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In confusion comes much clarification. This project is simply that. A physical record of the fire and flood that destroyed my studio earlier this year. I am just working on finalising the imagery, but it's a small and straight document on what was found, created from the destruction, when the walls and ceiling poured with water and the fire took hold. 

More to come, but the results are such beautiful, abstracted imagery, astounding in their detail - exciting times it would seem right now!

New Experiment, New Research

Yesterday saw another afternoon spent working with the School of Arts and Social Sciences, in the Memory Research Unit on new experiments and research into new works. Working with a PHD student, I undertook and will be undertaking a weeks long experiment into Autobiographical memory, through the use of photographic imagery, wearing a specialist camera for events during 5 days!

Before that can all start, I had to undertake a Cognitive Test, known as the WASI IQ test and go through some rather interesting and odd tests, measuring for general cognitive ability, crystallized abilities, nonverbal fluid abilities as well as visuomotor/coordination. Through the use of Vocabulary, Similarities, Block design and Matrix reasoning testing you can work out the score. 

While under the experiment, I became increasingly intrigued by the use of the blocks and the form in which you use them to recreate a pattern in front of you, timed! This connection between what you see and what you have to recreate is something that really excited me as I thought about it in terms of photography and the very 'act' of looking. 

With the next part of the experiment starting on Monday, I can't wait to see the results and start putting the data together into new works, watch this space....

The Alternative Guide to the Universe

"The Alternative Guide to the Universe explores the work of self-taught artists and architects, fringe physicists and visionary inventors, all of whom offer bracingly unorthodox perspectives on the world we live in. Inspiringly original and bracingly eccentric, their work re-imagines our social and cultural conventions in ways that fearlessly depart from accepted ways of thinking."

This is the current exhibition at the wonderful Hayward Gallery, as I must say I wasn't too sure what to expect, but again the Hayward have curated an unimaginable world, where you as a spectator are thrown into the depths of another time, another place as you wonder through the exhibition. The works are strange, uncanny, unusual, but have a perplexing intrigue that really holds your attention. 

Works ranging from Photography through to Geometry, to installation to painting take you on a journey through the unknown offering up a new reality, a place which we know nothing of and perhaps would be happier in. For the most part of this exhibition I felt as if I was in another world, transfixed by the originality and space created through their vision and in fact I felt as if it was a much safer and better place for me at that very moment. 

Artists' that really struck me where Melvin Edward Nelson with his UFO paintings, A.G Rizzoli with his unbelievable architectural craftsmanship of buildings as figures and the Chinese artist Guo Fengyi with her journey of spiritual and metaphysical significance, drawing figures through her visions. This show is an absolute must!

http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whatson/alternative-guide-to-the-universe-exhibition-73950

Works Unseen

As I research many different sources for 2 new projects that I am working on, I recalled a series I produced back in 2008-2009 using the defunct, original Polaroid. The body of work, consisting of only 6 unique Polaroids titled, "View From My View" takes inspiration from the wonderful work of Andre Kertesz and his series of a similar name. The series plays and explores Kertesz's idea of shooting objects in front of the window, in the sunlight on Polaroid but are then interrupted mid process to create these beautifully abstracted instant photographs. 

They capture a time and place,  offering up a new way to see the world, the view, whereby the colours, the shapes, the tones propel you deep into the chemistry, into a world unknown. The sublimeness for me, echos the paintings of the early 19th century, a place where you can escape for a moment into something different, a space that takes you wholeheartedly and brings forth emotions strong and hard into the present.

http://www.bulgergallery.com/dynamic/fr_artist.asp?ArtistID=8

Unseen Dummy Award Juror 2013

I am very, very proud and honored to announce that I have been selected as 1 of the Unseen Dummy Award 2013 Jurors at the Unseen Photo Fair in Amsterdam!!!!! I was interviewed earlier this month and you can read all about what I am looking for in a photobook and where and what I think about this beautiful medium. Here's a little except from the interview;

Why do you think photobooks are so important? Do you feel that the push to digitalise material has changed their significance?

"For me, photobooks provide physicality to a project that not only outlives the project, but also the artist. They provide an additional, exciting platform to develop a series of works into a new form, a new life. It’s where the curation of work into book form adds and aids another dimension, and often-in unexpected avenues.

With the push towards digitalisation, there seems to be a push back into the importance of having something tactical, tangible, something to hold dear and hold onto. Photobooks are a way of really capturing the essence of a project at a particular moment in time, where you can sit back, relax and really pour your time into turning the pages at your own pace. I think the significance of this is that with every development comes a yearning for it to pause, so through this digitalised material, the books become more objectified and thought of as objects in their own right, as it is so readily available to produce your own books through online opportunities. I am excited about this development and where it will progress."

