I’m preparing for my new (solo) exhibition The Home Front at Impressions, which opens 14 September and runs to 23 November. It’s
been brilliant working with curator Pippa Oldfield these past few months. Numerous trips down to Spectrum in Hove, working mostly with Paul Lowe, which has been great. At the end of August I’m heading to Verona to see The Home Front book ‘on press’ with Dewi Lewis at EBS printers.
July 2013 (archived post)
On 1 July I was at York University, talking about Border Country at a seminar called The Politics of Detention superbly organised by Alex Hall, lecturer in the Politics Department. When I started Border Country in 2003 I never imagined that the injustice of immigration detention would still be quite such a pressing issue ten years on. http://www.york.ac.uk/politics/news-events/events/2013/politics-detention/ The papers were really excellent, although the day was sobering.
June 2013 (archived post)
On 12 June I was at Belfast Exposed for Photography and Social Justice a roundtable discussion on the relationship between photography and political activism, focusing on the rights of detainees, especially those caught up in the immigration system. It was fantastic to be back in Belfast and to see the shows at BX and the MAC Northern Ireland: 30 Years of Photography, and to spend time with Pauline Hadaway, Anthony Haughey and Chris Gilligan again and to meet Laurence McKeown. http://www.belfastexposed.org/eventdetails/Photography_and_Social_Justice_Panel_Discussion
January 2013 (archived post)
Went up to Newcastle on 16 January to give a talk at the Mining Institute, part of the North East Photography Network (NEPN) series of Photographer Talks. See http://www.northeastphoto.net/. I had a fantastic time, and the audience’s responses were insightful and thoughtful. Also had an attack of darkroom nostalgia during my tour of the new darkrooms and print spaces at University of Sunderland, amazing to see so many enlargers…
November 2012 (archived post)
I was invited to participate in Bridging Sound, co-organised by Profs Sally-Jane Norman and Michael Bull at University of Sussex. I talked about the use of sound in my earlier projects (Border Country, Homes and Gardens) and also my new work The Home Front (no literal sound; but there is sound within the images). There were some great papers. I could relate particularly to the presentation given by Angus Carlyle and Rupert Cox about their project Air Pressure, which focuses on noise pollution by aircraft in Japan, and its effect on a farming community living right next a runway.
October 2012 (archived post)
Saturday 13 October.
Speaker at seminar focusing on the Current Conflicts exhibition at University College Suffolk’s Waterfront Gallery, Ipswich.
Registration : from 9.30am, Seminar starts at 10.00am.
More information:www.ucs.ac.uk/waterfrontgallery.
To register: contact c.gant2@ucs.ac.uk or call on 01473 338654.
Saturday 20 October.
Speaker at Brighton Photo Biennial Symposium Photography’s Contested Spaces featuring Charlotte Cotton, Jorge Ribalta, Broomberg & Chanarin & more. At: The Attenborough Centre Creativity Zone, Pevensey III, University of Sussex, Falmer Brighton, BN1 9RH. 10am – 5.30pm. Cost: £10.
July 2012 (archived post)
New work The Home Front has been scheduled for solo exhibition in early 2014 at Impressions Gallery, Bradford, UK. An accompanying publication is being planned with Dewi Lewis and Impressions Gallery.
March 2012 (archived post)
The Home Front has received two nominations for the Prix Pictet.
February 2012 (archived post)
Three photographs from The Home Front series have been published in the Danish photography/video journal KATALOG 24.1 (Spring 2012).
May 2011 (archived post)
London Poll Tax Riot photograph (1990) was exhibited in Street Fighting Man exhibition at James Hyman Photography, Savile Row, London, W1.
‘My Best Shot’ slot in The Guardian, with interview by Sarah Phillips.
One of six photographers interviewed for a film made by Panos Pictures celebrating their 25th anniversary, Conversations in Photography: 25 Years of Panos Pictures.
May 2011 (archived post)
One of six photographers interviewed for a film made by Panos Pictures celebrating their 25th anniversary, Conversations in Photography: 25 Years of Panos Pictures.
April 2011 (archived post)
Interviewed by journalist William Oliver for Dazed and Confused.
March 2011 (archived post)
Matt Hart, Professor of English and Comparative Literature at University of Columbia, New York, wrote extensively about Border Country in the Spring/Summer 2011 issue of English Language Notes (University of Colorado, USA).
February 2011 (archived post)
David Farrier, Lecturer, Department of English Literature, The University of Edinburgh has written about Border Country in his book Postcolonial Asylum: Seeking sanctuary before the law (Liverpool University Press).