"UNFIXED CYANOTYPES TELL STORIES OF MULTIPLE GENERATIONS WHO HAVE MIGRATED TO EUROPE" -Ermeric Lhuisset
Emeric Lhuisset:
-French photographer, 1983
Emeric Lhuisset's exhibition was entitled 'L'Autre Rive' meaning 'The other shore'. To explore the theme 'A New Europe' Lhuisset has used cyanotypes to echo how immigrants/refugees have to travel over vast seas in terror, not unlike the work by Lewis Baltz. Both use blue to symbolise the refugee crisis but Lhuisset was inspired by his grandmothers escape to North America during the second world war. During the task, Lhuisset built a network of friends who had embarked on a journey from areas of conflict to Europe. Even the curation of his images echoes waves, up and down, small and large, each meaning something different. Some also feel more personal as theres on image of a field with a shed in but then theres one thats quite touristic, anyone would/could take that photo that consists of a lion statue. However, the lion image is much bigger, I see it as the top of the wave-like layout, the bit that comes crashing down, inducing fear into those below. I found this quite gripping as the image was the last before a gap in the wall, like a small corridor to the other side of the exhibition, and I could see a woman sat at the desk almost as if the wave was to collapse on her. The lion image, large and at the top, echoed how they are seen as very powerful suggesting the power behind the wave. I questioned, "Does the atmosphere change the mood of the images?-The sounds around you? as I could hear cars and the shuffle of my classmates feet intermingled with those of the public, it almost sounded like a distant sea, its surf, as if I had put my ear up to a shell.
Teresa Cervenova:
"THE MONTH OF JUNE 2016 SIGNIFIED A RUPTURE WHERE THE MEANING OF HOME AND FUTURE PLANS WERE SUDDENLY THROWN INTO LIMBO"
In response to the June 2016 referendum, Teresa Cervenova explored how meanings of home and plans for the future have been shaken into a state of limbo. She is a European artist who has lived and worked in the uk, since 2011, born into a generation that knows little other than being part of the EU (being able to travel, study and work anywhere in the EU), the June 2011 referendum shifted things for Cervenova. This autobiographical response to the changes facing Britain at the minute document something being snatched away, not only from our generation but future generations who won't have the same experiences. In light of the referendum, she recorded her life through photos for 3 months in various places throughout England and Europe, titling them with the place and date of which they were taken. At first these titles are seen as a mere record of daily life but they actually show a timeline of significant dates such as the title, 'Nice, France 14th July 2016, Bastille day' which was the day a truck drove into a crowd of people in the same city resulting in the deaths of 86 people and the injury of 458 others, or the title 'St. James Park, London 2nd June 2016' the date of London's first big anti-Brexit march (see photo), noting the change of the country and our response to the referendum. This timeline of significant dates is a response to marker points in history that have changes the shape of Europe. What started out as a record of daily life has reported more. I really enjoyed this exhibition as she too curated her images in a unique way, not affixing the images to the wall completely, casting shadows next to the image framing it. The way the images have a curve to them, due to the way they are attached to the wall, make the exhibition seem more intriguing and purposeful as you have these 2 photographers, Cervenova and Lhuisset, curating their images in such a captivating and compelling manner in the same room, complementing each others curation as you are led through Cervenova's loosely curated exhibition to Lhuissets wave-like curation echoing waves and flow. Cervenova's images also complete each other as, on some occasions, she has split an image into two creating a gap between one half and another. Or where she has enlarged one image so its the size of a wall and made others smaller, less obtrusive.