Exhibiting Artists:
Valda Bailey, Alex Boyd, John Blakemore, Jacqui Booth, Mike Colechin, Rob Hudson, Stephen Segasby, Dan Wood, Joseph Wright
MMX Gallery is delighted to present a group exhibition in collaboration with Inside the Outside, a UK based photography collective comprising of Al Brydon, Rob Hudson, Stephen Segasby and Joseph Wright, as well as work by invited photographers; Valda Bailey, John Blakemore, Jacqui Booth, Alex Boyd, Mike Colechin and Dan Wood. This show brings photographs into being by interpreting the environment rather than illustrating it.
The exhibition uses landscape photography as a metaphor to unite coexisting ideas and reflections that are exposed in another light to the photographer and viewer. Not strictly about the physicality of the landscape but how it is shaped and revealed.
Each artist work is diverse in technique, style, method and process; yet they share a similar approach and understanding that is 'beyond the visual', that a photograph should speak of something more than the photographic process itself. Emphasising the difference between a photograph of something and a photograph about something. Being in the landscape and representing the landscape is to simultaneously inhabit two worlds, the one before us and the one inside us.
"Inside the Outside" comes from the great Scottish naturalist John Muir, who said;
"I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay till sundown, for going out, was really going in."
Exhibiting Artists:
VALDA BAILEY is a Sussex-based freelance photographer. Her work is greatly informed by her background in painting and influences come as much from artists as photographers. Her objective is less about portraying a literal representation but rather conveying feelings evoked by the landscape and she achieves this using multiple exposures and intentional camera movement.
JOHN BLAKEMORE is one of England's leading landscape photographers and is Emeritus Professor of Photography at the University of Derby, where he taught from 1970 to 2001 after a 12-year career in documentary and commercial photography. John has exhibited extensively and his printed and published work is held in important public and, private collections worldwide.
JACQUI BOOTH is an artist based in Leicestershire and is interested in that certain something that triggers a thought process. Her recent exhibitions include Inside The Outside inaugural show at The Photo Parlour, Nottingham, 2016 and at Goldsmith's College, London, 2015. Published work includes The Coffeehouse, A Meeting Place for the Arts, Anthology edited by Deborah Tyler- Bennett.
MIKE COLECHIN is a Nottingham-based photographer whose main career has been in engineering and research, disciplines that inform his art but do not define it. He typically takes a narrative approach to his work, creating images that tell stories and evoke emotions that run deeper than the detailed landscapes that he generally chooses to photograph.
ALEX BOYD is a photographer and curator based in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. His work has been widely exhibited internationally with solo exhibitions at the Scottish Parliament, as well as group exhibitions at the Royal Academy, Royal Ulster Academy and Royal Scottish Academy. He is best known for his collaborations with poets, such as National Poet of Scotland Edwin Morgan.
AL BRYDON is a UK based landscape photographer and a co-founder of the Inside the Outside Collective. He currently resides in South Yorkshire, on the edge of the Peak District. This relatively recent move back to his home triggered connections with the landscape in ways he had never realised were possible. The landscape and the long-departed people who lived and worked within it sing songs. He is trying to learn to listen.
ROB HUDSON is a photographer, writer and a co-founder of the Inside the Outside Collective, based in Cardiff, Wales. His personal philosophy for landscape photography focuses on the local environment. Robert Macfarlane describes it as "the undiscovered country of the nearby", which enables him to focus on the fundamentals of the experience.
STEPHEN SEGASBY is predominantly a landscape photographer, analogue and alternative process printer and occasional book maker. He is interested in the changing face of the natural and civilised world. Exploration of the cultural landscape challenges his perception of, and stimulates a reaction to, modern society. He seeks to engage with and respond to landscape on a physical, mental and emotional level, experiencing the senses of place. Stephen is a cofounder of the Inside the Outside Collective.
DAN WOOD was born in Bridgend, South Wales, UK. He discovered photography in 1995 through skateboarding and the culture that surrounds it. His inspiration comes from a wide subject matter and although diverse, he considers himself predominantly a documentary photographer - creating stories in both traditional and contemporary approach.
JOSEPH WRIGHT is a photographer, photobook-maker and a co-founder of the Inside the Outside Collective, based in north Wiltshire. He describes himself as a visual narrator of inner and outer landscapes. Using the mediums of photography and books, he reveals stories of the land and how we inhabit it, developed through his lifelong relationship with the countryside and edgelands.
Private View: Saturday, 22nd April
The Gallery will be open from 12:00 with drinks reception from 5-8pm.
Inside the Outside collective and other artists will be present for informal conversations.
Inside The Outside Collective: www.inside-the-outside.com
The opening of the exhibition coincides with Earth Day to help bring awareness to our fragile environment but also to celebrate its beauty through photography.
