Gen23 Nottingham Trent University (NTU) Degree Show Friday 24th May 2019

Hazel and I usually visit the NTU degree show to view the final year students’ Body of Work Exhibitions. They are in different galleries / spaces in Nottingham and it links well with our current OCA studies. This year Hazel had a meeting planned with a gallery to discuss a potential exhibition space for her body of work and work to show The Photo Parlour which was the result of her coursework and attending a bookmaking and photo sequencing day with them.

As we were not starting as early as usual (it takes a whole day to see the work and chat to students), we had to be selective with the galleries we visited. Students advertise their exhibitions on Instagram and one gallery seemed showed work which differed hugely from our BOW’s and added on nearly 2 miles to the circular walk. We decided to miss this one out. That made us question which image summed up our own work and if we chose this, is it a fair representation of the rest of our work? We became so engrossed that we ran out of time to visit the last gallery.

The Photo Parlour

This reminded me of the work of level 3 OCA student. Hazel and I chatted about the way in which this work may have started or evolved and the importance of looking at a similar subject in another way when ideas get stuck.

Another student has discussed his work in the crit session at Format and with the hangout group. His work is about memory loss and photography. We commented that using a diptych may be another way of telling a story.

I was interested in Emily’s idea and her collaboration of work in her book. The use of so many different types of text made it almost like an archive (or could be in a few years’ time). The leather cover of the book gave the work a journal like feeling and something which would age with time but not look out of place. The different handwritten notes added a human factor to the exhibition. For me they worked in the book, but I felt I couldn’t read the ones on the wall incase I pulled them off. They were positioned high on the wall where I was not being invited to read them but view as “evidence”.

Molly’s book had to be turned upside down halfway through. Her handmade book was neat, and I liked the brown card that the text was written on.

Hazel showed her work to a couple of people she knew at the Photo Parlour. They remembered her work from the study day she did with them and were interested to see her completed book as it had just come back from the printers. One of the photographers then singled out an image which he thought would stand alone as a print to hang on the wall as part of an exhibition. Up until this point, thinking about the work as a book, we had been looking at the images in pairs and seeing if they went together. This put a different slant on the work – moving it from BOW to SYP so all a good learning experience for me to watch. The reaction of the photographers to Hazel’s work was positive and uplifting, almost like a show and tell session. They informed us that they had a monthly social night on Wednesday, and it was good to network and talk about work there.

Society of Artists

Ellie’s work was tactile. Her images included glitter, false eyelashes and fake hair. I enjoyed the fun element of these although the message being portrayed is more serious.

Hung Up Gallery

The box of images was good because you could look at them in any order. It gave the exhibition a more hands on approach. I would like something interactive when I get this far so I’m keeping my eyes open for different ways of doing things.

I liked the inclusion of the postcard racks in the exhibition. There were several of the same image and the viewer could pick out images as if choosing a postcard in a shop.

This uses redacting to block out information. I don’t know whether it is in fashion at the moment or whether I started to notice it when looking at text and image together.

Jason’s work has been seen on local social/media. I’ve seen this before and can’t remember where. I remember the AV presentation about the allotment. It may have been on the local news? I like the extra touches with it such as flowers and sign.

Hazel had an appointment with the owner of Hung Up gallery to discuss holding her exhibition here. We looked at the student exhibition first to get a feel for the space. We have visited the basement a few times previously and it’s always different from how you remember it to be. Several students had work on display. It is quite a large space so ideally Hazel would need to exhibit with someone else with similar work. At this point, Hazel had to change from showing her work to selling her work. They negotiated cost, promotion (of which Hazel would have to do it all), length of time she would need the space for, opening presentation, all the preparatory work (which Hazel would have to do herself) and when to hold the exhibition. It wasn’t as simple as the third week in June for 1 week. There would also need to be several meetings to discuss progress.

Broadway Gallery

Screengrabs from GEN23 instagram 

https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17950360033259446/ accessed 12/6/19

These images reminded me of some of the delicate flower photographs I had been looking at by Fleur Olby and Lisa Dracup. I looked up Kathleen’s Instagram post to see how she made the images. We got talking to one of the students about the exhibition space and how it worked. You could have this in any combination of false walls and partitions making the space larger or smaller. The space is light and airy, and the work was still hanging on the walls towards the end of the day. Hazel explained it was all to do with the humidity of the room. We went to see if we could chat to the lady in charge of the exhibition space as it seemed to work well. Hazel took her email address as she was not around.

Surface Gallery

The Surface gallery is a huge space. Upstairs we found some interesting work. For me the star of the show was the work by Rebecca Potten on her journey along the River. Her presentation made it easy to look at the images. It reminded me of the boards which are on display in cities showing landscape from the air. Her book was handmade and I liked the information on the dust jacket.

I am interested in landscape and power, but I don’t want to present my landscape in a picturesque manner. This is a reminder to myself of what I don’t want to do.

This would fit in really well with one of the exercises in Digital Image and Culture. I’ve embroidered photographs myself. I think I would have mounted these onto the wall with no frame because the glass squashed the embroidery and made it difficult to see. I didn’t frame my exercise so it was interesting to see what happens if you do.