S o u t h W e s t G r a d u a t eP h o t o g r a p h y P r i z e 2 0 1 3

Katie Emmett India Pocock

Nicholas WhiteMatthew Sheather

Patrick GrahamSydney Cunningham

Katy Brothers

S O U T H W E S T G R A D U A T E P H O T O G R A P H Y P R I Z E 2 0 1 3Catalogue published by Fotonow (Community Interest Company)

Publication coincided with an exhibition at Vyner Street Gallery (London) from 16th to 20th October 2013

Photographs © Katie Emmett, India Pocock, Nicholas White, Matthew Sheather, Patrick Graham, Sydney Cunningham and Katy Brothers

Cover photograph © Katie EmmettBack cover photograph © Patrick Graham

Edited by Matthew Pontin / Fotonow CICPrinted by The Newspaper Club in an edition of 250

With thanks to; Andrew Brewerton, Simon Standing, Alan Schechner, Sarah Bennett, Carolyn Hassan, Melissa Mean, Natalie Davis, Jeremy Johnson, Barbara Jones, Debbie Lane, Jaz Gayle, Niall O’Leary, Jason Shenai, Howard Allman, Kathy Wray, Tim Bolton, Ian Farren, Bridget Coaker, William Fardell, James Ellwood and Jonathan Blyth.

And for organisational support from; Plymouth College of Art, University of the West of England, Plymouth University, Arts University Bournemouth, Falmouth University, Knowle West Media Centre, Enterprise Cars, Magma Signs, Vyner Street Gallery, Troika Editions and Millennium Images.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publishers and copyright owners.

publishing@fotonow.orgwww.fotonow.org

ISBN: 978-1-908678-09-6

FPUBLISHING

I n t r o d u c t i o n

Higher Ambitions

The Guardian website recently proclaimed that ‘higher education is pumping out people with degrees into a jobs market that doesn’t need them. It’s blighting lives - and undermining the university system itself ’*. The writer in question was examining the role of university education in relation to the economic prospects of ‘indebted’ and ‘underemployed’ graduates, and suggested ‘if he (the graduate) studies creative arts and design, he’d be 1% worse off ’ than the non-graduate.

Worrying, but perhaps more concerning is the focus upon the financial reward (or not) of university education, suggesting a statistically uphill struggle for the UK’s emerging graduates. And such makes Matthew Sheather’s photographic study The Graduates crucial visual evidence, where the individuals (willing to have their portrait made) are clearly employed, as it turns out, within an industry they never studied towards entering. The scene being painted hints that most would certainly abandon their work tomorrow for a more relevant or better paid post.

With a little more consideration, this study actually shares a proactive willingness to work, regardless of educational background, a trait most likely learned through the commitment to three years (or more) of academic study. Sheather clearly conveys a concern for the future of his peers, this collectiveness is something that will be more prevalent, and binding, within the generation of graduates looking for opportunities within UK industry.

Nicholas White conjures historical context alongside military landscape, geographical spaces that converse about loss, maybe war - without the bold junctures of press photography. It is in this subtleness, of academic visual research, where the significance of university education becomes apparent - educated thoughtfulness, creative rigour and the genuine constant return to understand Dartmoor’s manipulated locale. This interest in the landscape of the South West is also considered within Katie Emmett’s photographic ‘explorations’ of a Cornish farm, nature quickly offering a metaphor for our interactions; wild spaces that sit uncomfortably alongside farmland, photographs that remind us of our basic needs, food, that the land can provide (and not necessarily the money that the job will bring).

The theme of resourcefulness appears in the work of Sydney Cunningham, where the ‘graduate’ reminds us again that there are alternative means by which a community can thrive. A desire for the opportunity to be self-sufficient, to move away from unsustainable economics, made clear

though a documentary series that supports the concerns of those more than aware of environmental issues, the consequences of the expansion of our airports. There are higher ambitions than graduate employment at stake here, threads of research that should speak volumes to academic institutions as to some of the areas of study and conversation that the graduate desires to explore.

Patrick Graham directly critiques the institutionalised space, formal photographs that remove the soul from the architecture, a stark reminder that without the students there is no academic institution, which might suggest that the students of the future will, very much so, be in control of the direction they aspire to take their education. Graham explores the fine line between work and unemployment, the anxiety of a job defining identity. It was another Graham (Paul) who presented Beyond Caring and somehow this contemporary series grasps at a history repeating itself, through the vacant spaces that the graduate has now departed.

India Pocock presents a series young adolescents, locked into using mobile media devices, an uneasy juxtaposition of human venerability while supposedly in control of technology, or vice versa. This work binds some of the themes already apparent with the South West Graduate Photography Prize exhibition, where commercial advertising, its role in society is interrogated. Katy Brothers also employs a similarly refined aesthetic, the still-life of taxidermy animals; presenting death, anthropocentrism and simply curiosity within a photographic representation.

The graduates we see here emerge from their respective universities with a complex understanding of visual narrative - synthesising ideas, sharing knowledge and using photography to navigate extensively researched experiences. Success can no longer be measured by job-title, nor economic prospect, it is in the investment in their own education and the subsequent freedom in thinking and communication that will define the future of the modern graduate.

