Andrea C Morley

Three years on... BYOPAPER! PHOTOGRAPH, PRINT, PASTE. NUIT DE L’ANNÉE / FRIDAY 7 JULY 2017 Papeteries Étienne – Trinquetaille 

FLASHBACK… on Friday 7 July 2017 the Papeteries Étienne, an abandoned paper mill located in Trinquetaille, was brought back to life to host the fabulous NUIT DE L’ANNÉE. Both photographic promenade and late night party, this buzzing annual event takes place during the opening week of Les Rencontres d’Arles. Only one month before I had received an invitation to exhibit. What a night!

NUIT DE L’ANNÉE 2017 kicked off just before the sun set with the third edition of BYOPaper! Curated by Les Rencontres d’Arles and Fisheye magazine BRING YOUR OWN PAPER exhibited thirty photo projects, pasted, yes with wallpaper paste, on the exterior walls of the Papeteries Étienne. Selection allowed me five metres of wall space to exhibit ten 30” x 24” blue black paper prints from the series terra incognita, instructions stipulated I bring my: ‘prints, glue, brush, roller, sponge and cutter’...

A unique experience! I spent a super fun afternoon pasting up my prints in the hot southern sunshine followed by a memorable night celebrating with peers, discovering photographers and photography, screenings, and dancing and drinking of course! 

Thank you for the opportunity Sam Stourdzé, Annaëlle Veyrard and Fisheye.

PRINT SALES

In acknowledgement of what would have been the opening week of Les Rencontres de la Photographie 2020, now CANCELLED, LIMITED EDITION print sales from the series terra incognita #01 to #10 will be available via #artistsupportpledge PLEASE DM TO CHECK AVAILABILITY.

30” x 24” blue black paper prints (poster) from a digital file £35 plus postage and packing 

5” x 4” unique hand print on fuji crystal archive matt from original 5" x 4" reclaimed negative, edition of 1 £150 plus postage and packing

BACK STORY

A place called Lost: The distance of time, indelible impression and an amalgam of illegibilities, impasses and obscurities have tangled the real with the experiential and the imaginary. The landscape of childhood is my tangible reference - my uncharted territory is psychical. 

Working with my 5x4 view camera is slow and contemplative. I identify location, position and orientation. Set up, level, attach the lens and open the shutter. A black cloth shuts out the light and more, I compose in quietude. I frame my image upside down and back to front through the ground glass and focus. I measure light, set aperture, calculate exposure time, close and cock the shutter, load the film carrier, remove the dark slide and expose using the cable release; counting aloud the seconds my shutter is open, I break the silence. I replace the dark slide and remove the film carrier. A considered process and for this project, undertaken in winter. 

Production of Fuji FP100c-45 ceased in 2011, although initiatives seek to develop a ‘new’ instant 5x4, all prototypes to date have been deemed too expensive or too challenging to manufacture. Through this knowledge of obsolescence, each capture is imbued with an intensified preciousness. My processing technique facilitates a reduction of control - an unknowing, as important to the work as the land I photograph. Post-capture my instant positive exists purely for reference. Visible only in transience, it is the trace impression on the redundant backing that I reclaim. In its fragile state, wet with chemicals, immediately vulnerable, this is my negative; the scratches and scars endured overtly visible. When dry, I tape face down and remove the opaque emulsion. This negative is not fixed, there is no method for fixing therefore no guarantee of longevity. For this reason, the mark of time defines each darkroom print unique. I do not attempt graphic representation or wish for literal reading. I aim for resonance and affect.

#artistsupportpledge

Q. I want to support artists. How do I do it?

A. Buy art. Go to #artistsupportpledge and see what you like. Buy some more art. Then buy some more art.

Remember after £1,000 of sales, the artists are pledging to buy other artist’s work, so you are supporting a network of generosity which is much greater than the sum of its parts.

I WILL CONTINUE TO POST DETAILS OF LIMITED EDITION PRINTS FOR SALE VIA  #artistsupportpledge #andreacmorley PLEASE DM ME FOR ENQUIRIES. 

LET GENEROSITY BE INFECTIOUS! 

#supportartists #covid19 #coronavirus #livegenerously   

A selection of my work can now be purchased via #artistsupportpledge Have you heard about this innovative instagram initiative?

It's really quite brilliant!

