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Growing up in the New Age - A solo photographic exhibition and book looking at the new age

Further developing her research into the themes of autobiography, memory and archive, Ryley received funding from Arts Council England for research and development to create photographic work tracing her parents’ experiences during the 1960s and 70s when they lived an alternative, countercultural lifestyle. By mapping these onto the social history of the time, the work offers an insight into life in this countercultural environment.

Through new photographic and creative text works, moving image, the collection and presentation of symbolic objects and the inclusion of archival materials, Ryley takes the audience on a journey which includes communes in the South of France, squatting in South London and ‘free school’ education set against the backdrop of the social and political happenings of the period.

The work reconsiders the social utopias of the era and questions its continued validity. Working with Professor Val Williams at Photography and the Archive Research Centre, University of the Arts, London and curator Malcolm Dickson, Street Level Photoworks, Glasgow, ‘Growing Up in the New Age’ was disseminated as an exhibition at Street Level Photoworks, Glasgow, (20 April - 10 June 2012), as part of Glasgow International and Wolverhampton Art Gallery (23 June - 8 September 2012).

The research is published by Daylight USA (ISBN 978098323231684), featuring essays by Val Williams, Malcolm Dickson and writing by Brigitte Ryley and Peter Ryley. The book has international distribution through DAP (Distributed Art Publishers).

The research also formed the basis of a paper by Ryley ‘Life on the Floor’, published in Photography & Culture journal (Bloomsbury Publishing), Vol 5, Issue 1, March 2012. The work was published as an edition of Field Study (Number 15, published by PARC) and it formed part of the Moose on the Loose Biennale of Research (May 2013).