LCC BA DEGREE SHOW

The Private View was on 13/06/06
This was a mixed show of graduate work… some evocative, some literal and some just plain eerie.
Favorite photos were by Caren Geary in a series called Catch Me Before I Fall.
These were large coloured portraits of various people in front of a beaded backdrop, who seemed to be ‘falling’ [or jumping?]
They were in focus, very well printed and technically well produced. They were examples of what can be achieved by careful staging in a studio, but did portray that significant moment when one is freed from the constraints of atmosphere and almost defies gravity… the moment of suspension. This is quite tricky to portray a significant isolated moment that transcends the barriers of normalcy.
Troy Bailey showed images of ‘New England’ houses that seemed more like Doll’s houses than real concrete spaces. This was helped by the technique of vignetting the images and presenting them as if viewing them through a peephole. Only the centre of the photo was in focus, and there was no evidence of human habitation, only the occasional telegraph wire indicated that these were not indeed mock-ups.
Katie Sheldrake exhibited a series of portraits of elderly couples staged in traditional English domestic settings, but dressed in what appeared to be ethnic costumes totally out of keeping with their appearance and surroundings. They were also surrounded by objects that were obviously collected on their outings to various third world countries in e.g. Africa.
There were some unmemorable family group portraits and a number of rather dramatic photos of abandoned, ruined buildings exhibiting signs, reminders of the humans that once inhabited these spaces by Melinda Gibson,Mi Jeong Baek and Hayley Caradoc-Hodgkins.