Latest news and forthcoming events

2008-12-21T09:49:00.000-08:00

This is blog will be an ongoing newsreel where I can inform you about latest news and exhibitions etc... I have many exciting things to share, especially since winning the Sony World Photography Award in 2009. This cannot properly be reflected in the news section on my website so I have decided that I will redirect the news page to this blog from now on. This will be a much more exciting and interactive forum for keeping you updated on my work and projects. This blog will cover the period from my exhibition in Galway in August 2008. Please visit again as I regularly update the page. Please feel free to add any comments at the bottom of the page. Enjoy!

2012: Updates.
I have not updated the blog for quite some time so I will start by telling you about my latest show at the Tobacco Factory, Bristol.

On show until 28th January in the Green Room (although it is red not green!) at the Tobacco Factory are the largest selection of the Sony World Photography Award winning Living with Wolfie series ever shown in Bristol. The show runs until 28th January 2012 so catch it quick!

In August 2011 I showed this work in the beautiful Red Room (which really is red) at Prema Arts Centre, Uley. In the upper gallery were colossal cats by Angela Lizon

To sum up some of the exciting things to happen in 2011:
In no particular order:
Invited artist at the RWA open photography exhibition in Bristol and invited judge. I also gave a talk about my work and did some very successful quickfire portfolio reviews which I found very engaging (great to see so many people taking the photography really seriously and producing some interesting work).

I was showcased by Vision Exposed, Belfast and invited to become one of a collection of just over two thousand international photographers deemed to be "significant art and documentary photographers from around the world" as part of the Photoeye/Art Photographers Index (soon to be launched).

I have been a member of the Daring Girl Gang for some time now. We enjoy doing thing that girls perhaps shouldn't. I shot a series of images as our "avatars" at a secret location in torrential rain during the summer. Here is mine:

Baader Meinhoff girl aka wolf woman

Yes, not meant to be comfortable viewing. As you can see from the girl gang website we have been up to many antics including taking part in the central reservation art market, Stokes croft where I offered psychiatric advice, protecting artist installation by Neville Gabie as part of the GG protection racket and doing a synchronised night walk from varying locations from Stokes Croft to Sellafield. I spent a few hours in the sprawling Arnos Vale cemetery around midnight and continued the random walk series, terrifying a couple of dog walkers in the process when I emerged from the undergrowth all dressed in black.

We ended the year with a performance at Stage Fright at Chapter in Cardiff with a cover version of Peaches "I don't give a fuck" as only the Girl Gang can do. The performance left the audience speechless as the song became anarchic enraged chaos and I ceremoniously smashed a guitar on stage as the finale. Both video cameras documenting the night ran out of battery so this is destined to become the stuff of legend (only the smashed pieces of the guitar can speak of the carnage of that night...).

I was pleased to donate some work for the Great Art Jumble in aid of the Cube Haiti Kino project. BV open studios in October was also a highlight, as ever. My new series A Random Walk were shown in a staff show in the F block gallery at University of the West of England entitled Slow Play.

2010:
Three events as part of the Bristol Festival of Photography programme: (see http://www.bfop.org for complete festival line up)

1. Life.still exhibition at Howies, Queeen's Road Clifton, opening night Friday 21st May 7 - 10pm, runs until 30th May.
I am taking part in a group show with four other documentary photographers, see www.lifestill.co.uk for details of opening times. We have free beer courtesy of Butcombe!

2. Open studio Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th May, 11 - 6pm.
I have finally moved into my beautiful new space at BV studios. To tie in with the exciting new Bristol Festival of Photography (May/June 2010). I will be opening my studio. This is a rare opportunity in Bristol to see examples from all my exhibitions and the workings behind my exhibitions and books. Some artwork will be on sale, including individual prints from my early archives. Address: 37 Philip St, Bedminster, BS3 4EA (directly opposite Windmill Hill City Farm). Please phone 07973 690041 to be let into the building.

3. I am giving a lecture alongside Jem Southam and Alec Jackson at Hamilton House, Stokes Croft, Thursday June 3rd 6.30 - 9pm
See the Second Look website for details and booking information.

Hand made books now represented by Kehrer Verlag in their Trouves collection
Thanks to Alexa Becker at Kehrer Verlag for her insight and vision to enable photographers to showcase their work to people interested in the photographer's artist book. See Kehrer Verlag's website and also see my work at this year's Frankfurt Book Fair: http://artbooksheidelberg.de/html/en/program/trouvees.html

Below are images of the limited edition Living with Wolfie hand made book, containing a selection of twelve images from the series. A published edition of the full series will be published by Dewi Lewis later this year.