One senses these graduates have a more eloquent sense of what lies ahead for society, beyond what employment statistics might threaten.

Matthew Pontin BA(Hons) MACreative Director at Fotonow CIC

*http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/sep/23/freshers-failed-experiment-higher-education

Tregairewoon Farm: an exploration Under the theme of ‘an exploration’ and using an historic photographic process, this work completes a study which looks at a particular form of landscape - farmland. The practice explores the notions of a cultivated, managed farmland that exists simultaneously with the apparent wilderness of the hedgerows.

www.cargocollective.com/photographpartialityphotographpartiality@live.co.uk

K a t i e E m m e t t

I n d i a P o c o c k

MMXIII Sensitively constructed, the compositions literally bring to light the influence that the continuously evolving world of technology currently has on young people. The fact the subjects are all young males and nude already spurs concerns of their welfare. However, it is simply a metaphor to represent the naivety and vulnerability of the youths as they use technology. As technology progresses so does it’s ability to expose young adolescents to obscene and delicate topics that are sometimes not necessary for their generation.

www.indiapocock.co.ukindia-pocock@hotmail.co.uk

N i c h o l a s W h i t e

The Militarisation of Dartmoor

This series examines the way in which Dartmoor, one of 15 designated National Parks in the United Kingdom, is utilised for the training of our Armed Forces. Inspired by a fusion of conflict simulation and the landscape, the work seeks to expose a relatively unexplored strand of narrative within the parks history. Embracing the infrastructure as part of Dartmoor’s cultural heritage whilst simultaneously acknowledging the environmental impacts inherent with military practices, the body of work adopts a neutral standpoint. This invites the viewer to consider the ways in which the Ministry of Defence use our natural spaces, and encourages them to draw their own conclusions about the politics of such uses, with relation to conservation, public access and national defence.

www.nicholaswhitephotography.co.ukcontact@nicholaswhitephotography.co.uk

M a t t h e w S h e a t h e r

The Graduates The Graduates project started when Sheather noticed all his friends were struggling to find work after university; skilled at what they qualified to do, he didn’t understand how they could be sending out countless emails and rarely getting a positive response. He started this project with the hope that people would start talking more about graduate employment. During his studies he decided that it is important to capture the things that are going on around him, issues that are relevant and current, where no-one will ever be able to explore that moment again.

www.matthewsheather.co.uk sheather_26@hotmail.com

P a t r i c k G r a h a m

Form & Pressure Hamlet describes the purpose of theatre as being to reflect the form and pressure of the age. This project examines the form and pressure found within a university’s fine art photography department. Through transcripts of real conversations and photographs of their institutional context, Form & Pressure is a book that seeks to disentangle the complex network of power relations that exist uniquely in this place and at this time.The transcripts derive from tutorials held within the department and also from art therapy sessions in which people affected by mental health difficulties, living on benefits, struggle to find meaning in a world where livelihood is indivisible from identity.

www.patrick-graham.co.ukmail@patrick-graham.co.uk

S y d n e y C u n n i n g h a m

Grow Heathrow Shooting only with film and natural light, my photography would fall into a documentary field of practice. My photographs are environmental and present the connections between my subjects and their surroundings. They focus on the smaller details and gestures in everyday life to hint at larger ideas. This project discusses the importance of a community and the need for companionship and unity. Politically, it is about offering an example of a future without total reliance on fossil fuels, and expressing the resourcefulness and ingenuity of the people involved in Grow Heathrow, a movement determined on protecting the local community from the threat of extinction posed by the proposed expansion to Heathrow Airport.

www.sydneycunningham.comsydneycunningham2@hotmail.co.uk

K a t y B r o t h e r s

The Taxidermist’s Cupboard This project came about while working on my most recent project, The Naturalist, with Jonathan McGowan. A taxidermist by trade, Mr McGowan’s home is full of curiosities, so I set about attempting to record the contents of his taxidermy cupboard. It was full to the brim with taxidermy projects, pelts sealed in bags, evidence of wild cats in Dorset and many more interesting items.

http://kjbrothers.wix.com/kjbphotolintu_123@hotmail.com

Bill JacksonVictoria HallJan StradtmannAliki BraineTom Pope Jan von HollebenSachiyo NishimuraMehraneh Atashi

www.troikaeditions.co.uk

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Circle /Square #1 by Aliki Braine

WassinkLundgrenEmma CritchleyIan TehJoachim FroeseIsidro RamirezSimon Roberts Noemie GoudalVictoria Jenkins

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Fotonow CIC is an independent photographic arts organisation based in the South West. The aim in developing the South West Graduate Photography Prize (now in its fourth year) is to create opportunities for emerging artists while enhancing the visibility of photographic practice across the region. Recent graduates from; Plymouth College of Art, Falmouth University, University of the West of England, Plymouth University, Arts University Bournemouth and University of Gloucestershire were invited to submit photographic work. The seven artists within this publication were selected based upon their creative confidence in developing new work with a clear sense of direction in exploring how photography might best communicate their ideas.

South West Graduate Photography Prize is managed and curated by Fotonow CICFor more information see; www.fotonow.org.

ISBN: 978-1-908678-09-6

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