| Hugh Dichmont reviewed the Photography Open Exhibition at View from the Top gallery |
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© Sameh Darwazeh / Parents' Circle / PhotoVoice Resolution, View from the Top’s open submission photography show, offered amateurs an opportunity to show and sell their images alongside the works of professionals. On the 9 February the gallery becomes an auction-house, with 10% of all money made being donated to the charity PhotoVoice. Amongst the 150 or so images, displayed wall-to-wall and covering the entire gallery, there were works of real beauty and poignancy, most notably Momo Thome’s contemplative triptych On the Edge. The first of her three photographs depict a solitary figure, a child of perhaps nine, stood facing a tumultuous sea breaking in bands of waves. The shot has been taken from an elevated position, giving the scene an epic quality, the chaotic spectacle of the waves enclosing the figure within the peripheries of the frame. The child appears as no more than a momentary apparition, inconsequential and alone, on the cusp of nature’s intensity and profundity in form, giving life and taking it away. Her second image, equally as bleak as the first, depicts a barren rural vista; a lone tree standing on rough terrain speckled with grass and undergrowth. In the third we are given a castle-like edifice that stands resolutely upon a hill, facing the ocean, the sky above woven with a blanket of storm clouds. Though initially monochrome, when given time, On the Edge has a depth that is neither white nor silver, carrying with it the memory of cold rain. Although trees, hills, the sea and man as a solitary figure do feature elsewhere in the exhibition, it is Thome’s triptych that deserves repeated viewing. Indeed, it is in the relational inter-play between the three photographs that the work comes alive. There are formal concurrences among the images; the use of horizontal belts of texture, and thematic echoes; the sea, an impending storm, which unify the trio as a singular narrative. The triptych exudes a respect for nature and a belief in its poetry.
My attraction to works of simplicity, with strong, reflective narratives can be attributed to a fascination with man’s constant struggle to understand, quantify and connect with his temporal environment on a personal level. Photography is an inherently solitary activity, and perhaps as a consequence facilitates the production of introspective creations, or at least lends itself to such interpretations. © Dave Bevan / Playing Fields 2 Being an open exhibition, there were the customary inclusions: photographs of animals, attempts at capturing motion, close-ups of interesting architecture, allusions to cinema, shots of people, trees, water; mostly without particular skill or any real verve. It is not surprising that such topics reoccur regularly not only throughout Resolution but seemingly every open photography show. Arguably, this collective urge to capture the moment, with originality and dexterity being second to inclination, is drawn from man’s innate fragility and transience. Rather than innovation, it is a rhythm of persistence that characterises Resolution, promoting photography as the democratic art form. The most compelling works in the show were pictures that transcended photography’s ability to merely document objects, sensitive photographs that managed to transpose the role of the image and the image taker; the compositions acting as thresholds to the mind and heart of the photographer. Resolution is showing at View from the Top gallery until 9 February Photography Open Exhibition Comment (0)  Send to friend  Print  Add to Facebook  Socialise
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Other works of note within the show were Dave Bevan’s series Playing Fields, depicting empty car parks, and Marcello Di Bonito’s You and the Sea, a sepia montage of a woman’s profile, and, once again, a view of the sea, this time from a pier. Di Bonito’s work was highly filmic, evocative of the sensual cinematography of Christopher Doyle.