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many artists have found themselves without work; teaching, technical support, gallery work, exhibitions and sales have all but disappeared. In an attempt to help alleviate some of this fallout, Matthew Burrows instigated #artistsupportpledge 

The concept is a simple one: Artists post images of their work on Instagram which they are willing to sell for no more than £200 per piece (not including shipping). Anyone can buy the work. Every time an artist reaches £1000 in sales, they pledge to spend £200 on another artist's work. 


So, if you’re an artist or maker, to pledge, post your work with #artistsupportpledge giving details of the work and price. And, if you’re interested in buying, message (DM) the artist. Anyone can buy the work and artists don't need permission to join. Follow the # to see everyone else's work and keep updated on new opportunities and announcements @artistsupportpledge 

Please repost and tell your friends, colleagues and collectors. 

LET GENEROSITY BE INFECTIOUS 

#supportartists #covid19 #coronavirus #livegenerously 

The JULIA MARGARET CAMERON AWARD

The JULIA MARGARET CAMERON AWARD is an open submission for pro and non-pro women photographers. Selected work from the 2020 15th edition, judged by Elizabeth Avedon and Mona Kuhn, will be exhibited at the 6th Biennial of Fine Art and Documentary Photography in Barcelona, date to be confirmed. I am delighted to have received an HONOURABLE MENTION for my series terra incognita in the ALTERNATIVE PROCESSES CATEGORY. 

Please DM for print sales enquires THANK YOU #juliamargaretcameronaward #fotonostrum #theworldwidephotographygalaawards #elizabethavedon #monakuhn #biennialoffineartanddocumentaryphotographyinbarcelona 

'My aspirations are to ennoble Photography and to secure for it the character and uses of High Art by combining the real & Ideal & sacrificing nothing of Truth by all possible devotion to poetry and beauty.' Julia Margaret Cameron to Sir John Herschel, 31 December 1864.

PLANS FOR 2020 HAVE REQUIRED A RE-THINK AND RE-WRITE FOR US ALL...

PHOTO LONDON AND THE RA SUMMER EXHIBITION HAVE BEEN RESCHEDULED FOR THE AUTUMN, VOIES OFF AND LES RENCONTRES D'ARLES HAVE BEEN CANCELLED FOR THIS YEAR. PLANS FOR 2020 HAVE REQUIRED A RE-THINK AND RE-WRITE FOR US ALL.

Early last May I was prepping a Satellite exhibition for Photo London 2019 and coordinating framing and delivery for RA Summer Exhibition 2019 shortlisted work. One year on, with gallery closures, fair postponement, festival cancellation, unessential travel restriction and social distancing a daily reality, I have accepted that my Photo London Satellite opening of chevaux sauvages 43º22'32"n 4º48’37”e must be abandoned physically. My re-think and re-write is to postpone, yes of course but also to somehow acknowledge my intent. So, as an alternative to inviting you my dear friends and colleagues, I will enlighten you a little on the back story... 

On a road trip across the marshlands of the Rhône delta in 2005, my childhood equine obsession was stirred. Celebrated for their endurance and courage (and close in form to those depicted in France’s ancient Lascaux cave paintings), the indigenous horses of the Camargue, represent some of the oldest equine blood on the planet. I was adventuring with my kids, then aged 5 and 8, no stopping though, we were heading to the beach. I vowed to return sometime. 

I did, somewhat briefly, early summer 2017 with my youngest daughter as companion. A fortuitous opportunity, I was exhibiting at les rencontres de la photographie pop-up BYOP and before leaving Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, we decided to take some ‘time out’ at the beach. On the D570 (direction Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer), marshland and native horses are the prevalent windscreen landscape. I made a few stops for reconnaissance shots but time was challenged and I really wanted to get closer than roadside capture could achieve. 

I arrived back in London with the filmic aesthetic of Albert Lamorisse (Crin Blanc, 1953) and Denys Colomb de Daunant (Le Songe des Chevaux Sauvages, 1960) in my mind. I began research with the objective of negotiating access. Late summer 2017 I returned, access granted and chevaux sauvages 43º22'32"n 4º48’37”e - a series of nine fine art prints, evolved. 

My sincere thanks to Gwenael Wasse at Tour du Valat, Claire Tetrel at Parc naturel régional de Camargue, Lydie Catala and Emmanuel Vialet at Domaine de la Palissade. I could not have made this work without their invaluable assistance and support. 

I remain curious what measures will be secured to ensure the horses remain at semi-liberty in the Camargue marshes and wetlands, and within this context, what the definition of a future 'liberty' is? Forward planning is currently on hold for all of us, my project will continue post-pandemic when freedom of movement allows. 

 The Camargue/Delta du Rhône is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. 

