Cries of the Anthropocene: Creative Practice in response to climate change

Visual Art Exhibition Review | Brian Rope

Cries of the Anthropocene: Creative Practice in response to climate change - Various Creative Practice Circle members

The Chapel, Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture (15 Blackall St, Barton, ACT, Australia)

2 – 24 April 2025, 10 am - 3 pm, Wed – Sat (closed Easter weekend)

After a successful exhibition at Wagga, Cries from the Anthropocene is now in Canberra. From poetry to painted car bonnets, the exhibition reflects growing concern about climate change. Creatives from Beechworth to Bathurst and in between (including in Canberra) have joined in response to climate change and its effect on us in their parts of Australia and the world.

The Creative Practice Circle is a network of creative and performing arts practitioners and researchers, born out of Charles Sturt University in 2016. The group meets regularly via Zoom and shares what is happening in the worlds of the members. One of the common threads holding them together is concern for the planet and all its inhabitants. How can they, as concerned creatives, help encourage everyone to act in the face of climate change? The Circle’s research theme for 2024-25 is “Cries from the Anthropocene – How might we respond?” Just one of the suggested research questions was: How might the arts intersect with the grief and anxiety of living in the Anthropocene?

The artworks are very diverse. There are hand-stitched stories which speak to issues of habitat. A variety of artwork media note the decline of the iconic Bogong Moth. Poetry makes the language and issues of the climate crisis accessible. Call to action posters provide ideas and information about small actions they can be taken to address climate change. Here is a selection of installation images that I took at the show to provide readers with a visual idea of the diverse artworks. 

Hazel Francis – Our Paths with Nature - Postcards

Frank Prem – I sing (a car a train an aeroplane)

 Scan the QR code on the above image and have a listen.

Donna Caffrey – Cal to Action posters

Claire Baker – broken (n)aimless (mixed media - foam packing sheets, embroidery thread, adhesive dots, broken shells, pebbles, glass splinter, ink)

Dr Tracy Sorensen – The Blue House (work in progress)

And I have to ask, is The Blue House casting a shadow on the wall behind in the form of a church steeple? This work by Sorenson comes with a QR code too (below). Scan it and check out what it reveals about augmented reality.

Detail of one of the Seven books of tears by Barbel Ullrich – tears that are sobs and tears in our world’s fabric. 

These seven huge books are extraordinarily beautiful – and you are allowed to turn the pages to look at them all.   

Toni Hassan – a four-part installation (acrylic on a reclaimed car bonnet, digital photo printed on rag paper with gouache moths on watercolour paper, textile mask with transfer prints and elastic). The part not shown in these images is a 3:47” (looped) stereo channel video.

These (and the other artists represented in this exhibition) are not the only creatives addressing the climate change issues. An article in https://www.researchgate.net/publication/385060095_Artistic_Practices_in_the_Anthropocene reviews Western perspectives (in a fruitful dialogue with non-Western perspectives) regarding the climate emergency and artistic experiences amid the ongoing debate about futures currently at stake in the climate crisis or climate emergency. It suggests, correctly in my view, that if the climate crisis ignited in the Anthropocene is a shared crisis - both political and aesthetic - then art, inseparable from life and hence nature, holds a crucial role in nurturing care and the potency of imagining other possible worlds.

Four years ago, the National Visual Arts Editor of ArtsHub, Gina Fairley, wrote After two summers that couldn’t be more different – from drought and fires to heavy rain – conversations about the Anthropocene, and artist activism around climate change, are ripe for new resolutions. Fairley suggested that a less recited stanza from Dorothea Mackellar’s much loved 1908 poem, My Country, captured the mood of Australia’s climate crisis, 110+ years on:

Core of my heart, my country!

Her pitiless blue sky,

When sick at heart, around us,

We see the cattle die –

But then the grey clouds gather,

And we can bless again

The drumming of an army

The steady, soaking rain.

It is good to see all the artists represented in this exhibition continuing to explore the critically important matter of climate change. Together they have created an excellent exhibition with much to look at, read, view on video, and think deeply about. I strongly encourage all who are able to visit the show in person.

This review is also available on the author's personal blog here.

Brian Rope | Photography

Resistance Relapse | Nico Krijno

Photo Access | 29 June to 12 August

Resistance Relapse is an Australian premiere of esteemed Cape Town-based, South African artist Nico Krijno whose free-flowing creative process disrupts and transforms familiar, figurative representations into the realm of mirage and illusion. 

