PHOTOGRAPHIC ART
When the programme was first conceived and written in early 2005, there was a
growing need to set out and examine how photography had extended itself through
adopting a broad set of contemporary fine art working practices. The definitions of a
photographic artist had radically shifted away from a more technical or process-driven
position to one dominated by the need to engage with the printed, physical and
virtual space. The newly minted programme set out to offer this within an exciting
and stimulating experience to rival what was already available at the University of
Wales, Newport.
The programme quickly established a position of embracing contemporary photography
in all its guises. It had to acknowledge that certain boundaries in terms of artistic and
commercial applications had been blurred to a point of non-distinction, and it would
be aspects of publishing and the citing of the photograph as well as how the art world
generally now contextualised the photographic image, that would be its main and
prevailing rationale. It needed to allow its students to feel connected to this way of
thinking, making and talking about photographs whilst still allowing some degree of
experimentation and cross-fertilisation that would be typical of an art-school experience.
Five years later this exhibition offers an opportunity to reflect on these aims and to what
extent they have been embodied within its graduating students – a small selection of
which are showcased here. It is true that the programme rapidly distinguished itself in
terms of its popularity with high application numbers and that many graduates have
moved quickly and assuredly into employment within the broad creative industries
and specifically those areas concerned with contemporary art photography. Such
achievements makes waves within the photographic community and the reputation of
the programme is now of international standing. Graduating and emerging students from
the programme win awards and bursaries of distinction to continue to make and exhibit
work, or move to study at postgraduate level at some of the most important universities
and academies.
Finally it is important to acknowledge the key members of staff who have been
responsible for this success. Most importantly Peter Bobby, Eileen Little, Ronnie Close and
Magali Nougarede – the Programme Team who together with Matt White and Suzanne
Mooney are steering the programme into the next five years with assured confidence.
Also I would like to to thank Karen Brett, Dr Kieran Lyons, Dr Helen Sear, Conway Lloyd
Morgan, Helen Milner, David Barnes, Marcus Ahmad and Jayne Hall who all have
played a role in the programme’s development and refinement whilst Paul Davies, Denis
Lewis, Gawain Barnard, Ian Llewellyn, Steena Preece and Jennie Savage have worked
closely with the academic team to offer technical consultation and support.
Geraint Cunnick
Head of Fine Art and Photography
The Newport School of Art, Media and Design
The University of Wales, Newport
A few years ago, my father started a family history of his ancestors.
BEN ABSALOM.SAM BARDSLEY He traced the Hemsleys back some four or five hundred years. It took
several years to amass this information, and during that time he chipped
STUART BAILES away and chipped away, until finally he had something he was happy
TOM HEMSLEY with. Around this time, he was also self-employed, having designed an
improved version of an edge strip used in the refining of copper. He
ELEANOR JANE was successful in trialing his product in refineries in Europe and South
America. Dad bought an old, beat up Land Rover for a bargain price and
MATT LOCK spent a good deal of time and money making it drivable, until eventually
selling it on to another enthusiast. He has an exhaustive approach
KATE MERCER to work, drawing on extensive research and a desire to do the job
ELLIOTT WILCOX thoroughly. But once completed, there is often a radical shift in direction
towards something new.
E X P E R I M E N T A L I T Y
It was not until near the end of my degree that I realised the extent of
his influence on me and the choices I have made in life thus far. Tutors
Exhibition: 16 April – 5 june 2010 and peers both incubate a shift towards a proficient working practice,
encouraging sustained interest in a topic, a critical mind, and an
Newport Museum & Art Gallery awareness of the medium of the artist’s work. Yet functional practice is
John Frost Square NP20 1PA not only dependent on these skills; it is also essential to look at another to
01633 656656 gain experience through observation, alongside the process of learning
through one’s own mistakes and experiences. In the same manner as one
Open Mon – Thurs: 09.30 –17.00
pulls different influences and insights into their physical work, the process
Fri: 09.30 –16.30
of the practitioner is dependent on outside sources. In my case, the themes
Sat: 09.30 –16.00
addressed in the work are less attributable to one individual source, and
In association with Newport Museum & Art Gallery. this feeds the notion that the vehicle of art practice is a separate entity,
Further supported by the University of Wales, Newport and Nelmes Design. rich in its own right.
Organisers: Lauren Jury, Peter Bobby, Ronnie Close & Helen Warburton.
Tom Hemsley, 2010
Graduating in 2008 from UWN, Lauren Jury is Visual Arts Assistant at Chapter
and Helen Warburton is Gallery Officer at Ffotogallery.
We would like to acknowledge the support of Newport Museum & Art Gallery in
funding this publication and extend a special thanks to Sandra Jackaman and
Shaun Featherstone for their help and support in making the exhibition possible.
Cover image: Ben Absalom and Sam Bardsley
BEN ABSALOM.SAM BARDSLEY
‘Paris Revisited’ explores the potential of
photography to communicate varied experiences
of place and time. The project focuses around
the ‘journey’ through an act of walking or
wandering in various forms, and the encounter
and representation of the urban environment.
With Breton’s, ‘Nadja’ as a starting point for
research, the objective became to mediate,
through photography, the mid-point between
their interpretation of the novel and the real
experience of their visit to Paris. This formed an
investigation, communicating the limitations of
both research and photography.