PRIOR TO MY POST-PANDEMIC RESCHEDULED SATELLITE EVENT chevaux sauvages 43º22'32"n 4º48’37”e LIMITED EDITION PRINT SALES ARE OPEN. FOR ENQUIRES PLEASE DM ME.

Price list. 24” x 20” aluminium mounted (with subframe) archival pigment print - £900 / 24” x 20” archival pigment print unmounted - £700. Limited editions of 10. Price excludes shipping. Bespoke framing available on request. 

 THANK YOU FOR READING, PLEASE SHARE AND KEEP SAFE!

terra incognita 2019/Photo London Satellite Event

A place called Lost: The distance of time, indelible impression and an amalgam of illegibilities, impasses and obscurities have tangled the real with the experiential and the imaginary. The landscape of childhood is my tangible reference - my uncharted territory is psychical. Working with my 5x4 view camera is slow and contemplative. I identify location, position and orientation. Set up, level, attach the lens and open the shutter. A black cloth shuts out the light and more, I compose in quietude. I frame my image upside down and back to front through the ground glass and focus. I measure light, set aperture, calculate exposure time, close and cock the shutter, load the film carrier, remove the dark slide and expose using the cable release; counting aloud the seconds my shutter is open, I break the silence. I replace the dark slide and remove the film carrier. A considered process and for this project, undertaken in winter. Production of Fuji FP100c-45 ceased in 2011, although initiatives seek to develop a ‘new’ instant 5x4, all prototypes to date have been deemed too expensive or too challenging to manufacture. Through this knowledge of obsolescence, each capture is imbued with an intensified preciousness. My processing technique facilitates a reduction of control - an unknowing, as important to the work as the land I photograph. Post-capture my instant positive exists purely for reference. Visible only in transience, it is the trace impression on the redundant backing that I reclaim. In its fragile state, wet with chemicals, immediately vulnerable, this is my negative; the scratches and scars endured overtly visible. When dry, I tape face down and remove the opaque emulsion. This negative is not fixed, there is no method for fixing therefore no guarantee of longevity. For this reason, the mark of time defines each darkroom print unique. I do not attempt graphic representation or wish for literal reading. I aim for resonance and affect.

 Andrea C Morley 

terra incognita

terra incognita; geography, autobiography, metaphor. (2012)

‘You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus’ Mark Twain, 1889. 

Writing in Camera Lucida Roland Barthes acknowledged his debt to the work of Jean-Paul Sartre in dedicating the text to Sartre’s 1940 study L’Imaginaire, a psychological and phenomenological investigation into the nature and role of imaginative consciousness, addressing the imaginary in thinking, in emotion and in life generally. Twain is quoted by Liz Wells between ‘contents’ and ‘illustrations’ in Land Matters, her major work on landscape photography, and I have to acknowledge his words articulate a notion within my trajectory quite perfectly. But there are many notions, some remain more difficult to articulate and others defy articulation. 

terra incognita is a representation of land, a representation of place and more, it is a composite in that it is landscape and portrait at once. Seeing and feeling are in symbiosis. And, within my representation I find no reason to differentiate between whether what I see is what I feel or, what I feel is what I see. 

I began my journey with influences, inspirations and references for a project; #01 on the list was place, significant space, and distance, not a distance that could be measured in linear units but the distance that is measured in memory. #02 was to reduce control of the creative process, allowing an accumulation of marks and erasures as did the NYC Abstract Expressionists circa 1940/1950, facilitating the unpredictable and ‘chance’ as did the Surrealists circa 1920. #03 was seasonal change and the cycle of life, reference to mortality and the close association of Winter to death. #04 was a phenomenological trajectory similar to that undertaken by Roland Barthes in Camera Lucida. These four influences, inspirations and references I chose to take forward, others left me (or I left them) and in between I accumulated a few more. 

Post shoot, exploring the texts of Rebecca Solnit (writing in A Field Guide to Getting Lost) and Liz Wells (writing in Land Matters) I identified reference that reiterated specific notions which had silently driven my project. Solnit explores loss, losing and being lost through memory and that which is associated with the past and threatened with extinction. She considers loss as ‘affect’ and ‘quality’. Barthes brought together themes of photography, memory and death and acknowledged his admiration for the writer Marcel Proust whose novel In Search of Lost Time was the subject of a lecture prior to writing Camera Lucida. Wells references how Proust points to ways in which photographs reconfigure particular memory, or substitute for it, or even trigger and evoke image of specific place experienced in a different circumstance than that depicted, or, rather like a fairytale, can provoke associative memory, fantasy, reverie or desire; a ‘mini-haunting’. 