It builds on his extensive previous performance, sculpture and photography work. Here he has deliberately distorted, indeed reconfigured, imagery to create a landscape to challenge our preconceived notions of what constitutes landscapes. Traditional landscape photographers would most likely be appalled – but that is not a bad thing as all photographers (and other artists) need to be challenged to think about what they are doing and what their works are saying if they are to grow and develop in their chosen fields.

There are just three works in this theatrical show – the artist has a theatre background. There is a wonderful piece titled Resistance Relapse comprising a grid of 45 separate 21 by 15 cm inkjet prints in five rows each of nine images. It presents as a tapestry – traditionally a form of textile art that is woven by hand on a loom, but here a design printed on paper which could well be displayed in your home in the manner of a wall hanging.

Untitled, one of the 45 images in the series Resistance Relapse, 2023 © Nico Krijno

Secondly, there is pentagonal tray on the floor filled with sand. Portions of a dozen or so inkjet prints of varying sizes poke out of the sand, whilst the rest of them are buried beneath it. This piece is titled Resistance relapse (sandpit), 2023. Gabrielle Hall-Lomax’s catalogue essay suggests we are being invited to unveil newly discovered treasures, to expose the obscured and delve deeper into the artist’s creation. Has anyone dared to do so I wonder.

The third piece is a glorious single channel portrait-oriented video Die Son, 2023. A richly yellow shiny egg yolk rolls across someone’s hands - repulsing one visitor who can’t stand raw eggs, but fascinating and holding the attention of others. Other things flicker in the background – a bonfire burning, a child swimming, tomatoes cascading. There are also glimpses of other artworks by this artist.

A small exhibition in terms of the number of pieces on show, but a large one in terms of the artist’s concept, his different approaches to each artwork, and his challenges to our pre-existing and often conventional or traditional idea about landscape. Even the exhibition title requires contemplation as we explore the artworks and read the informative catalogue. 

As Hall-Lomax says in concluding her essay “….it is a philosophical invitation to traverse a world under different principles…..It shakes up the conventional and dismantles viewers’ pre-existing ideas about the nature of photography and its possibilities.” Serious photographers of any genre would do well to let themselves be challenged in such ways.

This review is also available on the author's blog here.

VIEW 2023

Photomedia, Mixed media, Animation | Brian Rope

VIEW 2023 | SEVEN ARTISTS (Emily April O’Neill, Aidan Gageler, Harry Merriman, Gabriela Renee, Aaron Sun, April Widdup and Chenfei Xiao)

Photo access | 2 Mar - 15 Apr 2023

The 2023 edition of VIEW (an annual exhibition celebrating emerging talent) delves into the themes of cultural identity and the queer body. Showcasing seven emerging artists from the ACT region, it includes a diverse array of multimedia installations, traditional and non-traditional photo media, and animation.

Each artist presents a personal exploration of self, drawing upon shared experiences and perspectives in social, digital, and environmental realms. PhotoAccess Director Wouter Van de Voorde says "Their work highlights the strength and diversity of emerging artists in our region, and we are thrilled to provide a platform for their voices to be heard."

Multimedia artist Chenfei Xiao uses digital and augmented reality technologies. Here we see a discussion of a personal experience living as a queer Chinese Buddhist. The resultant three portraits fascinate us as we explore them, discovering features of that experience and delighting in Xiao’s various identities. I encourage you to spend time with these works before reading any explanatory material about them.

Chenfei Xiao, Guan Yin Help You (III), production still, 2022, augmented reality headset rendered images printed on gator boards, 59.4 x 84.1 x 0.5 cm

Aaron Sun is a new media and technology artist. Here he uses 3D modelling, virtual reality photogrammetry and more to create an excellent video work investigating racism in Australia. Watching it forces us to ask ourselves what we might do to remove our own biases. 

Aaron Sun, White Australia 1 (still from video, provided)

Abstract artist Aidan Gageler works on film, but never uses a camera as part of the production process. Happenstance played a major role in determining the end product. The collection of six works here takes us through various senses, emotions and colours (or lack of). Our responses to one work, Old Skin, will reflect how often we have each seen ageing skin in our long (or short) lives. 

Aidan Gageler, Old Skin, 2022, dye sublimation on aluminium

Interdisciplinary artist Emily April O’Neill has viewed how today’s modern technology has affected our lives. How are our public and private lives being modified? Are our personal behaviours, our confidential communications and even what defines us as individuals being permanently transformed beyond recognition? 