Ben Absalom, born 1986 graduated in 2008 and
collaborates with Sam Bardsley, born 1984; a graduate
of the University of Brighton. Having completed two
major bodies of work; ‘8X’s’ and ‘Paris Revisited’, the
pair has exhibited at the Welsh National Eisteddfod,
Brighton Photo Biennial fringe festival and Brickhouse
Gallery, London. They have been nominated to represent
the University of Wales in May 2010 at the Steidl
Graduate Book Award in Essen.
STUART BAILES
‘Of Walking in Ice’ explores the idea of
experience as an imagined perception. In
presenting something one is not presented
with the thing itself but rather the idea of an
experience. The image is a result of seeing,
raising questions about the medium of
photography. In understanding this, a space
becomes available and it is this space that
the artist continues to wander through.
Stuart Bailes born 1985, graduated in 2007.
He has gone onto to exhibit throughout the UK
and internationally including; The Photographer’s
Gallery, Freshfacedandwildeyed 08 and Future50
at PSL Leeds. Bailes was selected as the UK winner
for Magenta Foundation’s Flashforward09, which
is touring across venues in Canada and the
USA. Currently based in London, he is reading
Photography at the Royal College of Art and is to
show at the 2010 Affordable Art Fair.
TOM HEMSLEY
‘The Five-and-a-Half Thousand Daydream’ is a
photographic installation that focuses on the use
of imagination by inmates as a way to escape
the hardships and routine of everyday prison life,
and add positivity to their time inside. Drawing
on contemporary documentary influences, the
work uses a series of interlinked narratives
to illustrate the different ways in which a
prisoner might fantasise and dream. Our social
conventions result in the need for the justice
system, yet our social relations can act as one of
the greatest sources of comfort, or of torment, to
those inside.
Tom Hemsley, born 1988, graduated in 2009.
His practice aims to touch upon common values by
reworking the inward thoughts and emotions of the
human condition. Hemsley has recently completed the
2009/10 Format Graduate Residency, based at Spike
Island in Bristol and has contributed a written essay to
this publication.
ELEANOR JANE
Eleanor’s work explores emotional
states of being and the way in which
personal narrative can be formed
through images taken instinctively.
The work is executed through a
controlled catharsis, observing and
exploring seemingly simple images
that hint at a grander gesture. This
indirect visceral imagery builds a
surreal yet sophisticated self-portrait.
Eleanor Jane born 1985, graduated in 2006 and has since exhibited internationally; recently obtaining
gallery representation in the USA, exhibiting in both LA and San Francisco. Her photographic work
has received awards and commendations in competitions hosted by Urban Outfitters, The Guardian,
Shell, The National Eisteddfod and the Welsh Livery Guild. Eleanor also uses self-published media in
order to explore ways of communicating artistic ideas outside the gallery space.
ELLIOTT WILCOX
Exploring the distinctions between
object and representation within
constructed leisure interiors, Wilcox
proposes that the entity and idea
of such spaces are no longer valid.
Referring to Jean Baudrillard, Wilcox is
intrigued by internal space constructed
out of models and simulacra which
have no reference or ground in
any reality except their own. In
photographing the empty climbing
walls, absent of the human activity we
are so familiar with, these environments
become estranged pointing to that
which is neither exterior nor interior but
which reveals the romanticised space
of the real.
MATT LOCK
This object based work, titled
‘The Collector’ consists of a
collection of antique keys.
The artist wrote a number of
anonymous letters to a random
selection of addresses. The
notes requested information
about the participants, asking
them to include a personal
possession that once or still
had meaning for them. The
Matt Lock, born 1986, is a final year student in Photographic received packages presented
Art and his work involves experimenting with the context of an insight into someone else’s
found objects to capture a sense of nostalgia, which gives a
world, negotiating a shift
new purpose and meaning to the objects.
between the intimate and
private into the public realm.
KATE MERCER
Based on an interview with the artist’s mother,
‘Trigger’ explores the realization that many of her
Elliott Wilcox born in 1987, graduated future aspirations of family are almost identical
from the course in 2008. He has received to those her mother had years previously; the
numerous awards from Nikon Discovery, shared anxieties, restrictions and expectations
New York Photo and the prestigious Lucie projected from one generation to the next. Born
Discovery of the Year at the International out of a sense of frustration with the limitations
Photography Awards. Elliott has exhibited of photography, this videoed multimedia
internationally and in the UK and has
performance forces the body to act as host and
featured in School of Saatchi, as the only
surrogate to the projected experiences of both
photographic artist to make it through to the
mother and child.
final stages. Forthcoming projects for 2010
include ‘MurmurArt’ while studying an MA
Kate Mercer, born in 1988, is currently a second
in Photographic Studies at the University of
Westminster, London. year student of Photographic Art. Working with still
and moving imagery, Kate has exhibited in London,
Newport and in her home county of Oxfordshire. Past
exhibitions include ‘Go Home’ on London’s Brick Lane
and ‘Artinavan’s Brixton’s Smallest Cinema Project’ in
February 2010. Forthcoming shows include FfotoCardiff
in May 2010.