Digital Photography at Working Men’s College

22 September – 5 October 2012

Open Monday – Friday 9.30-8.30pm

Saturday 9.30-3.30pm (term time only)

Artists:

Giampaolo Baldin, Niyazi Bayrak, Nadhira Benaissa, Alessandra Cinti, Flore Debray, Rob Devoy, Daniel Evans, Ana De Sousa Graca, Romana Kovarova, Suchisimita Majumdar, Emily Milnes, Danuta Nawrot, Daniel Nicola, Siobhan O’Hara, Sabrina Osborne, Seta Perez, Terry Rees, Jackson Rodriguez, Shane Samarasinghe, Camilla Scaramanga, Jeni Thompson

The Ruskin Gallery is pleased to present the work of students on Digital Photography classes of 2012, at The Working Men’s College.  Taught by Neil Waterson, a London based photographer, the majority of students began with little or no experience in photography. Over 10 weeks students developed visual skills and technical ability, to realize their projects. With no set brief, except to develop their own work and ways of seeing, students produce photography, using a wide variety of equipment and techniques. Neither technology nor finance determine the effectiveness of an image.

As a consequence, the images are a personal and individual reflection of each student. Several students have gone on to exhibit in national and local exhibitions and competitions. Others go on to access Art and Design courses at Working Men’s College, Art School, University or using their new skills within a professional or personal context. All have gained confidence in making photography and produced high standards of work. The photography here is informed by life in the city. From architectural forms, street observations and still life: including red freckled foxgloves; glowing church interiors and a pink plastic interior of a toddlers playroom.

Photography has been a force behind important shifts in art historical thinking and its discourse. Artists like Andy Warhol and Gerhard Richter were fundamental in changing the way we comprehend both painting and photography, blurring the boundaries that distinguish them and removing hallmarks of authorship. Artists associated with conceptualism and performance art, like Vito Acconci, Bernd and Hilla and Becher, expanded the formal criteria that defined photographs as art. Larry Clark, Nan Goldin and Richard Billingham’s, so called confessional photography, embraced subjects like trangressive sexuality, violence and family life. Artists like Cindy Sherman, as well as exploring feminist themes, pointed to the influence of film and psychoanalysis on photography. These changes also established that there were no formal precepts of photographic correctness.

 As course tutor, Neil Waterson has over 20 years experience in photography, including: portraits for actors, musicians and dancers; architectural and interior work for building, estate management and design clients; still-life, product and pack shot photography for editorial and advertising; designing and producing complete CD solutions for artists in the London Jazz Scene. His personal projects are an extension of his interest in painting and graphics in architectural forms. His client list includes: Sunday Express Magazine, Daily Express, Nexus (Japan) Ltd, Royal Caribbean Cruises, Lansdowne Euro, International, Thomson Publishing, Channel 4 Television and Central Television. The course outline can be seen at http://enrol.wmcollege.ac.uk/lynx/CourseInfo.aspx?q=LEAFLET0906

Contact estherw@workingmenscollege.ac.uk for more information.

Published by ruskingallery

The Ruskin Gallery is located at the Working Men's College in Camden. Ruskin Gallery is a contemporary gallery located in the historic building of Working Men’s College in Camden. In addition to providing students the opportunity to show at a professional level, the exhibition programme at Ruskin Gallery involves inviting external artists for site specific projects. The Ruskin Gallery is run by curator Esther Windsor, who is a curator, artist and writer living and working in London. Working Men’s College (WMC), the oldest surviving adult education institute in Europe, was founded in 1854 and was associated with the Cooperative Movement and the Christian Socialists, stemming, from the same tradition that led later to the Worker’s Educational Association. The Working Women’s College, founded 10 years later in 1864, finally merged with WMC in 1967. Early supporters of both have included F D Maurice, John Stuart Mill, Tom Hughes, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Ruskin, Ford Maddox Brown, Walter de la Mare and Octavia Hill. Originally based in Red Lion Street, we have been in this listed building in Camden Town since 1905. We have continued to develop the tradition of liberal education and today the College serves the whole community, with women, unemployed and refugee students forming the majority of the student body. We have grown rapidly in recent years but are still small enough to know all our students and to respond to their individual needs. WMC was designated as a Specialist Designated Institution (SDI) under the 1992 Further Education Act.

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