Emily April O'Neill, Between Bodies & Screens - interacting with installation image by Maria Koulouris

Harry Merriman’s video artwork Landscape of Light explores physical space and investigates how the alteration of our rural environment through human impact then affects our sense of self. It invites us to consider how various things change our views of the landscapes we are amongst.

Harry Merriman, The Landscape of Light, 2019, Still from Video

Multidisciplinary artist April Widdup explores place and isolation from a queer perspective, focussing on their art’s potential to challenge. They are showing two pieces in memory of Queer lives lost to hate-crimes and suicide. These artworks use numerous materials, including recycled wood, mirrors, hot sculpted glass, LED lights, vinyl and laminated sheet glass.

April Widdup, You lived, and I will remember that (II) (detail), 2022, [In memory of Queer lives lost to hate-crimes and suicide], recycled wood, hot sculpted glass, monitor, mdf, laminated sheet glass, 94 x 141.5 x 163 cm.

Through their immersive installation pieces, Widdup and Gabriela Renee explore complex cultural and personal narratives and challenge critical thinking around identity, mobility, and place.

Gabriela Renee - Gedara Yanava Going Home - installation image by Maria Koulouris

There are points along our journey through this exhibition where we are invited to get down amongst the work, temporarily becoming part of it. Quite near the floor, I peered through a small hole and saw another face looking back at me surrounded by names, including Devanny Cardiel, a transsexual woman ambassador for the state of Guanajuato in Mexico, and Disaya Smith, the 36th Trans American killed in 2021.

Uncomfortably on my back, head inside a space, I immersed myself into Widdup’s everchanging scene. Looking at other visitors doing this, and doing it ourselves, adds an extra dimension to our experience.

This excellently curated (by Gabrielle Hall-Lomax) exhibition of diverse works, and accompanying publication, is challenging to think about. Leaving, I wondered how I’d review it. I needed some time to digest what I had viewed before writing this. The artists should be proud of their work and we should look forward to seeing each of them develop their art.

This review was first published by The Canberra Times on page 10 of Panorama and online on 25/03/23 here. It is also available on the author's blog here.

ANOTHER/S/KIN

Post-digital and networked photographic art | Brian Rope

ANOTHER/S/KIN | Maddie Hepner and Rory Gillen

Tributary Projects, Gorman Arts Centre | 20 October – 11 November 2022

Ever wondered what it would be like to inhabit another person’s life or skin? Or a step further, that person lives your life at the same time? It may not quite be that, but within ANOTHER/S/KIN Maddie Hepner and Rory Gillen undertook resided in each other’s internet lives. They exchanged their social media accounts and user data to explore how each other’s curated feeds influenced their online experiences, and how those feeds reacted to being hijacked.

In 2018, Rory Gillen completed a Bachelor of Visual Arts Photomedia Major at the ANU School of Art and Design, then in 2019, added Honours, Photomedia (First Class). In 2021, Maddie Hepner completed a Bachelor of Visual Arts (First Class Honours) Photography and Media Arts at the same ANU School. In 2021, both artists were recipients of PhotoAccess ANU EASS Residency Awards.

Gillen enjoys creativity and learning and figuring out how things work and then how to tinker with them. Hepner loved the overlapping of their collaboration but is not a technology nerd.

The artists describe their process as undertaking “a subjective analysis of a subjective network.” You may or may not know, leave alone understand, how the internet increasingly divides us algorithmically and ideologically. Having both worked within this area previously, these artists so certainly did know. Here, they aimed “to perform a radical act of transparency” – not being afraid to let each other see what they said or viewed on their social media accounts. They sought answers to the question “how does my feed inform what I know?” 

This necessarily empathetic project also explored the nature of data collection and the voyeuristic exercise of witnessing. The coincidental recent hackings and releasing of personal data on the internet means many affected people are dealing with the question of how it feels to have strangers able to look directly at data about them. Does it feel any different having another artist directly looking at your data to having a corporation analysing or revealing your data? Does it make the collection more invasive? Does it make it more real? This show shares the results of the artists’ observations and collaboration.

The highly experimental artform they are practising is “post-digital and networked photographic art.” There are few practitioners of this artform in Canberra, some here and there elsewhere in Australia, but many in Europe and America. It is an extension of photography, videography and digital art. The artists consider the show to have become immediately dated since everything constantly changes on the Internet.

