Fabric of Photography:Material Matters

Twelve experimental photographic artists exhibit their work in Oxford as part of Photo Oxford Festival due to open at Lower Gallery, The Old Fire Station, central Oxford, from the 15th of October until 13th of November. Each artist focuses on materiality within their practice. They are inspired by historical processes invented in the 19th Century, and work with the fundamental elements of the photographic medium: Light, Time and Material.

The exhibition brings together artists from Australia, France, Holland, Poland, Ukraine, the United States, and the United Kingdom. The artists explore the materiality of the photograph through experimentation within analogue photographic techniques to create unique contemporary art photography.

Today the immaterial existence or cloud-based imagery and material analogue existence of photography collide and represent a shift in focus within fine art experimental photography. The idea that analogue photography is obsolete is outdated; these artists embrace the beginnings of the medium, using it in the most creative and energetic way to generate unique photographic art. Here the light sensitivity, the process, the materiality of the photograph/object become the subject. These photographic artists are part of a movement that pushes the boundaries of photography as a medium.

These photographers are part of a movement that pushes the boundaries of photography as a medium. The idea that analogue photography is obsolete is outdated; a raft of artists embrace the beginnings of the medium, using it in the most creative and energetic way to generate unique photographic art that is at the forefront of the definition of fine art experimental photography.

Tokyo: Art & Photography

until 3 January 2022

★ ★ ★ ★ ★
“A thrilling encounter with one of the world’s great art capitals”
The Guardian

This exhibition is a celebration of one of the world’s most creative, dynamic and thrilling cities. Explore Japan’s capital city through the vibrant arts it has generated over 400 years.

It features a wide variety of artworks created in a metropolis that has constantly reinvented itself. Highlights include historic folding screens and iconic woodblock prints, video works, pop art, and contemporary photographs by Moriyama Daido and Ninagawa Mika.

With new commissions by contemporary artists, loans from Japan and treasures from the Ashmolean’s own collections, the show provides a fascinating insight into the development of Tokyo into one of the world’s most important cultural hotspots.

Catherine, Kiambé, Surya

15th October – 15th November 2021

‘Catherine, Kiambé, Surya’ is a body of work by French emerging artist Elisa Moris Vai. Her reading of two novels by Nobel Prize JMG Le Clézio, set in Mauritius, La Quarantaine (1995) and Révolutions (2003), led to her attachment to three female characters: Catherine, who comes from a French colonial family; Kiambé, a formerly enslaved woman who escaped; and Surya, the grand-daughter of an Indian indentured labourer.

Moris Vai’s work considers the ways in which their lives relate to those of the women who built Mauritius. Shooting with an analogue-based, medium-format camera, Moris Vai went to Mauritius to follow their paths.

Curated by British curator Pelumi Odubanjo, this exhibition is the first solo show of the artist and will propose an immersive design, allowing the viewers to step into the story, and imagine a visual storyboard of the lives of the women, revolutionaries, and activists who built Mauritius to this present day.

A text written by Dr Feyereisen, Senior Postdoc Fellow in Postcolonial and French studies (University of Ghent) will accompany the images.
Located at the Maison Française d’Oxford and supported by Fluxus Art Projects and TORCH as part of the Humanities Cultural Programme, this exhibition is the result of a vivid French and British cooperation.

Women, Memory, Transmission. Postcolonial perspectives from the Arts & Literature

18th October – All Day

Convened by artist Elisa Moris Vai and researcher Justine Feyereisen, the international and interdisciplinary Conference “Women, Memory & Transmission: Postcolonial Perspectives from the Arts and Literature” will explore what it means for women to transmit memories in postcolonial contexts. What strategies do women develop to tackle postcolonial issues? What are the issues to address and the struggles to lead to be heard and valued as tellers of History? What ethical and political issues does the reception of their works raise? The conference will bring together art-world figures and scholars in the fields of gender studies, memory studies, postcolonial studies, and Global South studies to adequately contribute to show how the Humanities can lead to a better awareness of the key social and political role of women in reinterpretation of colonial History as acts of resistance and empowerment. Together with Deborah Willis as the keynote speaker, the brilliant artists Ingrid Pollard, Erika Tan, Kama La Mackerel, Mohini Chandra, Heather Agyepong and Jasmine Togo Brisby will share their different practices with the audience. This event is supported by the Maison Française d’Oxford and TORCH, the Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities.

