displays might have been more effective had they been placed in the adjacent arches in order to frame them, but on reflection they were better positioned as they were as the arches were on a side wall and so they would not have faced the viewer as they entered the chapel.

Both projects are emotive and very powerful and in each case the addition of the artefacts increases that effect as they give a 'reality' to the whole. I thought that both displays  worked well and I particularly liked the way Stephanie had displayed her mother's rings and, yes, the lavender still had a strong scent to it.  Although I was familiar with John's work, having seen it develop over the last 18 months, I had never seen the artefacts.  John had beautifully crafted a wooden box to display these personal belongs and it showed them off to great effect.  Either side of this box was a typed story, a childhood memory of kite flying with his father.  It was interesting to read this and conjecture whether it had actually happened, was a story or had happened but not quite as John remembered it.  As John says, " Memories that we all capture in photographs may not be accurate or comprehensive.  They alter through context and time offering us a subjective and distorted reality.  At the same time they can trigger detailed and expansive memories beyond the confines of the frame of a photograph."

Of the photographs I felt that John's bleak and sometimes foggy and frosty images worked well with the subject.  Interestingly Stephanie's images were small in the book and intriguingly positioned; a timely reminder that pictures do not always have to be large and are often more effective when small on the page or in the frame.

An excellent exhibition in a beautiful setting.

'Eudosia', Penny Watson.
Penny's exhibition is a video presentation set in the foyer of Sheffield Town Hall.  It comprises 14 images which explore the relationship children have with the landscape.  In this project Penny encouraged the children to gather materials from the land which could be made onto a 'crown' or head decoration.  Each child then lay on a black cloth and Penny arranged their collection on and around their head, much like a crown, before photographing them from above.  They were beautifully photographed and left much for the visitor to question.  It was fascinating to see a visual representation of the relationship children have with nature.  I saw links with folklore and our pagan past, rites, Persephone, Pan and harvest among others.

At first I thought that the town hall was an unusual setting for an exhibition, it is a cluttered and busy place.  However I spent quite some time looking at this display and on reflection felt that it worked.  Apart from being an excellent location for footfall, I felt that the imposing staircase with is ornate carving on the walls suited perfectly.

Another smashing show.

One thing all three projects had in common was that they all leave much for the visitor to question and ask of themselves.  Many questions are asked and few answers provided.  Well done all three and to John for his curation.