SWPA show in London, 19th January 2010
The Sony World Photography Awards global tour came to London to coincide with the judging of the 2010 competition. The opening night was at ART WORK SPACE.

Thanks to Zelda Cheatle for her fantastic curating for this show. Here is a pic of me in front of the Wolfie pictures holding a copy of the 2009 Awards publication. The show, in the beautiful Hempel Hotel was incredibly well attended, with queues of people waiting to get into the private view. Apologies to those of you who didn't manage to get in on the evening! (see http://www.worldphotographyawards.org/globaltour/london_gallery.aspx).

Vice Versa, phase 2 in Bristol, November 2009
The culmination of the project, two great shows in Bristol and a seminar on the theme of "exchange" held in Spike Island Associates space. It was wonderful to have the Dutch in Bristol again and to see new work arising out of the project on the walls.

Installation shots at Motorcade/Flashparade gallery, Bedminster

Opening of the presentation (including a little performance piece) made by myself and Tanja Isbarn at the Vice Versa seminar, plus installation shots from supporting exhibition at the gallery at UWE.

The whole project was really exciting, and the quality of the work was excellent and inspiring for all. We had a great review in the Guardian Guide:

The second phase of this exchange led me to push the integrity of the photograph even further. After a conversation with Allie van Altena, artist and tutor from the Academy Minerva, about his sculpted paper works and in response to the work produced by students at Minerva in their parallel show, Criss Cross, I made a set of 3 images entitled Shooting Rooks. An interview between Moniek Westerman and myself facilitated by Dutch art historian David Stroband, made me challenge the materials with which I make photographs - as a photographic artist am I simply a collector of found images or am I a manipulator of them? As Moniek plays with her found objects, I made my photographs into objects with which I could then play. I cut out the birds from the photographs with a scalpel, pinned the violated photographs within white frames, as if they were specimen boxes, but set the rooks free by allowing them to be scattered outside the frame on the floor beneath the pictures (see also detail in the column on the right):

SWPA world tour, Paris October 2009
I made the mad decision to go to Paris for less than 18 hours to attend the opening of this show at the Galerie Esther Woerdehoff .
I had a wonderful evening, finishing with a lovely meal with the funny and charming Elliot Erwitt. I also met with Edith Guinard from the Maison Européenne de la Photographie, who now stock my hand made books. A whirlwind trip, and my first time on Eurostar too. Rushed back to Bristol to do a third year briefing at UWE in the afternoon! (see: http://www.worldphotographyawards.org/globaltour/paris_gallery.aspx)

Elliot Erwitt and me!
(above: Edith Guinard and I in front of Living with Wolfie images)

Vice Versa - Minerva gallery, Gronongen Holland, September 2009
See http://www.viceversaexchange.net and the blog www.viceversaexchange.blogspot.com for the latest images and information. Whilst in Groningen I gave a public lecture as part of the Noorderlicht festival, which by fortunate coincidence just overlapped with the Vice Versa show.

See also the website of Motorcade/Flashparade http://www.motorcadeflashparade.com for details of the most exciting development in the Bristol art scene for quite some time. I am looking forward to moving into my studio there in the next few months.

As a result of the exchange, and being the only photographic artist in the group, I have reflected on the way in which photography can be very literal and I have focused here instead on the indistinct within my photographs from Our Dark Companion. Views of the triptych I produced for the show:

Another two installation views (including an image of my short film showing timelapse images of the rooks gathering and dispersing during dusk):

Vice Versa artist exchange project, June 2009 - December 2009
I received the great news today that we have been awarded an Arts Council grant for the Vice Versa exchange project. I will be travelling to Dutch town Groningen in June in advance of an exhibition in the beautiful gallery in the academy in September. Dutch artists will be making exchange visits to the UK and showing here in the new studio gallery at BV studios in Windmill Hill. Thanks to artist Tanja Isbarn for her inspirational work on the Dutch side.

