For Our Pleasure? Exhibition
DATES: 1st - 28th November
PRIVATE VIEW: Thursday 1st November, 18:30 onwards (bar open till late).
PANEL DISCUSSION: 18th November, 14:00 - 16:00
LOCATION: Hackney Picturehouse, 270 Mare Street, London E8 1HE
Photomonth East London is an international photography festival. There are more than 150 exhibitions in galleries and venues that demonstrate the depth and diversity of contemporary photography.
For Our Pleasure? is a group Photography show taking place in November as part of Photomonth. The venue for the show is Hackney Picturehouse, a cinema and arts space in Hackney Central, London. The opening night will take place on 1/11/12 from 18:30 and the panel discussion will be on the 18/11/12, 2pm - 4pm.
This is a thought provoking group photography and installation experience examining human interaction with the environment and animals, and culminating in a screening event at which the audience are able to partake in discussion regarding issues raised throughout the show.
Through the eyes of four very different Photographers, the exhibition looks at the way we, as humans, exploit and interact with animals in the created environment around us.
The Exhibition is curated and produced by Alex Grace
Daniel Kukla, a native of Indianapolis, Indiana, currently resides in Brooklyn, New York where he works as a freelance and fine art photographer. He is a graduate of The International Center of Photography program in Documentary Photography and Photojournalism.
Prior to his photographic education he attended The University of Toronto and received his B.Sc. in Evolutionary Ecology, Biology, and Evolutionary Human Anatomy.
He works at the Juncture of these disciplines, focusing in on capturing images that have the power to articulate our ever-changing relationship with the natural world. His work has been exhibited in the United States, UK, Burma, Canada, China, Malaysia, Singapore and Spain, and has been published in the New York Times, The Washington Post, On Earth Magazine, New York Post, National Geographic.
Daniel says, of his 'Captive Landscapes' project:
"We, as humans, go to great lengths to satisfy our desire for a connection with the natural world, especially in our interactions with wild and exotic animals.
Zoos are the primary site for this relationship, but they often obscure the conflicts inherent in maintaining and displaying captive wild animals.
In this series, I photographed the interiors of animal enclosures at 12 different zoos across the U.S and Europe. These images invite the viewer to question the role of these constructed habitats, and explore the motivations behind collecting, preserving, and controlling the natural world."
© images copyright of Daniel Kukla
Martin Usborne lives in central London where he has his photographic studio. He started his photographic career after a number of years working as a creative director in children's TV (which included dressing up as a furry white alien). Before that he studied psychology at Edinburgh University and then animation at Glasgow School of Art.
Martin thinks there is something magical about looking through the lens and capturing a bit of the world. 'You see an interesting array of shapes - people passing in front of a strangely coloured wall and -click- its yours forever. Its so easy it shouldn't be allowed'.
When Martin isn't photographing he is either rockclimbing (he is too heavy to pull himself up), meditating (he can't do the full lotus because he has bad knees) or he is writing his novel (he is stuck on chapter 3 - not having finished Ch.s 1 or 2).
Martin says of his "CRUFTS: Extraordinary dogs, ordinary people" project:
"Crufts, the world’s biggest dog show that takes place in Birmingham each year, was under intense scrutiny a few years ago when a secret TV documentary argued that dog inbreeding was essentially unhealthy and cruel. As a dog-lover and a pedigree owner I thought I had better see what it was all about.
Much to my surprise (and slight disappointment) Crufts is decidedly pleasant. I half expected to capture malicious owners that looked fully like their pets. But the impression is of a prosaic middle-England gathering of weekend enthusiasts. The dog owners are friendly and, dare I say it, normal. Although they trim their dogs’ heads into perfect spheres and their tails into cascades of pure silk they couldn’t be more down to earth. They remind me of Sunday gardeners who trim their hedges into the shape of leaping dolphins and then go inside to watch Antiques Roadshow on TV. The vast halls, despite being full of thousands of different breeds are strangely quiet and more surprising than this – almost turd-free. The merchandising stalls, which sit around the perimeter of the space and sell marginally tasteless doggy-tat (buy two bottles of ‘Urine-off’ and receive a free 100% fish-based dog chew) are harmless enough. And amongst this the dogs themselves seem to be willing, as if they too have read the convention guide and know they must wait their turn to appear on the green carpet.