See more here: http://www.unseenamsterdam.com/unseen-dummy-award-juror-melinda-gibson 

And here: http://www.dmbcreatives.com/posts/melinda-gibson---unseen-dummy-award-juror/121/1

Read more about Unseen here: http://www.unseenamsterdam.com/news

Hamburg Opening

So the opening in Hamburg took place on Friday 7th June in the wonderfully bohemian artist space of Frappant EV. The exhibition, "Destroyed Images" curated by Krisitin Dittrich was a fantastic success with the exhibition still having visitors at midnight! A greatly exciting range of works were exhibited and one that really caught my eye was an artist who used all the pictures from the exhibition and turned them into wrapping paper that covered sandwiches.... A truly inspiring odd, but in-genius idea, watching people how they held this paper, not knowing where or if it should be saved, and all for €2.50!

The book performance was a fantastic success and the publication, alongside the works really helped to contextualize the entire project, the process and the labour taken to complete both. More performances are a must!

"Destroyed Images" Exhibition Opens in Hamburg At The 040 Festival on Friday 7th June at 20:00

I am very pleased to announce, my works are part of this exciting festival in Hamburg which opens this Friday, 7th June from 20:00. The festival and the exhibition has a fantastic array of artists including Katharina Bosse, Markus Uhr, André Giesemann, Mauren Brodbeck and many, many others.

I will also be making a book live at the opening, demonstrating the labour intensive production of the photobook, from 20:00 onwards...

Here is a little bit more information about the exhibition:

"The 040 Festival takes place for the first time in Hamburg. Still in the making, it’s understood as a pilot, which communicates an artistic idea to the public and the city. National and international names of the art scene will be represented and showcased. The exhibition "Destroyed Images - Zerstoerte Bilder" discusses the exploitation of imagery; every day more than 300 million pictures are being uploaded & rated on Facebook. Private pictures are produced without any kind of reflection or time for production. Things, which are happening around us, are being documented, saved onto hard drives or virtual storage spaces and uploaded onto the Internet.

Which pictures do actually still matter - which ones are still of any intellectual value? What happens with all these pictures we produce? How do photographers treat their own work? How do they treat found material?

What happens with photographic pictures, which we manipulate, distress, deconstruct or reassemble? The exhibition's title "Destroyed Images" shouldn't solely be understood in just a materialistic way, but also in a sense of self-awareness and a scan of a constructed biography. What does it mean to leave something behind and start again from scratch, after a loss, an accident or an illness?"

See more here: http://frappant.org/archives/5114

In Conversation with Charlotte Cotton Now Live!!!

So to celebrate the London Launch of my first publication, "The Photograph as Contemporary Art" tonight at the wonderful Claire de Rouen Books, you can now see the "In Conversation" that took place at the bookshop earlier this month between the amazing Charlotte Cotton, Lucy Moore and myself!

Have a listen, it really is a great insight into how, what, when and why this project came to be as well as providing a good starting point to discuss other themes and theories around contemporary photographic practice. 

See you all tonight!

You can view here too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei3QIhOjRp4

Reminder - London Launch this Thursday!

Just a little reminder to say that the London Launch of "The Photograph as Contemporary Art" is this coming Thursday, the 30th May from 7-9PM. Don't let the wet weather bring you down, come and celebrate the publication with a drink or two in an incredible venue.

See more here: http://clairederouenbooks.com/ 

and http://www.dmbcreatives.com/posts/melinda-gibson---london-launch-of-the-photograph-as-contemporary-art/109/1

Diffusion Festival 2013 - Weekend

So I am heading off to Cardiff in a few hours to head up to the Diffusion Festival 2013 ready for the Publishing Weekend, where I will be taking part in the Photobook Symposium. Talking alongside great artists like Edgar Martins as well as the wonderful Thijs from WassinkLundgren. The talks start at Chapter from 11:30 and it should be a great, fun packed day with debates and exciting ideas around the photobook!

See more here: http://www.diffusionfestival.org/programme/publishing-weekend/

UK Book Launch at Claire de Rouen Books Thursday 30th May 7-9 PM

The London launch for Melinda‘s book, The Photograph As Contemporary Art, which was selected by Photoeye as one of the Best Books of 2012. Join us for a glass of wine and the opportunity to buy a signed copy of the book.

In the run-up to the launch, a conversation between Melinda, Lucy and curator and writer Charlotte Cotton was held at the bookshop. Cotton’s book ‘The Photograph As Contemporary Art’, first published by Thames and Hudson in 2004, is the preliminary document from which Melinda’s eponymous publication is assembled. The discussion will be available to view as a video online at Melinda’s blog from the 30th May onwards.

We very much look forward to seeing you in a few weeks and watch for the launch of the video discussion!

See more here: http://clairederouenbooks.com/index.php/events/

May kicks off with PGH Photo Fair

So May is a super busy month and to kick start it all off, my work is heading to the PGH, The Pittsburgh Photo Fair taking place at the Unsmoke Systems Artspace in Braddock. The fair in its second year brings together a stunning space with vintage to contemporary photography internationally to the Pittsburgh community. I am very pleased to be part of this with the lovely Next Level Projects and watch this space for installation shots of the fair.

See more here: http://unsmokeartspace.com/index/#/pgh-photo-fair/ & http://www.pghphotofair.com/