Seeing and Being Seen [Review]
Adam Booth | Lee Deaville & Richard Turner
Curated by Blank Media Collective
greenroom, Manchester
The exhibition at the greenroom is a series of photographs in two parts. The first part of the collection is by Adam Booth. Each untitled piece gives us an impression of darkness, being lost on the open road and how light and shadows change the landscape. The sun sets on grass fields, trees, a wooden fence – but each picture maintains a high colour even as the natural light drains away. Even the pieces taken once darkness has descended still gives us strong lines, symmetry and rich colour, although we expect night photos to be grey, hazy and undefined. Without the haziness, each picture still gives the impression of eerie silence and tangible loneliness.
Reflecting the rural photographs are the ones located in an urban setting. Buildings, walls and roads give us the same strong lines and shadows as the fields and fences. Light bounces off reflective surfaces, making a building on an industrial park look visually stunning.
The photography of Lee Deaville and Richard Turner juxtaposes the landscapes of the city and country, with the portrait of the face. Each face tells a story; in High Spirits a man looks in the mirror, his eyes ask where has his life gone? His face is lined and unshaved. 12 Hour Shift sees a younger face, spotty but with dark circles under his eyes. His face half in shadow, half in light like 24 hour clock. Fine for Now depicts an even younger face, a boy of maybe 13 or 14, again with tired, dark eyes. Fine for now, but for how long? Damaged Goods reveals a woman with a sun ravaged face; she isn’t old but shows the signs of aging we are warned about in face cream adverts.
Each face is raw, naked, every blemish revealed. They look vulnerable and tired, their eyes tell a story, but is it any different to the story we see when we look in the mirror? The old adage about eyes, windows and souls definitely comes to mind. But where we hide this window in our everyday lives, this photography scrapes away the barriers to leave its models completely open. So we see with full intensity what we try to hide from ourselves.
Both collections complement each other well, while one carries the full depth of human emotion, the other is devoid of people, the sharp lines and symmetries of one contrast with the sagging jaw lines and drooping eyes of the other. And yet they still evoke the same emotions; fear, loneliness, emptiness, whilst bringing out the beauty in something we wouldn’t normally class as beautiful.
This exhibition is available to view until 10th April 2010, at the greenroom, Manchester. For further information please visit www.blankmediacollective.org/seeingandbeingseen
This review was written by Liverpool-based independent reviewer Elaine Wilson. For further information about Elaine please visit www.futurelegendmusic.wordpress.com