Lively deabte about my work on Bird Forum, May 2009.
I was invited to post a comment on a thread on Bird Forum. It is a very lively debate, with opinions polarised. The original post however was posted by someone who sent me an offensive email in March, who is still obviously hopping mad. However, I am glad he did as the thread has very been interesting reading for me. See: http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=141576

Photographers Network. April 2009.
I was invited to submit work for Thomas Kellner's curatorial project the Photographers network show 2009. My work was subsequently selected by the international jury and will appear in a show and catalogue in Siegen, Germany in June 2009. See http://www.tkellner.com/index.php?id=3794 for more information. Many thanks to Thomas, who I met at Rhubarb Rhubarb last year and has been so supportive and enthusiastic about my work.

Cannes update, April 2009
Well, what an amazing time in Cannes - a crazy, crazy place! Here are some pictures from the awards:

At the reception before the awards, Palais de festivals. The exhibition was curated by Zelda Cheatle and included all professional winners, second and third place and a selection of amateur entries.

Talking with the legendary (and lovely!) Bruce Davidson. Also pictured is Zelda Cheatle, Bruce Davidson's wife and the music category winner, Amiran White.

My lovely sister at the dinner, then myself receiving my award from Phillipe Garner (Christies). See clip on youtube for his wonderful introductory speech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFL0ACToTVU

The show will go on a world tour, visiting Hong Kong, Tokyo, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, New York, Toronto, Mexico City, and 3 cities in Europe. The first tour stop in Hong Kong, opens at the EDGE Gallery on the 21st April, 2009, the exhibition will run until the 10th May, before it moves to the entrance of the Hong Kong Art Fair, 14th - 17th May, where it will be viewed by 20,000 visitors.

Wonderful news! March 16th 2009
It has been announced that I have won the professional category, Conceptual and Constructed (Fine Art section) in the Sony World Photography Awards for my series, Living with Wolfie. View all the winners on http://www.worldphotographyawards.org/2009winners.asp.

As you can imagine, I am completely delighted to be awarded this honour, which was judged by some of the greatest names in photography. I will receive my award at the ceremony in Cannes on April 16th, which is part of a week-long celebration of photographic culture, history and image. My images will then go on be exhibited in a year long world tour and will be published in a book alongside the other professional winners, and photographers Marc Riboud, Stuart Franklin, Bruce Davidson, Cedric Delsaux and Brent Stirton.

Thanks to those of you who have supported me and encouraged me over the last few years, you have helped me keep the faith!

Also a reminder that my recently published book Transient Beauty is now available for sale. Drop me an email if you are interested (mail@tamanybaker.co.uk).

BABE artist book fair - workshop, 4th April 2009.
I ran a hugely enjoyable a workshop for children on making concertina books as part of the bi-annual BABE (Bristol Artists Book Event) to be held at the Arnolfini in April. Big thanks to my helper, Olivia for her invaluable assistance on the day!
Saturday 4th April 11am - 1pm. Free. Booking advised.
tel: Arnolfini 0117 9172300

Small, Smaller, Smallest - exhibition of teeny weeny books at Bristol Reference Library, 2nd - 5th April 2009.
My book, Our Dark Companion was been selected as part of the exhibition 'Small, Smaller, Smallest' exploring the book as portable art form. How small does an art experience get? How intimate is the tiniest of books?

Thursday 2 April - Saturday 4 April, 9.30 - 5pm.
Sunday 5 April, 1 - 5pm.
Cost: the event is free to all. Where:Bristol Reference Library, College Green, Bristol BS1 5TL Tel. 0117 903 7202 For further information please email the Reference Library.

Distill[ed] - exhibition, 20th January 2009 at the Menier Chocolate Factory gallery, London.

I showed prints from Living with Wolfie - the series which has already got loads of people talking (especially at Rhubarb Rhubarb in 2008!). I showed them in a group show with 10 fellow MA graduates from Newport. This is the first showing of the series.

It was a fantastic show - with some major award winning images and extremely talented photographers. The private view was packed and I met some wonderful people including members of photoblog - a whole new world to me!

More info and images:
www.distilledexhibition.blogspot.com/

Some blogs on the opening night:
www.photoblog.com/Dragana/2009/01/22/the-story-of-destilled-london-uk.html
www.photoblog.com/caroleagle/2009/01/22/chocolate-factory.html
www.photoblog.com/robertthebob/2009/01/20/distilled-dragana-live.html

Exhibition details:
Menier Gallery, Menier Chocolate Factory, 53 Southwark Street,
London SE1 1RU, tel: 020 7407 3222 (Nearest tube London Bridge,
Borough High Street exit).