In March 2011 the sudden death of my beloved father ruptured my world. The unanchored psychological space in which this irrecoverable loss left me was the antithesis of known territory. My rationale to journey to a place that could be defined as both ‘remembered’ and ‘forgotten’ is echoed in Solnit’s consideration: ‘the places are what remain, are what you can possess, are what is immortal. They become the tangible landscape of memory, the places that made you and in some way you too become them. They are what you can possess and what in the end possesses you.’ 

In her introduction to Land Matters, Wells proposes that biologically, we are an integral element within the ecosystem and that our relation to the environment in which we find ourselves, and of which we form part, is multiply constituted and that the real, perceptions of the real, the imaginary, the symbolic, memory and experience, form a complex tapestry at the heart of our response to our environment, and, by extension, to landscape imagery. Elaborating on ‘space’ and ‘place’ she proposes ‘space’ as conceptually complex and etymologically slippery (and sometimes apparently contradictory) in that it may refer to that which is not known, and thus cannot be precisely categorized; for example expanses of land, or of time or a concept of ‘space’ that is not physical. There are determinate areas where a function is specified but precise use may be fluid, psychological space is one of them. Within this understanding the act of naming would then represent potential comprehensibility. When Solnit discusses representation she reiterates that the terra incognita spaces on maps signify the fact that the cartographers knew they didn’t know, and that awareness of ignorance is not just ignorance; it’s awareness of knowledge’s limits. Thus to acknowledge the unknown is part of knowledge. Although these texts were explored post shoot concepts discussed underpin and articulate fundamental elements of my practice. 

Solnit questions: ‘is it that there is a place where sadness and joy are not distinct, where all emotion lies together.’ Yes, I believe there is. Acknowledgement of innate fragility, indifference to the furious momentum of digitized contemporary culture and pursuit of sanitized perfection intensified my inclination to slow down. My objective was to harness nostalgia, embrace the anachronistic and attempt evocation of a delicate tension. Shooting on 5”x4” instant film imbues preciousness to each capture but more so because my choice of stock was haunted by the potential threat of non-existence. Due to global demand falling below sustainable levels FUJIFILM UK Ltd were notified about the discontinuation of FP-100c45 on the 19 November 2011, the last shipment order for the film was November 2011 to arrive in the UK December 2011 dependant on stock levels at the time of order. terra incognita and subsequent 5x4 instant film projects are shot with stock purchased at this time. Production is physical; manifestation of the latent image is unpredictable and final printing embraces damage not overtly visible, a reiteration of vulnerability and my psychological state of being at this time. The land I photographed is not solid rock; it is an amalgam of illegibilities, impasses, obscurities, memories and the indelible impression of loss. Throughout production considered process became equally as important as subject matter and visually realization rests somewhere in between the abstract and the real. 

Wells discussion of ‘space’ and ‘representation’ suggests that the pictorial offers more than graphic representation; that it articulates subjective memory, not only in relation to literal readings of images but also in terms of emotive affects in that we may look at a picture, which is essentially mute, yet respond to sounds associated and, that in terms of landscape, the geographic imaginary conjured up is complex. Referencing The Poetics of Space Wells discusses how Gaston Bachelard emphasized the relation between the experiential, the real and the imaginary. Bachelard’s enquiry into human response to space sits alongside discussions of beauty and the sublime that have been central to art theory. (Edmund Burke, Immanuel Kant, Jean-Francois Lyotard). His starting point is the human imaginary, and that which cannot be cast in terms of logic, words or explanation, but which induces depth of sensory response to the extent that an image or feeling resonates and haunts (a reiteration of Proust). He explores the phenomenological import of poetic imagery, resisting reductionist containment in terms of the scientific, semiotic or psychoanalytic. This poses problems for relevant, academic explanatory systems, more at ease within the systematic, the logical (a reiteration of Barthes). 

Last note. Wells discusses ‘pastoral heritage’. She states that in terms of art practices, women’s experience may be less immediately evident in the genre of landscape, there are few examples of British women making landscape work until after the First World War. In England, in the nineteenth century women were not themselves landowners, their relation to land was mediated via a father or a husband. More generally, when women photographed out of doors, it was largely for the family album. These were not intended as landscape pictures; rather they were part of the domestic diary. The concept of mediation via the father and the non-intention of landscape image by women to be presented as landscape image alone, are pertinent to my objectives.