So, what is in the show? There is a joint audio work Persuasive Bargaining, inkjet prints, and “structures.”

Persuasive Bargaining – installation photo by Rory Gillen

Persuasive Bargaining ANOTHER/S/KIN – installation photo by Rory Gillen

 

GET-I (an experiment in withdrawal) detail – installation photo by Rory Gillen

There are also face casts of the artists, made together (with some friends assisting) in a very intimate experience, plus a broken merged piece. Uncannily alike, the face casts are positioned as silent viewers of Hepner’s video artworks.

ANOTHER/S/KIN 01 - photo by Rory Gillen

Epidermal Impact (imploded)(1) – installation photo by Rory Gillen

Those three video artworks are about topics that popped up repeatedly on Gillen’s social media account. Satisfying Scrapes (dirty carpet) is all about carpet cleaning -  and somewhat hypnotic.

Satisfying scrapes (dirty carpet) – installation photo by Rory Gillen

Divulge and Devour is about the art of cake decorating on Reddit (a  network of communities where people can dive into their interests, hobbies and passions) - with the video accompanied by audio of creepy stories.

Divulge and devour – installation photo by Rory Gillen

All Hustlers go to Hell is about the deeply misogynistic cigar smoking internet persona, Andrew Tate, who has been banned from several social media platforms.

 

All Hustlers go to Hell – installation photo by Rory Gillen

Weird right? But then what strange video material do you see on your own social media accounts? And do you understand why it is shown to you?

Gillen pulled out images from different things he saw on Hepner’s account and created abstractions from very small selections of pixels. What we see exhibited is Content - a multi-dimensional, ever-changing abstract on a screen re-purposed from his 2021 exhibition Uncalibrated Space.

Content – installation photo by Rory Gillen

This review is also available on the author's blog here.

Into the Blue II

Photography | Brian Rope

Into the Blue II | Andrea Bryant, Kim Sinclair, Carolyn Pettigrew, Kiera Hudson, Carolyn Young, Linda Sukamta, Chris Byrnes, Mat Hughes, Ellie Young, Peter McDonald, Hilary Warren, Rebecca Murray, Jean Burke, Susan Baran, Jenny Dettrick, Virginia Walsh, Kaye Dixon & Wendy Currie

Sutton Village Gallery | 8 September - 9 October

Into the Blue II is the second annual group exhibition at Sutton Village Gallery showcasing the historic Cyanotype print and its application in contemporary art. 

Eighteen artists showcase a variety of cyanotype print methods using both original and ‘new’ cyanotype formulae, including prints on fabric, wet cyanotypes, photograms, contact prints from both large format film negatives and digital negatives, toned prints, and incorporated in multi-media applications.

Cyanotypes are one of the oldest photographic printing processes in the history of photography. The distinctive original feature of the prints is their cyan blue colour, resulting from exposure to ultraviolet light. But if you go to this exhibition expecting all the prints to be purely that colour, then you are in for a surprise. P McDonald’s Rocks Mornington Peninsula is a classic example. It is not cyan blue; it is a sepia colour.

Rocks Mornington Peninsula © P McDonald

If you expect all the works to have uneven edges revealing where the chemical solution was applied, again you will be surprised. So too if you expect all the works to be on fabrics or watercolour papers and not framed.

Melbourne-based photographer Mat Hughes works primarily with large format view cameras. Wet scans from selected negatives are meticulously made to create quality digital negatives from which to contact print. He finds light in dark shadows and turns the normal into sublime in his unique, beautiful and delicate printed cyanotypes. His Woodys Lake is a glorious example, although again not cyan blue.

Woodys Lake © Mat Hughes

Another Melbourne-based artist, Keira Hudson, specialises in different photographic processes, often interweaving different mediums together. During 2022, working with an artificial intelligence (AI) program, Hudson input different text prompts then altered the resulting images physically and digitally to create her cyanotypes on fabric.

Hudson’s use of AI raises interesting questions – many photographers currently are debating whether doing so means the outcome is no longer photography. More importantly, Getty Images is now refusing to accept submissions created using AI generative models because of concerns regarding copyright and plagiarism. Of Hudson’s artworks here, I most enjoyed Chalkboard. I have no idea how it was created, but it certainly says cyanotype to me, and I like it.