But in a way Crufts is not about dogs at all, it’s about us, the humans. To see Sue from Southend prancing around the green carpet with her shapely Shih Tzu is an odd thing. For what is on show is our obsession with classification, managing and controlling. For centuries now we have selected and bred and trimmed and perfected these dogs whilst all along the animals themselves seem vaguely disinterested. Under the layers of trimmed and blow-dried hair I bet that Sheepdog just wants to chew a stick. At Crufts they call him “Prancing Archibald goes Forth @ le gay Paris ” but if you ask what they call him at home its … “Keith”.
There is little doubt that this pursuit of perfection has led to various inbred conditions and ailments particular to pedigrees. And while I did see the occasional dog burdened by excessive haircurlers, inbred folds of skin and weighty eyebrows I didn’t sense any overt maliciousness. What is unusual about Crufts is just how normal the people are. If the dogs suffer unnecessarily then that is very sad and wrong. But on the surface at least I saw care - even if was professed through some deeply strange haircuts."
© images copyright Martin Usborne
Adrien Erhardt was born in France and found he was interested in art from a young age.
After studying CG Graphics in Belgium he moved to Toulouse to study Photography. Although working in the fields of CG, design and screen printing as well as photography, Adrien describes Photography as his tool for creation.
Adrien says of his "4°C" project:
"Most of us are familiar with meat in its finished form - smooth, beautiful, and finely cut, but I wanted to find out where the final product comes from, before it ends up on our plates.
Before beginning this series, I had seen several photos of slaughterhouses, most of which were very dark and gloomy. Instead of documenting the process, I wanted my project to focus on the people who do it. My goal is to show the reality of this type of work with more objectivity than I had previously seen presented.
After calling several slaughterhouses and butcher shops, I ended up in an industrial butcher in Toulouse, France. The work there begins in a cold room at 4am."
Adrien wrote the following description to accompany the series of diptych images:
4 in the morning, in the cold room of an industrial butcher's
Everyone's his own role as in a ballet.
© images copyright of Adrien Erhardt
Alex Grace is a commercial and fine art Photographer based in London. Hailing from the Northwest of England, Alex studied Photography at the University Of Derby. After training as a Still Life Photographer in Manchester, Alex moved to London where she became Rankin's 1st Assistant.
After two years of assisting Rankin and producing high end advertising and celebrity shoots all over the world, Alex spread her wings and moved to the sunnier climes of Los Angeles to continue working with high end Photographers such as Jill Greenberg and Warwick Saint.
Returning to London in 2008, Alex set up her own studio, focusing on Portraiture but also frequently photographing animals using a traditional studio portrait style which she is now becoming renowned for.
Alex says of her "Factory" project:
"I am interested in the Factory Farming process. I think many people choose to ignore where their food comes from and just see the shiny shelves and the nice supermarket packaging when they think of their food.
As an animal photographer, one of the main characteristics of my Photography is the tendency to humanise the animals.
Often selecting images showing the animal looking straight into the lens, a dialogue is created in that the viewer meets the eyes of the animal and depending on the context of the image, as with a portrait of another human being, the viewer can have an emotional reaction.
Sometimes they are amused, sometimes confronted and often they liken the expression of the animal to a human emotion.
My aim is to confront the viewer and make them consider the factory farming process."
© images copyright of Alex Grace
To help fund the publicity/ hanging of the exhibition, please donate here:
http://wefund.com/project/for-our-pleasure-exhibition/p55777/
BIG THANK YOU to THE HUNGER MAGAZINE for supporting and arranging the Exhibition Printing