Online : Watch here (live stream)

Jesse Darling: No Medals No Ribbons

5 March – 1 May 2022

The show will showcase influential works by the artist from the last ten years, bringing together new and existing work. No Medals No Ribbons explores the fundamental vulnerabilities and contradictions of the social and constructed body. These are evoked by Darling as both living beings and the organising structures of government, ideology and technology that shape our lived experience of the world, within which the possibilities of failure and potential for transformation can radically coexist.

branch

10 February – 13 March 2022

From February, join us online to participate in a living, expanding, branching artwork and experiment with futures, alternatives and what could be: for us, for others, for the planet. Fusing game design, interactive storytelling, speculative fiction and citizen science, branch is playful and collaborative. It will hold multitudes and be something slightly different to each person who meets it.

branch is created by digital storyteller, game designer and creative mathematician Mel Frances in collaboration with a group of Creative Consultants between the ages of 18-25. It is a digital participatory artwork and everyone is invited to take part.

Ruth Asawa: Citizen of the Universe

28 May – 21 August 2022

This exhibition takes a unique look at the life and work of the visionary artist, educator and activist Ruth Asawa, through her well-known wire sculptures, alongside drawings, paintings, prints, and archival materials.

concave 2021

25 September 21 – 12-6pm.

Join us for an open day at OVADA , there will be food, drinks, music, an exhibition and a chance to meet and chat with the staff and trustees A range of classes will begin in person again in October, details can be found on our website.

Twenty Twenty One

17 – 26 September 2021.

A selection of MFA Fine Art graduating artists work from 2020 and 2021 will be exhibiting their work to the public post lockdown.

The Hidden Noise: Tinnitus and Art

7 – 31 October 2021.

We are delighted to host an exhibition of work by commissioned artists Fern Thomas and Nina Thomas, who are set to transform OVADA’s warehouse into a multi-layered exploration of their shared experiences of tinnitus, created as part of a 2 year Arts and Humanities Research Council project.

HATCHED2021/WOMENCREATINGLANDSCAPES

4 – 6 November 2021.

2020-2021 has brought new challenges to all but a girl born today will systematically join the ranks of the 4 billion females worldwide whose reality is shaped by gender inequality in one form or another.

The HATCHED2021/WOMEN CREATING LANDSCAPES exhibition at OVADA brings together the practices of local and international lens-based artists. Collectively these artists voice the multiple aspects of gender inequalities: reproductive rights, gender-based violence, and trafficking. This work is shown alongside artists whose attention is closer to home. The tender look at motherhood, an exploration of complex family experiences. Personal and global they share an intimate female gaze.

The artists in HATCHED2021 aim to be part of the ongoing dialogue on equality, to communicate their concerns, and to make a positive difference. These works don’t stand alone, they are part of a bigger movement of women globally intent on being heard and seen. The exhibition at OVADA includes workshops, portfolio reviews and talks.

HATCHED is a creative platform promoting and sharing work addressing women’s issues and experiences that range from ‘The personal is political’ to Human Rights. HATCHED was set up in 2016 by Maga Esberg and has been part of the Oxford International Women’s Festival since then.

Dwelling: In This Space We Breathe by Khadija Saye

This Upper Gallery exhibition presents a series of nine silkscreen prints by artist Khadija Saye (1992-2017) exploring her fascination with the ‘migration of traditional Gambian spiritual practices’ that formed a part of her childhood experience growing up in London with Gambian parents. In the images, she uses ritual objects, such as amulets, beads and horns, to explore her connection to these spiritual practices as a member of the African diaspora, as well as how ‘trauma is embodied in the black experience’. Tragically, both Saye and her mother Mary Ajaoi Augustus Mendy were killed in the Grenfell Tower fire of 14 June 2017.
Widely regarded as a hugely talented and promising artist, her work gained more recognition when, shortly after her death, her photographs were exhibited in the Diaspora Pavilion at the 2017 Venice Biennale, alongside artists such as Isaac Julien and Yinka Shonibare. Khadija Saye was an inspirational artist whose social and political awareness led her to support issues of social justice and educational opportunity. The Pitt Rivers Museum has acquired this set of prints as a permanent tribute to the artist and her values, and exhibits them here to bring them into conversation with many displays in the Museum that relate to the themes she explores.