Chalkboard, 2022 © Keira Hudson

In Linda Sukamta’s cyanotype prints, the use of various artistic or communicative media, design and image layering applications are less habitually used techniques characteristic of her practice. Right Where I Belong is a fine example. Primarily in the traditional cyan blue, but also including a nearly opposite orange-red colour, it features botany.

Right Where I Belong © Linda Sukamta

Carolyn Young is a visual artist based in the Canberra region. Her artworks engage in ideas around land care, relationship to place, and between culture and nature. The excellent piece included here is a portrait of Harriet Scott (a naturalist in the mid-late 1880s) and chenuala heliaspis (a type of local moth thought to feed on wattle, eucalypts & pine).

Harriet Scott and Chenuala Heliaspis © Carolyn Young

Kaye Dixon is displaying some wonderfully imaginative works, reminiscent of illustrations in children’s or fantasy books. Of them, Draco the Dragon is the standout for me.

Draco the Dragon (from the bone woman series) © Kaye Dixon

Rebecca Murray is a Victoria-based artist engaging in contemporary and historical photographic processes. Works which explore time, place, belonging and un-belonging feature in this exhibition.

I did find myself wondering about the use of matting and frames resulting in the covering up of the traditional “messy” edges which have always been part of cyanotypes. Perhaps the artists primarily do so in order to create attractive pieces for potential purchasers to display on their home walls?

Each artist in the exhibition has contributed works well worth viewing – and a drive to Sutton Village to visit this gallery (and the nearby bakery) is a pleasing outing at any time.

This review was first published by The Canberra Times online here and at page 43 of their print version of 3/10/22. It is also available on the author's blog here.

Into the Forest

Photography | Brian Rope

Into the Forest | Eva van Gorsel and Manuel Pfeiffer

M16 Artspace, Gallery 1b | UNTIL 4 SEPTEMBER 2022

Partners Eva van Gorsel and Manuel Pfeiffer are regular exhibitors at M16 Artspace. Their 2020 joint show Facets exhibited interpretations of the Australian landscape they had seen during a lengthy journey. Their works complemented each other as they revealed the same facets. Then, in 2021, they brought us Congruent-Incongruent using numerous diverse techniques and media to create varied, interesting and pleasing artworks.

Their 2022 exhibition Into the Forest aims to raise awareness of the role our forests have on our planet, our climate and our lives by showcasing the beauty of mostly regional treescapes and woodlands using imagery, sculpture and a sound installation. Along with growing numbers of people around the world, they recognise that the importance of forests cannot be underestimated.

Pfeiffer has a background in earth system sciences, graphic design and arts and shares a deep appreciation of the environment with Van Gorsel who was a principal research scientist in atmospheric sciences before turning to photography. The two artists asked themselves why it is important to show and appreciate the beauty of our natural environment and have offered an answer.

“In science we have pointed out the dangers of climate change before anyone cared to listen. With climate extremes now so extreme that they are getting hard to ignore many more people are aware that urgent action is needed. Many artists were early uptakers of that message. There is a long tradition of showing natures beauty. But many artists now also show the impact our disrespect of nature has on ecosystems. This is important work that is critically needed. But it is key that we do not get lost in despair. That is why we think it is important to show and appreciate the beauty of our natural environment. I think we are at a turning point where it becomes important to again remind us of what we can keep - if only we set our minds and actions to it.”

Van Gorsel’s works here are, perhaps, more traditional than she has shown in their previous two joint exhibitions. They are fine examples of this genre of photography, showing us numerous wonders of nature in our forests – birds, mist, and understory vegetation are just some examples. In every case, the available natural light is used beautifully - as all photographers should strive to do. Monochrome is used sparingly, but to great effect. Shallow focus is used wonderfully in others.

Eva van Gorsel_Into The Forest II_Namadgi

Eva van Gorsel_Mist_Gundagerra NR

Eva van Gorsel_Last Light_Namadgi NP

 

Eva van Gorsel_Aglitter 03

Pfeiffer’s contributions are equally pleasing, showing us the sights of the forests through his chosen media. A set of artworks of trees, bark and fungi using colour pencils on paper are simply lovely, with their wonderfully balanced light and peaceful hues. Others painted with acrylics on canvas, such as Dreaming Xanthorrhoeas, are equally successful.

 

His three pieces using wood are special features in the exhibition. A mixed media piece, The Wise, 2021, is the standout for me. Glass, a suspended small rock gently moving, wood and more combine beautifully into a piece to explore, a piece that also says much about nature.

