People/Place
three photographers
Laji Varghese
Emma Crichton
Ian Graham
15 - 31 March 2018
Featuring three photographers with Glasgow connections,
“People-Place” presents contemporary photography in a Scottish and International context. Each artist portrays their own uncontrived reality, giving us an exclusive view of their world.
Their motivations differ, but the work presents strength of people and place. In works from Queensferry, Galicia and the Himalayas, it is understood that we may all have more in common that we realise.
Artist Statement
My work could be described as a visual stream of consciousness in which I respond to my immediate surroundings, photographing a mixture of landscapes, portraits and still lives. The result being an intimate visual diary recording places, new and old relationships and details of daily life.
I photograph people with whom my relationships are constantly evolving and who are of great importance to me. I am drawn to photographing members of my family and friends as I feel there is an understanding and connection which enables both the subject and myself to feel at ease with the situation. Facilitating the process of creating natural, uncontrived images.
My intention is to capture quiet moments in everyday life, when the subject is unaware of the camera and absorbed by their own thoughts. Nowadays we are so aware of cameras
and how we are perceived by others. For me it´s refreshing to take photos of people in normal situations and to let any imperfections or vulnerability be seen.
This idea can also be transferred to my images of landscapes and still lives e.g., “Unmade Bed” and ¨Dead flowers¨ both include subject matter that would not normally be considered as visually appealing however in my opinion they have an unconventional beauty.
Although personal, the purpose of my images is not to solely document my life: their purpose is to explore ideas, feelings and emotions which I believe everyone can relate to. There are universal themes such as birth, growth, dependency, security, love and death which I touch upon within my images.
Emma Crichton
Detritus & Other Stories
“My work is about my experience of place. When painting I utilise memory, observation and documentation, oscillating between intuitive gestures and conscious forms. I am fascinated by mans relationship to the natural world, our relevance and paradoxically our irrelevance to it. I like to focus on the less obvious, overlooked aspects of urban and rural environments.”
Amy has explored this notion by looking at the detritus of human consumption against the backdrop of natural landscape and the juxtaposition between the two. For this exhibition she has focused on the idea that objects are on a journey, things we discard do not disappear but are merely moved elsewhere, whether by accident or on purpose.
Amy is on the Committee of the fantastic 'Spring Fling' in Dumfries & Galloway.
Article by Monica Maneiro
‘What we live, feel, learn or communicate is of no importance to most people; it only matters what we appear to live or feel, what we appear to learn, what we appear to communicate on any shared online platform known as social media. We live in an age of drama; theatre and representation seem to dominate the world. For this reason, Emma Crichton´s photographs provoke an urgency to stop; they create a need to slow down. There are no forced smiles or affected poses. No idyllic situations, magnificent landscapes or designer spaces. There is no glossy editing or super saturated colours.
What we do find is a lot of truth and a lot of beauty.
Emma Crichton was born in 1988 and graduated in Photography from Edinburgh College of Art. Her interest in photography comes precisely from her discovery of Nan Goldin’s work, which led her to consider photography as an artistic medium through which she could develop work of a personal nature.
The images captured on her camera are not the product of a premeditated decision. She doesn´t look for the people whose portrait she wants to photograph, or the spaces she wants to turn into memories. They simply happen, just there in all their everyday naturalness.
The results are personal, but perfectly transferable to other memories, to other lives. Perhaps not everyone will identify with the models in the photos or the spaces around them, but we can easily imagine a life behind the images.
Light is one of the most interesting components of the work, as well as a predominant range of cool colours, with a strong relationship to the blue of the sky and sea, and the grey of the clouds and fog. The climate and environment are important features of Emma Crichton´s work.
Slowness is another theme present in Emma´s work. This pace begins simply in the photographic process, with the use of a medium format camera and photographic film, instead if the immediacy of the digital format.
The use of landscapes encapsulates distance and builds metaphors between her native Scotland and her life in Galicia.
In conclusion, we could say that Emma Crichton´s images form part of the body of young, contemporary creation; in continuous movement, narrating personal experiences and those of her generation, connected to the world while also communicating what has been lived authentically; art that is capable of using technical skills from less ephemeral times to relocate us in a status quo whose lack of humanity is at times bewildering.’