Saturday 9th October 2-5pm Gallery Interaction
What a glorious weekend. Thanks to everyone who took part in the interaction afternoon on Saturday. The gallery was very busy and as usual there was a diverse audience all engaging at different levels to a fascinating show. This was my first session on a Saturday for the De La Warr and I hugely enjoyed meeting everyone. The brief I set for this week was for participants to pick out objects within the images that they noticed as being relevant for either, how much they had changed, or how little they had changed, to the equivalent object that we might see today. I have included in this blog drawings that some of the exhibition visitors drew. For example Susan Lipper’s photograph with the TV was a big hit in opening a dialogue with all age groups and all levels of visual understanding. This interaction session was hoping to instigate a deeper understanding of the images and develop the process of looking. Everyone was keen to discuss with me their choices and the relevance of the objects in both political, symbolic and historical terms. I had many engaging conversations with a number of gallery visitors who were interested in a very diverse range of topics; from camera types to film choices, printing techniques, cultural and identity politics, history, politics, advertising and so much more. The exhibition seems to be raising many questions about our relationship with photography and its reliance as a record of a place and its political history. Cant wait for my next session which will be on the 30th December where I shall be instigating some gallery discussions focused on the political implications of the photographs and their success or failure at representing history. Sorry if your image is not included I am limited by space.