’20th Century’, Michael Samuels
‘20th Century’ was a site specific commission by Michael Samuels for a new multi tenanted office building at BAA Gatwick, open 24/7, designed to help sustain the continued growth of the airport. Samuels re-purposed passenger flight information boards with a comprehensive scrolling list of 20th century influential figures across politics, sports, arts and science. The work defined a sense of place and offered cultural appreciation as a new experience.
We commissioned ’20th Century’ as part of the BAA Art Programme in 1998.
‘Passions’, Kay Walsh
‘Passions’ provided the opportunity for young and vulnerable parents to become confident in image making and explore their individual responses to the word passion. The idea behind the project was to enable the women to explore their own identity outside the role of being a parent. A persona that can often leave women feeling invisible outside of this role.
This project challenged this view by encouraging the participants to work with their passions. By uncovering and exploring parts of their identity that became more hidden or forgotten since embarking on parenthood, they showed a wider view of themselves. The women spoke about the lack of energy and time they had, since becoming a parent, to think about themselves or their own interests. They were asked to think about what they felt passionate about and how they would express this through image making.
Part of the course was to gain new skills and to try photographing different subjects. They explored portraiture, architecture, still life and reportage before setting out on their own to take pictures. The theme allowed them to focus on certain experiences in their daily lives. Throughout the course, each participant gained confidence and developed a strong body of work to describe their own passions. Some had never taken a photo before, others had a camera but hadn’t taken many photos, and all became much more engaged in the process of image making. One parent said “having to give back my camera is like loosing my right arm”.
‘Passions’ was commissioned by HS Projects and funded by the Insight Community Arts Programme (2002 – 2015).
The project ran from July to December 2014.
Magali Fowler
Magali Fowler’s exhibition of recent work alludes to narratives, the twists and turns of which you could only guess at, for there are no scripts available. Presented without the trappings of their storylines, the protagonists are glimpsed upon a journey framed by rural landscapes.
Photographs of aeroplane interiors with off-white windows, blinds and beige seats, obviously not waiting for passengers as its seats are covered with clear plastic; a youth manoeuvring his motorbike within an overgrown fenced compound; a woman by a car, absorbed in reading a map, adds a note of reflection to the surrounding moments of action; a young man in a field studded with purple flowers lit by a low sun; a girl incongruously holding a T-shirt aloft. With the story-lines absent, viewers are left to enjoy the moments along the way for what they are.
Magali Fowler’s photographs were exhibited in 2002 as part of the Cable & Wireless Exhibition Programme, 1992 – 2006.