Emery Prize: Deshna Shah

30 April – 15 May 2022
Saturdays & Sundays 11am – 4pm

Jean Jones: In Dialogue with Modern British Painting Pembroke College JCR Art Collection are delighted to partner with the Jean Jones Estate to present a new exhibition, Jean Jones: In Dialogue with Modern British Painting. Jones (1927 – 2012), was an English painter who depicted her local surroundings in Oxford, Dartmoor, and London’s Primrose Hill. Her practice, defined by the close observation of the subject in front of her and the use of vivid post-impressionist colour, was designed to express her closeness to, and aesthetic wonder at, the people and places around her.

This exhibition seeks to reintroduce Oxford to Jean Jones’ vibrant, expressive and poetic landscapes, portraits, still-lifes and self-portraits, whilst positioning her amongst the fabric of Oxford’s notable post-war artistic history. Displayed in dialogue with key works from the Pembroke College JCR Art Collection, the exhibition endeavours to interweave Jones’s artwork into the canon of post-war British art, exploring her artistic influences, subjects and techniques. Alongside a myriad of works by Jones, the exhibition will feature works from our collection by artists including Paul Nash, Patrick Heron, Mary Fedden and John Piper.

It has been just over 40 years since her landmark solo exhibition at the world-renowned Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, so it is fitting that her artwork returns to the city once more. The presentation of Jones’ work in Oxford will mark a return to the city where she spent the majority of her life. It was here that Jones became close friends with notable writers and academics, such as J.R.R. Tolkien, William Golding, and Iris Murdoch, the latter of whom predicted that Jones would “one day be as famous as Van Gogh”.

You can find out more about the exhibition on our website: www.pembrokejcrart.org
You can find out more about Jean Jones the Estate’s website: www.jeanjonesestate.com

Celebrating Diversity

27 January – 3 February

An exhibition of fifteen portraits of St John’s staff, students and alumni from the College’s BAME community. Robert Taylors fifteen black-and-white portraits are unveiled in this new exhibition. His vision of the Colleges ethnic diversity, and the sensitive dialogue into which he entered with the sitters, give us a set of images and voices that offer us much to reflect on. An accompanying booklet will be available for the exhibition.

The Greenhams: Intimate Landscapes

6 February – 13 February

This exhibition features the work of an Oxford-based family of artists who have exerted a considerable influence on the development of British painting in the second half of the twentieth century.

Royal Photographic Society - Documentary Photographer of the Year 2021

16 February – 9 March

The RPS Documentary Photographer of the Year is an international competition attracting exceptional visual storytellers from across the world. In this exhibition a selection of winners and highly commended photographs will be displayed.

Kassandra Isaacson & Peter Rhoades: Visceral Vs Virtual

Wed 16 Feb – Sat 05 Mar 2022
Kassandra Isaacson and Peter Rhoades are painters, printmakers and teachers. This exhibition of work comes from a longstanding friendship and working association.Independently, they have been developing work which explores the effect the media can have on our perceptions of the natural world and in our daily lives.

Peter’s response has been expressed through the medium of paint, an enduring visceral language. Kassandra has used digital collage, drawing, painting and textiles to observe and record her response. Both have addressed this layering of realities, actual and virtual, using the familiar tropes of still life, life drawing and landscape.

YouthLab: Camera Club: Can I Take Your Picture? Cutteslowe Stories

Tue 22 Mar – Tue 05 Apr 2022

A group of young photographers worked with artist Rory Carnegie to capture the spirit of Cutteslowe & Sunnymead through photographs. Their work is exhibited in Cutteslowe as an outdoor community exhibition. Rory is a prolific and well established artist based in Oxford with close ties to the local community through his work at the community larder.