 

Manuel Pfeiffer_BarkA

 

Manuel Pfeiffer_Dreaming Xanthorrhoeas

Manuel Pfeiffer_At The Coast

All the artworks take us into the artists’ views of nature. They make us feel good – enabling us to see the colours, hear the sounds, smell the scents. All give us some comfort. And they make us want to be amongst the calming effects of forests and connecting directly with nature through our senses, seeking to reduce the gap that we have opened between us and the natural world. This exhibition very much invites us to reflect on how we humans have impacted the natural environment, and to ask ourselves what we as individuals must now do.

This review was published online by The Canberra Times on 30.08.22 here. It is also on the author's blog here.

Mullins Conceptual Photography Prize 2022

Photography Review | Brian Rope

Mullins Conceptual Photography Prize 2022 | Various artists

Muswellbrook Regional Arts Centre | 9 July – 27 August 2022

For the third year in succession, a Canberran has won the MCPP. After Judy Parker won in 2020 and Ian Skinner in 2021, this year the first prize of $15,000 went to Sammy Hawker.

In his magazine Inside Imaging here, Will Shipton said “There must be something in the water around Canberra that feeds the conceptual photographic mind, as three of the four winners are from the relatively small capital city” and “The fourth MCPP is organised by the Australian Photographic Society (APS), an umbrella organisation for Australian camera clubs. The grand prize won by Hawker is an impressive $15,000 cash, making the MCPP a major Australian photo contest.”

I’ve previously reviewed two of Hawker’s recent exhibitions here and here. She works predominantly with film, often in close association with traditional custodians, and challenges the notion that a photograph constitutes the moment a camera shutter is released.

Sammy Hawker - Mount Gulaga, 2021

Hawker’s concept statement reads “This work was captured on 4x5 film looking out towards Mount Gulaga from the Wallaga Lake headland. I processed the negative with ocean water collected from site. When processing film with salt water the corrosive properties lifts the silver emulsion and the representational image is rendered vague. However an essence of the site is introduced to the frame as the vibrant matter paints its way onto the negative. A ghost of Gulaga looms behind the abstraction ~ felt rather than seen.”

Other Canberran finalists this year were Lyndall Gerlach, with two of her works, and Susan Henderson. Gerlach says, “For me, a good photographic image must always engage the viewer either emotionally or intellectually.” You can read more about Gerlach in another of my pieces here.

Lyndall Gerlach - Night City-ness #1, 2021

 

Lyndall Gerlach - Contemporary Lifestyle, 2021

This is Henderson’s first time as a finalist. Henderson believes photography is mostly about capturing the real and the now. She is “fascinated by the conjuncture of the two, the transient opportunity to record the light rather than the subject, to take advantage of nature and the built environment to photograph.”

Susan Henderson - Rain 2, 2021

At the opening, adjudicator Bill Bachman said “we were instinctively looking for images with a strong or original concept and superior execution, that in some way challenged our notions of normal. Happily, there were ideas, techniques and processes galore.”

Julie Williams had two works selected as finalists. Of them, Moth was given one of three HMs. The first word to enter my thoughts when I saw it was “bushranger”. Then I learned it is a reinterpretation of the life of the Lady Bushranger Jessie Hickman (1890-1936).

Julie Williams - Moth, 2022

The other HMs were works by Claire Conroy and Ben Blick-Hodge.

 

Claire Conroy - 35mm slide recovered in Lismore floods 2022

Ben Blick-Hodge - Soup's up! 2022

At the opening I met two first time finalists Sue Gordon and Michael Shirley, both of whom were thrilled to have had their works selected. In his artist statement relating to his work, Rain, Shirley speaks of rain coming to take you, your life, your house, your possessions, your friends. The black and white artwork shows numerous people under umbrellas, almost obliterated by rain which he has deliberately exaggerated.

Michael Shirley - Rain, 2021

Gordon’s work is a self-portrait titled What’s hidden in shadows. It is a powerful bruised depiction of physical abuse once experienced, but no more hidden or excused.

 

Sue Gordon - What's Hidden in Shadows, 2022

It was also great to see the work by Vicky Cooper and Doug Spowart – a concertina photo book – displayed on a shelf. This was the first year that anything other than 2 dimensional prints could be entered, so it was excellent that this work was a finalist.

 

Victoria Cooper & Doug Spowart - Desire Paths, 2022

All the finalists in the 2022 MCPP exhibition can be seen in a virtual gallery here.

This review is also available on the author's blog here.