Project Popular Camera
June 21, 2010
Garage Studios recently gave free studio time to artists Claire Griffiths and Tina Jenner, as part of their joint venture ‘Project Popular Camera’. We are very pleased to have a guest blog from Claire telling more about the project and their time with us:
‘Project Popular Camera’ is a collaborative photographic journey undertaken by Rocket Artist Tina Jenner, an artist who has learning disabilities and me: Claire Griffiths, an Inclusive Arts Practitioner and photographer.
The project came about as part of my MA Inclusive Arts Practice, I aimed to research how (if possible) I could have an equal artistic collaboration with an artist who has learning disabilities. My collaborator Tina Jenner often uses text in her artwork, something which I find inspirational. I usually avoid having to write, especially in artwork. She also shares my passion for photography and so was an excellent collaborator.
The purpose of this arts project was to develop and facilitate a framework through which a mutual transfer of skills, knowledge and support could enable both the Tina and I to develop our artistic practice together. Through mutual dialogue came the idea of each creating a personal-alphabet. We supported one another to take photographs and to create text exploring the words they’d each chosen to represent letters of the alphabet.
We created some of our images at Garage Studios, a professional photography studio and training centre in Brighton. There we worked alongside professional photographer Kevin Mason kindly let us use his amazing space for two sessions and helped us to use the studio’s lighting. At the first shoot we painted with jam and spilled nuts all over the floor whilst creating images of objects that are significant to us. The next week we took portraits of each other dressing up as ‘alter egos’, whilst rocking out to The Spice Girls. Kevin was brilliant, very observant but unobtrusive at the same time and didn’t bat an eyelid at the potentially ruinous jam or at the very loud playing of ‘Wannabe.’ Shooting with an industry expert in this kind of professional environment gave the work the value and respect it deserved. Our Garage Studio sessions were focused, productive and damn good fun and most importantly, the images look great. Thanks Kevin.
During the project we also experimented with different types of cameras including film and digital and printed black and white photos using the University of Brighton’s darkroom. We also worked in the Rockets art studio at the Phoenix, Brighton. You can see some of our work and more about the project on our blog: http://projectpopularcamera.tumblr.com/
What resulted from this collaboration is a rich body of work, exploring themes of identity and equality. I have hand-printed some of the (medium format) images and had both full alphabets made into books, which will be exhibited in the MA Inclusive Arts Practice Final Show at The University of Brighton: The Sallis Benney Theatre Foyer, Faculty of Arts. 58-67 Grand Parade, Brighton, BN2 OJY.
June 26th – July 4th, 10am – 5pm, (Sundays 10am – 2pm).
Private View Friday 25th June 5.30pm – 8.30pm. All are welcome.
