Until recently it had been several years since I last displayed my photography out in the wild.
Earlier in the year, OUTPUT Gallery had a call-out for a photography open group exhibition which I responded to with a selection from my 'Mersey From Otterspool' series.
My submission selection.
Fast forward a few months and I was very pleased to find out from Declan Connolly (the curator of the exhibition) that my entry had been selected and would be displayed at The Bridewell's gallery space in Liverpool at the end of May.
Unexpectedly, he put an idea to me of displaying the prints on the top of plinths so that they would be facing upwards, forcing the viewer to look at them from above. I was intrigued by this idea as it mirrored the vantage point I often had of the water when taking the photos and it was a form of display I wouldn't have thought of myself. I was happy to trust his idea would work well and saw this as a positive collaboration.
After receiving the various dimensions of the plinths I finalised a selection and made prints based on what I felt suited the varying sizes and aspect ratios. Being a bit rusty at printing and never having got to grips with Capture One Pro's printing module, I did have some issues but got there in the end and was pleased with the results.
The exhibition selection printed on Fotospeed Matt Ultra 240gsm, printed at dimensions to suit plinth sizes.
Cropped the prints on my Rotatrim guillotine.
Once the prints were ready for display I dropped them off with Declan to install. The next time I'd see them was at the evening launch of the exhibition at The Bridewell Gallery…
The Bridewell Studios and Gallery.
The evening launch was held a few days after the opening of the exhibition. Here I saw my prints on display and was really pleased with how Declan had arranged them.
I’m not the most comfortable or confident of people in situations like these, but I’m glad I went as I got to meet some of the other exhibiting artists, speak to visitors and discuss my work and receive positive feedback. I had a good time in the end!
I went back a few days later to take photos of the exhibition - scroll below to see the exhibition (names of artists added to photos):
Naomi McAllister
Hester Yang (video installation behind my work)
My photos on plinths. The staggered heights gave an additional sculptural feel to the overall display.
Lydia Marley
Johanna Wilson
Joseph Hulme
I also couldn’t resist taking a few photos of characterful details of the gallery. The Bridewell was formerly a police station and so has a sense of history to it.
A few days later the exhibition ended. It was great to exhibit work again after several years, but also to show work from this series. A while into starting this series I’d had it in mind that I’d really like to exhibit them, so it was a positive experience to finally do so and see that thought come to fruition. Perhaps I’ll exhibit them again someday!
Thanks for reading this blog post - I hope you enjoyed it. For more information and images of the exhibition go here to OUTPUT gallery’s website.