Clive Edwards: Classic Stories

Wed 23 Mar – Sat 09 Apr 2022

Classic Stories is a series of still-life photographs inspired by great works of literature, from Alice In Wonderland to Clockwork Orange and Gulliver’s Travels.Each image is accompanied by a QR code linking to a reading of a story extract by drama students from the University Of Warwick, followed by a brief commentary about the literary classic from the photographer. Clive Edwards is a former secondary school Head Of English, and Head Of Media at a West Midlands FE College. This collection formed part of a Masters project in photography with the University Of Falmouth.

Julie Bennett, Josie Clouting, Michael Restrick and Lu Willis: Myth

Wed 13 – Sat 30 Apr 2022

Once upon a time, in a land not so dissimilar to our own, four artists met by chance…One was enchanted by the folktales of the Nordic lands, the second fell under the spell of the ancient Greeks, the third succumbed to the charms of Imperial Japan and the fourth fell in love with the allure of the classical goddesses. Myth offers a new visual perspective on these perennial tales.

Imogen Rigden: Wilderness Bewilderness

Tue 03 – Sat 21 May 2022

Fresh air, bird song, silence. In 2020 we noticed our natural environment with renewed clarity. As our horizons narrowed in lockdown, Imogen Rigden‘s Look Outside project called for brief written observations of the natural world at a time of limited freedom. Two hundred contributions from across the globe feature in this solo show. Imogen’s garden became a mini nature reserve after ‘no-mow May’ extended far into autumn. The Company Of Everything Else records this revelatory season of growth with photographs on a staff photo display board. The artist uses this device to suggest that each plant, or member of the Company, is working to the same end, providing a haven for wildlife and clean air for all.

The Untidied Garden drawings explore the tangled shapes of older, seeding plants, a richness often denied to a tidied space. Paintings and drawings celebrate commonly undervalued trees, for example poplar and hawthorn.

Imogen employs home-made natural plant dyes in three-dimensional work. The Wild Plants’ Street Party refers to socially distanced neighbourhood gatherings. Lush, health-giving street plants celebrate their season to thrive. Drawings in ink, oil and graphite reference the rhythm of bird song, rain and windstorms. Imagined landscapes propose unreachable places, safe from human exploitation and destruction.

As wild places are lost to development, could networks of wild gardens become a new kind of nature reserve?

Fourteen

Online for duration of the festival and in the gallery from Tuesday 9th November – Saturday 13th November

The North Wall’s ArtsLab programme exists to create opportunities for early-career artists and this year, for the first time, is supporting visual artists. A group of talented local female photographers have been working together to develop ideas and new work, facilitated by North Wall Propeller 2021 artist Philippa James. This exhibition uses the number 14 as its catalyst and is curated by the group to include one final work by each artist. More works by each artist can be seen in the online exhibition, live for the duration of Photo Oxford Festival 2021.

Philippa James is a photographer living and working in Oxford. Her work explores women, under–represented populations, and her local communities. Her major body of work, 100 Women Of Oxford, was exhibited at The North Wall during Photo Oxford Festival 2020.

Digital Exhibition available to view online 15 Oct – 15 Nov 2021

ArtsLab: Fourteen

15th October – 15th November

The North Wall’s ArtsLab programme exists to create opportunities for early-career artists and this year, for the first time, is supporting visual artists. A group of talented local female photographers have been working together to develop ideas and new work, facilitated by North Wall Propeller 2021 artist Philippa James. This exhibition uses the number 14 as its catalyst and be seen online for the duration of Photo Oxford Festival 2021. Selected pieces will be exhibited in the gallery for a week from 9th – 13th November.

ArtsLab: Fourteen

9th – 13th November

The North Wall’s ArtsLab programme exists to create opportunities for early-career artists and this year, for the first time, is supporting visual artists. A group of talented local female photographers have been working together to develop ideas and new work, facilitated by North Wall Propeller 2021 artist Philippa James. This exhibition uses the number 14 as its catalyst and is curated by the group to include one final work by each artist. More works by each artist can be seen in the online exhibition, live for the duration of Photo Oxford Festival 2021.