Louis Tuckman goes along to White Cloth Gallery for a “Photalk” with Casey Orr and Clive Egginton …
Considering the amount I’ve heard about the Laura Pannack’s naturist exhibition, I’m surprised I’d never visited The White Cloth Gallery in the year or so it’s been exhibiting contemporary photography. Maybe it’s because the incredible twenty foot, intricately detailed, Metal Gear Solid illustration on the side of the building detracts your eyes from the White Cloth Gallery sign as you walk down Aire Street, just a very short walk from Leeds Train Station. I decided it was about time I gave the place a go so went the other evening with a friend for a photo-talk and workshop event called “Trajectories”.
As we walked past the men in suits standing round the bar and went through to the exhibition space, we found ourselves surrounded by cocks … Laura Pannack’s photographs certainly make you feel like you shouldn’t be looking at them.
We’d actually gone along to see local photographers, Casey Orr and Clive Egginton, who were at the gallery talking about their recent ongoing projects. While drinking our ales we had a look through the collection of art books on sale and then the incredibly enthusiastic Philip Welding, who had greeted us at entry, came over and said the talk was about to begin. He told us that he intends Trajectories – the series of talks he’s organising every other month – to not be lectures but more a casual discussion about the work showcased in a supportive environment. I came to realise in practice what this meant in the interesting debates that the photographs provoked.
I love documentary photography. But what I love more than the pictures are the stories that accompany them. Whether written or spoken they are always incredibly interesting. – like, how the hell has Laura Pannack convinced these naturists to pose for her intimately insightful photographs? When confronted with the scenes of nudity I can’t help but want to know what the people in the photographs were like when Pannack photographed them? These are the kind of insights that Casey Orr and Clive Egginton reveal in their talks about their own work.
With the slogan ‘Sheffield is not a place, it is people’ Archive Sheffield, documents peoples lives in Sheffield. Obviously attractive to anyone who knows Sheffield, Clive Egginton’s project follows the lives of various people who share the same Sheffield postcode and shows a clear and unbiased view of what he sees. As he went through the various different images he’s taken of people’s day to day lives I recalled that Simpsons episode which follows the stories of each of the characters lives in a day; all with different perspectives but unified by the place and the time. The Archive Sheffield website is well worth a visit for an insight into other peoples lives.
Casey Orr’s work has more the stylistic approach of a fashion shoot but the concept behind her photos certainly sparked a lot of debate in the audience about the ethics of documentary photography. Casey’s portrait project documents images that young teenage girls are creating of themselves as they begin to realise that they are becoming visible to men. It’s obviously a sensitive topic a number of people in the room came to different conclusions about whether these girls should be put under the spotlight at such a vulnerable age.
Casey Orr made a jokey observation about her own and Clive Egginton’s work, that she photographs girls and he photographs men. This observation tells us a lot about this kind of photography. The biggest part of the work is about the photographer’s accessibility to their chosen subjects, which enables them to reveal such a candid glimpse into the lives of others that would otherwise be lost. Obviously the boxer feels more comfortable being photographed by Clive, and the early teenaged girls feel more comfortable photographed by Casey, but everyone gets to see how these individuals live their lives.
I’m certainly excited to discover what the next Trajectories talk will reveal.