Exhibition dates:
20th January - 31st January 2009, opening hours
10 - 6 Monday to Saturday.

Private view: Tuesday 20th January 6 - 8.30pm. Welcome!

Work in progress - Artist in residence at the Falls Hotel, Ennistymon, November 2008:
Also, sharing with you the latest of my work in Ireland (on the right), which I am very excited about. These new images will be part of the gallery Our Dark Companion on my website: http://www.tamany.net/

After the book arts Fayre in November, I was so taken by the response to the rook images, that I decided to chase up my hunch about the beautiful dead tree where Ruby I first watched the rooks last December. When I returned in the summer with my digital camera, I wondered how long the huge dead tree would stay standing. So on the Monday after ffotogallery, I phoned up the grand old hotel in Ennistymon, on whose grounds the trees stood and asked about this tree. I was informed that it had just been surveyed and it was due to be felled. I asked the manager how long it would be up and he told me for at least one more week.

So I made a snap decision to go over there that weekend with my medium format film kit. I was in Dublin on the Thursday anyway, so hired a car and drove over to the West in the evening, where I stayed in the Hotel - a wonderful characterful mansion of a place (http://www.fallshotel.ie/) and photographed the rooks at dawn and dusk each day. On the last day, I was waiting for the usual crowd to gather in the dead tree, and I waited and waited but none arrived. I took some photographs anyway and went back to bed.

When I left the hotel (aptly named the "Falls" Hotel) four hours later I discovered that whilst I was alseep, half of the tree had fallen down and was being cleared away by tractors. So I marvelled at the rooks knowingness and my own good fortune in capturing that beautiful tree whilst I could.

I made some beautiful pictures and now have my work cut out in the editing, scanning and printing of them but they will be worth it. I intend to return to complete the work another two times next year. I made a great time-lapse series covering the hour-long period to darkness one evening - it is fascinating watching, seeing the different movements of the rooks around the branches until they finally flew off in a flurry for the night and your eyes can see no more. I will post this as soon as I work out how to!

Arnolfini showcase, September 2008 - April 2009:
You can still catch the showcase of my artist books (including the Icelandic Dark Light boxed concertina set). In the showcase you will be able to see a series of books, from the very first ideas in rough collections, through book dummies to the finished edition. It offers a fascinating glimpse into the choices made at each step to arrive at a publication which ends up on the bookshelf. See image above on the right of the showcase at the Arnolfini. My new publication Transient Beauty is also on sale in the bookshop.

Transient Beauty is a photographic journey through the mixed thoughts and feelings about my late mother, offering a wider reflection on death and loss of youth. Inspired by an image of a fallen statue laying in the grass, the book takes you down into the earth and lifts you back out just before you disappear. Anyone who has grappled with loss and understands how you must let go to move on will be captivated by this achingly beautiful collection of photographs.
This is my first published book, an edition of 1000, printed on Japanese woodfree paper and meticulously bound in white linen.

Artist Books at ffotogallery, Penarth, November 2008:
In November this year I was invited to show my artist books at the Book Art Fayre at ffotogallery (Turner house gallery, Penarth). See above on the right a picture of me (wo)manning my stall. I met some great people and made a Turner House edition of Our Dark Companion especially for the event (see photo above, right).

Work selected for the final judging day of the Terry O'Neill award in October:
I entered this competition and was asked to submit a gallery standard print for the the final judging day of this prestigious competition. The organiser said that my work was "very well received and commented upon". This month I also found out that I was awarded 5 honorable mentions in the IPA awards, out of over 22,000 entrants...a mind boggling number of photographs!

Joint show with Ruby Wallis at Áras Éanna on Inis Oirr, the smallest of the Aran Islands, West Ireland, October 2008:
This was a very wild and special place to exhibit the latest in the series of rook images (Our Dark Companion), which I had taken at Ennistymon during my stay in Galway in August. I made a small selection of new images which accompanied the two remaining large pieces from the Galway show together with the poem by Sylvia Plath which inspired Ruby and I so much:

Winter Landscape, With Rooks

Water in the millrace, through a sluice of stone,
plunges headlong into that black pond
where, absurd and out-of-season, a single swan
floats chaste as snow, taunting the clouded mind
which hungers to haul the white reflection down.

The austere sun descends above the fen,
an orange cyclops-eye, scorning to look
longer on this landscape of chagrin;
feathered dark in thought, I stalk like a rook,
brooding as the winter night comes on.

