Output details

New Wooabbeleri

A solo exhibition and publication of contemporary art that followed a three month residency period at Focal Point Gallery In Sounthend-On-Sea,

Four framed C Print photographs.

Eighteen appropriated pages of Thames gateway printed matter.

Three silk screen prints

At the beginning of 2010 I spent three months as artists in Residence at Focal Point gallery in Southend-On-Sea. With the context of Focal Point Gallery in mind, the new project ‘New Wooabbeleri’ became a direct analysis of how the local conurbation of Thamesmead received its name, and by implication, how large developments sometimes rely on chance and spurious encounters, as much as clearly defined parameters and plans.

The exhibition and publication set out to question the role and reliability of documentation that is produced through theses bureaucratic processes. I looked at material related to the post-war development of the north and south banks of the river Thames. This research informed my choice of locations for the photographs I made. I also re-worked some of this material directly in the exhibition. The combination of re-worked planners drawings, appropriated marketing material and photographs aims to promote doubt and throw the truth of the photographic medium into question. The work combines text and image around specific places, together with the portrayal of obscure historical facts and documentary fictions and has developed from a directly politicised form of the medium, towards ideas that connect to Robert Smithson’s concepts of site/non-site.

Reviews:

Source Magazine. Issue 63

Articles:

Preview. The Guardian. Saturday 22nd May 2010

Interview in Source. Spring 2012

Nominated for Deutsche Börse Photography Prize.

The project received £5,500 from Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.