Stockport War Memorial Gallery Exhibition:

For my project for collaborative photography in the previous academic year, I worked with a curator at the Stockport War Memorial Gallery to exhibit all images. During the exhibition, I had an important and recurring involvement such as how the images images would be presented, writing an artist statement to go along the work. I collaborated with a fellow photographer, the curator and members of the Stockport veterans during the exhibition. However, I was the person who handled most aspects and was the point of contact during the process.

I met with the curator of the gallery with the fellow photographer Who I was collaborating with to discuss the layout, printing, sizing and the method of presentation, e.g; foam boards or frames. 

I decided to present my work on foam boards due to having 25 images and because of the lighting within the gallery. There was a large widow overlooking the exhibition that would have caused a glare on the images. Along with the images, I wrote an artist statement explaining the meaning and origin of the work. The reasoning behind my motivations for the project. To give credit to the lives and service of each veteran who served their country, to give recognition. 

The exhibition includes my images, the photographer I was working with and level 3 students who took group portraits in colour to go along side the formal portraits we took. This added a good dynamic to the series of images as it gave the audience two perspectives to each individual. 

Members of the Stockport veterans group came to see the work, to see themselves and people they socialise with each week. People who understand their feelings regarding what they have been through. A book was presented at the entrance of the exhibition so that each visiter such as, veterans, their families and civilians. This was a good way to receive feedback from people when moving forward to continue to develop my working relationship with the veteran community. 

Our exhibition had an article written about it on the Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council website. I attached. link to the article in my artist statement on my website so that the viewer can research further into the aspects that the exhibition contained. 

Example of the article: 

This experience helped guide my professional practice moving forward. I learned how to work with a curator to best conduct the exhibition. I also developed more confidence when working with the veterans and hearing their feedback gave me the confidence to further develop my work, specifically with portrait photography. 

Julie, who is the events manager of the Stockport veterans, put up Union Jack flags to add depth to the work. To give the exhibition an atmosphere to increase the viewers feelings and interpretation. Initially, the plan was to have decorative poppies in the gallery however, when discussing this we decided that poppies represented the soldiers who have fallen. Therefore this changed to Union Jack flags, as the veterans were still alive and this work was about giving them the representation that they deserved. 

Examples of the decorative items used are below. 

Examples of final prints exhibited: