Virtual study event: Susan Bright – Collaboration & Creative Practice
In conversation with Arpita Shah and Dan Robinson (OCA) 2.6.20:
When asked about her current work, that she is now reassessing things. In a discussion on ageism she explained she is very much against any limits being set of any kind.
Bright did a PHD in curating and now a curator and writer. In he lecture she says that photographic practice is inherently collaborative. Bright considers what curating can be, and its possibilities when working with others, such as, photographers, assistants, and writers.
She talked about her her Guest Curation of PHotoESPAÑA 2019 working with 5 artists, including Elina Brotherus and Clare Strand. It is interesting the way she curated Elina’s solo exhibition “Playground”, with the exhibition designer and Elina being very involved; the exhibition space is site specific and printed in some places to fit curved wall and book of cards with instructions that can be used as a game. I found it especially interesting how when curating Elina’s work about Mothering she paced the photographs on shelves like family pictures. Strands work in the exhibition was about photography’s inability to communicate especially if you don’t know the context so work must be placed in the context of where we’re living now.
SHE DISCUSSED THE WORK OF:
Sharon Core whose work is about shifting communication; the work is photographs of paintings which means there is some misinformation about the original work. This was placed with the work of Laura Letinskies, in the exhibition “double take”; her work is about how we understand and consume photography.They both use the strategy of disruption, which Bright recognises in her curating
Delio Jasse work: O Outro Capitulo. Uses items from flea markets as people are selling things as they move upwards where he found photos of a Portuguese family who had relocated to Angolia, and he reproduced them with liquid light and painted on them related official documents such as passports and has layered up identity.
Patrick Pound collects rather than photographs images and objects and it only become art once he’s put them in an exhibition. His art is curatorial; For instance his exhibition “Air” includes pan pipes, model airplanes, images of someone blowing and so on; this was site specific as the objects were all drawn from the museum. This completely changes the relationship between artist and curator as he publicises criticising editing and staging the show.
Bright talked about the collaboration that she’s used in her book Art Photography Now, and Auto Focus, which I have and must revisit. Both projects highlight the in-flux nature of her work and the various roles a curator and those she collaborates with play.
My learning:
- To consider more carefully the role the curator plays
- To consider working collaboratively – Though I do increasingly as I participate more and more in forums, hangouts and zoom meeting outside of the OCA.
- Think creatively when planning gallery layouts – consider adapting work to suit the space it is showed in.
- Note to self: Check out book Home Truths Photography and Motherhood foreword
Reference:
International Guest Lecture: Susan Bright – Collaboration and Creative Practice OCA (2020) 27.5.20 At: https://oca.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Embed.aspx?id=4eb5bd63-7530-4374-b550-abba00728e02 (Accessed 02/06/2020).
Photography 2: Documentary 