WHAT ON EARTH

Curators

Ellen Taylor

Hannah Fletcher

Artists

Victoria Ahrens

Alice Cazenave

Ramona Güntert

Hannah Fletcher

Diego Valente

Melanie King

Katie Bret-Day

Liz K Miller

Marina Vitaglione

The Koppel Project Exchange is pleased to present WHAT ON EARTH, a group show curated by Ellen Taylor in collaboration with Hannah Fletcher from the London Alternative Photography Collective (LAPC). WHAT ON EARTH brings together a selection of works exploring how the environmental and sustainability crisis we face today can be both encountered and addressed through non-representational and medium-forward forms.

Most photographic responses to the climate crisis take the path of documentation, as there is indeed a lot to document. Photography as an art form, however, has always been more than documentarian, and has always had an impact that derives much of its force from factors other than the subject in the frame. WHAT ON EARTH aims to highlight the work of artists who explore this through non-representational and material forms.

‘The materiality of the photograph takes two broad and interrelated forms. First, it is the plasticity of the image itself, its chemistry, the paper it is printed on, the toning, the resulting surface variations. Such technical and physical choices in making photographs are seldom random’ (Edwards, E. and Hard, J. 2004).

There have been many theoretical debates regarding the photograph’s status as a three-dimensional object, and craft, as a result of advances in post-and-during-capture digital manipulation technology. Through the creation of ‘concrete photography’ this show aims to explore this whilst also demonstrating how the materiality of a photograph can, though the image making process, be both influenced by our culture’s environment and act as a visual representation.In the context of the environmental crisis we face in today’s society, these exhibiting artists use elements from our rapidly changing environment to inform their image making process, both physically and conceptually.

The artists featured in WHAT ON EARTH use a range of methods and materials derived from the traditional photographic process but developing it to a more tangible and materialistic one, investigating how a combination of visual, audio, tactile, olfactory stimuli can enhance our connection to our environment. This approach to working with materials, and the respect we gain for our environment through the process of touch, is a philosophy that should not be limited to the hand of the artist but should be normalised within our culture. As it is through this tactility and engagement of the senses that we truly start to understand the earth that we live on and live with.

Alongside this exhibition there will be a series of events including a conversation with Magda Kuca, a photographic artist who will be discussing the historical link between the photographic medium and the use of organic matter. This will be accompanied by a Botanical Printing workshop using the traditional photography process, cyanotype. Additionally, WHAT ON EARTH is collaborating with Lucy Sabin from Lichen Art Labs to provide an introduction to urban lichens and how they are affected by London’s air pollution.

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PRESS

London air pollution turned into art to raise awareness | BBC News

A new exhibition asks how we can better picture the climate crisis | British Journal of Photography

Breathtaking: photo exhibition exposes London air pollution | France 24

Photo show exposes air pollution in London | NCC

“What On Earth”: photo exhibition explores the climate crisis through 26 artworks | The Frontier Post

IN CONVERSATION WITH MAGDA KUCA

14th July 21

6-8:30PM

Exchange

Talk

BOTANICAL BLUE PRINT WORKSHOP

17th July 21

12:45-2:45PM

Exchange

Workshop

LICHEN ART LABS WALKSHOP

24th July 21

1-2:30PM

Exchange

Workshop