Last summer's reeds are all engraved in ice
as is your image in my eye; dry frost
glazes the window of my hurt; what solace
can be struck from rock to make heart's waste
grow green again? Who'd walk in this bleak place?

Sylvia Plath

The opening night was a small affair, with islanders coming in windswept with their wellies and raincoats, putting down their torches for a glass of wine. Áras Éanna is very special for me because I properly started watching the rooks when I was on residency in the studio in April. The island is very bare with few trees, unlike the mainland, but even so the rooks find many places to roost - not least in the eaves of the Arts Centre itself. There are several pairs of choughs, which are a rare bird, also nesting on the island. Big thanks to Barra and Una for their very great help and stories of Halloween on the Island!

Joint show and collaborative project with Ruby Wallis plus, Transient Beauty book launch at Galway Arts centre, Ireland, August 2008:

Thanks to the British Council for their generous touring grant which helped this show to happen. Our work looked so beautiful in this lovely building in Dominick Street, Galway. I showed the Transient Beauty series in the downstairs gallery, in one room the images from the first part of the sequence in almost kitsch ornate gold frames. They fitted in with the alcoves and the plasterwork in the gallery perfectly.

In the middle room I hung large prints, printed on my favourite rag paper mounted on aluminium which were in stark contrast to the first images. The large backroom was blacked out for the slideshow. In the stairways I placed life sized wall hangings of the statues, the image of the dead statue leading from the second floor where Ruby's work hung to the top floor to collaborative piece.

The top floor collaborative piece and Ruby's work on the second floor are shown below:

It was only when the show was up that we realised how very resonant our work is. Even down to the sound track for my slideshow on the ground floor (contained morning birdsong) and Ruby's video piece in the top floor gallery (the rough calls of the rooks). Vivienne Dick, lecturer and film maker at GMIT, made an opening speech for us and she completely understood what our work was about. The opening night also saw the launch of my new publication Transient Beauty to accompany the exhibition. Thanks to everyone at Galway Arts Centre for such a wonderful show. Everyone there was so friendly and helpful, it was just perfect in so many ways.

Previous news entries October 2007 - April 2008:
April 2008. Tamany completed a residency at Áras Éanna, Inis Oirr on the Aran Islands, Ireland.

February 2008. Awarded a research grant to visit New York

December 2007. Tamany has just returned from Ireland, where she had a residency on Inis Oirr, the smallest of the Aran Islands off the West coast of Ireland. She was working in collaboration with photographic artist, Ruby Wallis in advance of their major joint show in Galway Arts Centre, August 2008. The fierce storms however meant that no boats were running so instead they travelled to Ennistymon, where they were kindly given use of a studio by another artist. They visited the Cliffs of Moher where the wind was so strong it nearly swept them off their feet. They also came across St Bridget’s Well, where people have left all sorts of photographs and personal memorabilia as a dedication; as the dusk fell on this stormy day, the place offered a strange sense of calmness and timelessness. Ruby and Tamany made a night walk along the beach at Lahinch in the pitch black, save for the incredibly bright stars in the sky. The next day brought the sun out and the sea was calm at last. Long walks on the beach in the winter sun seemed like a blessing after the previous battering in the storm. The extreme of the wind, made the calm all the more poignant. Tamany and Ruby will return for a week’s residency on Inis Oirr in April by invitation of the artist in residence programme of Áras Éanna.

November 2007. This month saw the opening of MORTAL, a group show on the theme of life and death, held in the spectacular and fitting location of the derelict Pro Cathedral in Bristol. Tamany showed the first half of the project, Transient Beauty , framed in ornate gold frames and one piece from her Dark Light project. Also this month, Tamany attended the international photography fair Paris Photo and the Maison Europeéne de la Photographie in Paris, who will be soon be stocking a limited edition version of her hand-made book, Transient Beauty.

October 2007. Tamany produced a piece for Rich and Strange, an altered book project which was shown this month at the Flock Gallery, University of Wales, Newport. She chose a book about Leonardo da Vinci, and reworked the book excerpting sections and re-creating it into a broadsheet style book, using the original book pages. At the end of the month, she showed her final MA work in a group show Space Between at the Turner House Gallery, Penarth, wonderfully curated by Chris Coppock (The False Moons, two installation views pictured below). She had now been awarded an MA with merit.

Tamany Baker photographer/artist

Latest news and forthcoming events